UNITED STATED
Patrick Swayze, the macho, hip-swiveling "Dirty Dancing" star who persevered for nearly two years in a public struggle with pancreatic cancer, died Monday night. He was 57.
"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," said a statement released last evening by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.
As a popular culture figure, the actor's high watermarks came in films such as "The Outsiders," "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost"; he earned Golden Globe nominations for the latter two, along with the adulation of love-struck fans.
By 1990, the year of "Ghost," Swayze had cemented his status as an overtly sensual leading man of the silver screen, a heartthrob at the far end of the spectrum from Harrison Ford or Michael Douglas. With his shaggy mullet and Harlequin-novel musculature, it was easy to imagine him dancing on stage at Chippendale's, an image the lampooning entertainer himself offered in a gut-busting "Saturday Night Live" sketch with Chris Farley in 1990.
Swayze's star turns were fewer by the end of the last decade, but he entered the limelight again with a focused and determined response to his cancer diagnosis in January 2008. Shortly after, he agreed to a continuing role as a rogue FBI agent in the A&E series "The Beast."
There was talk from production executives on the TV series, formally canceled in June, that even during the grueling first half-season of shooting, Swayze only missed a day-and-a-half of work for chemotherapy.
"How do you nurture a positive attitude when all the statistics say you're a dead man?" was a question Swayze posed rhetorically in an interview last October.
Came his reply: "You go to work."
Swayze continued to film "The Beast" while exploring a variety of cutting-edge cancer treatments. He eventually discussed his diagnosis in a January interview with Barbara Walters, noting that his history as an alcoholic, before recovery, and cigarette smoker may have contributed to his illness.
Born in Houston
Swayze was born Aug. 18, 1952, in Houston, to an engineer father and choreographer mother, the owner of a dance school. One of the students at that school was Lisa Niemi, whom Swayze met when she was 15 and he was 19. They married in 1975.
The actor moved to New York in 1972 to train at the Harkness Ballet School and Joffrey Ballet School, which led to his first professional job, as Prince Charming in Disney on Parade. After briefly working on Broadway, where he was a replacement for the Danny Zuko role in the original "Grease," he headed west, earning his first film role in "Skatetown, U.S.A."
Swayze's big break occurred in 1985, when he was cast in the TV miniseries "North and South." "Dirty Dancing," in 1987, was a surprise hit that elevated Swayze to superstar status. He played sinewy dance instructor Johnny Castle, alongside his "Red Dawn" co-star Jennifer Grey. Swayze also sang one of the songs on the soundtrack, "She's Like the Wind," which became a Top 10 hit.
"Ghost," three years later - with its sensual pottery-making scene - appealed in the same way to his legion of fans.
Other films that earned Swayze a loyal following included "Youngblood," "Road House" and "Point Break," in which he was the leader of a gang of surfing criminals pursued by FBI agent Keanu Reeves. Swayze earned a third Golden Globe nomination as a drag performer in 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar."
Finding solace
Swayze's vices, at times, included alcohol and tobacco, crutches he eventually linked to the early death of his father and 1994 suicide of a sister. He found solace in a variety of forms of worship, including Catholicism, Buddhism and Scientology.
"I have a great deal of faith in faith," he once said. "I would like to believe that . . . there's life after death - because if there isn't, why are we here?
". . . Whether it's true or not, we need to believe it."
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