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Patrick Swayze Dies at 57
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15 Sep 2009, 01:29
love♥nik
Post Count: 1010
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Patrick Swayze, whose good looks and sympathetic performances in films such as "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" made him a romantic idol to millions, died Monday, his publicist said, according to CNN affiliate KTLA. Swayze was 57.
Patrick Swayze's doctor revealed in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Patrick Swayze's doctor revealed in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Swayze died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. His doctor, Dr. George Fisher, revealed in early March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from the disease.

Swayze "passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," his publicist, Annett Wolf, said a statement released Monday evening, according to KTLA.

Most recently, Swayze starred in A&E Network's "The Beast," which debuted in January. He agreed to take the starring role of an undercover FBI agent before his diagnosis. The network agreed to shoot an entire season of the show after Swayze responded well to his cancer treatment. iReport.com: Send us your memories of Swayze

In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters in January, Swayze said his work on that show was exhausting, requiring 12-hour workdays in Chicago, Illinois, doing his own stunts. But he said the show's character "just felt right for my soul."

"If I leave this Earth, I want to leave this Earth just knowing I've tried to give something back and tried to do something worthwhile with myself," Swayze told Walters, when asked why he decided to do the show. "And that keeps me going, that gets me up in the morning. My work ... is my legacy."

Swayze was mostly known for a handful of supporting roles when he broke through with his performance as dance instructor Johnny Castle in 1987's "Dirty Dancing."
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* KTLA: Patrick Swayze dies after battle with cancer

Three years later, he became an even bigger star with "Ghost," in which he played an investment banker who dies and learns to tap into his unspoken feelings for his partner (Demi Moore). The film won Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar and helped make Swayze People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991.

''The movies that have had the most powerful effects on my life have been about romantic characters,'' he told Entertainment Weekly in 1990.

He expanded on the effort he put into love scenes for People in 1991.

"It's possibly the scariest thing I do," he said, "doing something so personal and giving people out there the opportunity to see if you're a good kisser or not."

Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on August 18, 1952, in Houston, Texas. His father was an engineering draftsman; his mother was a ballet dancer and later the director of the Houston Ballet Dance Company.

She led her son into the dancing world, which wasn't always easy for a Texas male. Indeed, the young Swayze played football, practiced martial arts and was an accomplished diver and track star while growing up, though he was good enough at dance to earn a college scholarship.

After an early professional job playing Prince Charming in an early '70s version of "Disney on Ice," Swayze returned to Houston, where he met Lisa Niemi, a student of his mother's. The two were married in 1975 and moved to New York to pursue their careers.

Swayze seemed set on a dance career: He studied with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet and joined another company, the Eliot Feld Ballet Company. But surgery for an old football injury ended his ballet career and he turned to acting, nabbing the lead role of Danny Zuko in the long-running Broadway production of "Grease" in 1978, around the time the movie starring John Travolta was hitting theaters. "Grease" earned him some Hollywood attention, and he and Niemi moved West.

After a couple of bit parts, including one in a 1981 episode of "M*A*S*H," Swayze picked up the role of Darry Curtis in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film of "The Outsiders," which also included future stars Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise. Swayze was also one of the leads in 1984's "Red Dawn," about teenagers defending their town from a Soviet attack on America.

But it was with "Dirty Dancing" that Swayze hit it big. The film about a girl's coming of age at a Catskills resort in the early '60s was intended for a limited release but became one of the decade's biggest sleeper hits and made Swayze and co-star Jennifer Grey household names.

The film gave birth to a catchphrase -- "Nobody puts Baby in a corner," spoken by Swayze's character to Grey's domineering father (Jerry Orbach) -- and eventually led to a follow-up, 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." Swayze even sang a Top 10 hit, "She's Like the Wind," on the film's soundtrack.

Swayze, known as a down-to-earth, nice-guy actor, was determined not to follow a predictable career path.

He followed "Dirty Dancing" with "Road House" (1989) in which he played a manager at a rough-and-tumble bar (the film was particularly popular on late-night cable). He succeeded "Ghost" with "Point Break" (1991), about a group of thieves; "City of Joy" (1992), in which he played a doctor in a poverty-stricken Indian village; and "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (1995), in which he starred as a drag queen.

''I don't want to be Mr. Romantic Leading Man. I don't want to be the Dance Dude. I don't want to be the Action Guy. If I had to do any one of those all my life, it'd drive me crazy,'' he told Entertainment Weekly in the 1990 interview.

Swayze's career diminished in the late '90s. He broke both legs in 1997 while making a film, "Letters From a Killer," and went into rehab to overcome an admitted drinking problem. In 2000, he was flying in his own twin-engine plane when the plane depressurized; Swayze landed in a housing development in Arizona. Though some witnesses say he appeared intoxicated, he was later revealed to have been suffering from hypoxia, related to the depressurization and his three-pack-a-day cigarette habit.

Swayze re-established his knack for picking sleepers with "Donnie Darko" (2001), the dark film about a troubled student that became a sensation on video. Swayze played a creepy motivational speaker and won raves for his performance.

Swayze's more recent films included a TV version of "King Solomon's Mines" and 2007's "Christmas in Wonderland."

Though he still had the power to make women's hearts flutter -- 22-year-old Scarlett Johansson, upon receiving Harvard's Hasty Pudding Award in February 2007, said her dream date was "probably Patrick Swayze, my dream come true" -- Swayze wasn't too impressed with himself.
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"Good-looking people turn me off," he once said. "Myself included."

Source
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15 Sep 2009, 11:25
Acid Fairy
Post Count: 1849
I was sure he was going to live.

Cancer is a fucker.

Dirty Dancing is my mom's favourite film and I can see why - god he was sexy when he was young!
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15 Sep 2009, 01:52
Aiure
Post Count: 308
Awww! We all saw it coming, but it still sucks. :(

He put up a good fight, and was in showbiz, doing what he loved, til the end. Kudos to him.
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15 Sep 2009, 03:09
Music God CJ Plain
Post Count: 550
I agree. Classy til the very end.
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15 Sep 2009, 03:11
Let It Be
Post Count: 226
Oh my god, that's so sad. I'm glad he died peacefully. We have the same birthday, too. RIP :(
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15 Sep 2009, 04:52
& skull.
Post Count: 1701
oh :( he was a great actor. from mash to donnie darko.
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15 Sep 2009, 15:48
Chris
Post Count: 1938
Who was he in Donnie Darko again?
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15 Sep 2009, 15:50
& skull.
Post Count: 1701
the motivational speaker/pedofile.
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15 Sep 2009, 05:04
~*Pagan*~
Post Count: 378
Very very sad. I am glad he was with people he loved when he passed.

RIP
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15 Sep 2009, 06:01
RealLifeComics
Post Count: 571
PATTY!!!
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15 Sep 2009, 21:12
~RedFraggle~
Post Count: 2651
So sad. He was very talented. Not surprising though. Pancreatic cancer is a horrible disease. I knew when those pictures of him were published a couple of months back that it wouldn't be much longer. :(
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17 Sep 2009, 07:21
hey JUPITER
Post Count: 3
Very sad about this. A few months ago, some friends and I started watching Patrick Swayze movies every Sunday -- called it "Swayze Sunday." It's become a staple of our week and we're all really sad to hear this.:(
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17 Sep 2009, 10:17
RealLifeComics
Post Count: 571
PATTY!!!
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