RIP, Patrick Swayze
Just read the news via Andrew Malcolm at Twitter, just found the story via AP:
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Patrick Swayze has died after a nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Swayze’s publicist Annett Wolf says the 57-year-old “Dirty Dancing” actor died Monday with family at his side. He came forward about his illness last spring, but continued working as he underwent treatments.
It was 1987 when Swayze became a star with his performance in “Dirty Dancing,” a coming-of-age story set in a Catskills resort. The 1990 film “Ghost” cemented his status as a screen favorite.Swayze played a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee through a spirit played by Whoopi Goldberg.
He kept on working even after it was disclosed in March 2008 that he had a particularly deadly form of cancer. He starred in “The Beast,” an A&E; drama series, and said he and his wife were working on a memoir.
I know his most memorable roles were as Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing and Sam Wheat in Ghost, but my favorite role of his was as Orry Main in the mini-series’ North and South I and II, both based on Civil War-era novels by John Jakes. Both of those were filmed before DD.
Come to think of it, I liked him in Roadhouse and The Outsiders, too. And many more.
To see a full Swayze filmography, click here.
My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. May he RIP.