This past Monday, September 14, 2009, we said goodbye to another true inspiration. Patrick Swayze lost his battle with pancreatic cancer after challenging it for a long and very publicized 20 months. He was 57.
Patrick was one of five children brought up in Houston, Texas, by Patsy and Jesse Swayze. His mom was a dance instructor and his father was a champion rodeo cowboy. At his mother’s dance studio, he learned all his moves that would later bring him to fame and even met his future wife there when the two teenagers were pupils there.
He was married June, 12, 1975 to the Lisa Niemi he met in his mother’s dance studio when he was just 15. After both getting dance training, he auditioned and won roles in Broadway productions and starred in a low budget film in 1979, while Lisa supported him. He took small roles in movies and television before he hit his break.
Eight years after his first film, Swayze finally got the role he would be dearly remembered by. He played dance instructor, Johnny Castle, who danced lightly enough to win the hearts of all the ladies in the movie and in the audience in Dirty Dancing. He famously said the line “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.” Three years later, he gained one more nod for another notorious movie, Ghost.
After the roles in the two unexpected hits, he was crowned the King of the Sleepers. He continued to be a box office hit all through out the nineties with these movies: To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Three Wishes, and Letters from a Killer. Many might even remember him from the film adaption of S. E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders, which was before his name was known.
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January 2008. He was photographed through various stages of his illness and people worried for him. He was quoted in his memoir saying, “I began thinking to myself, I’ve had more lifetimes than any 10 people put together, and it’s been an amazing ride. So this is okay.” He was with his wife and brother during his final hours at his ranch in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains near Los Angeles. Many celebrities and directors who had the pleasure of working with him remembered him as “good, funny, he’ll always be near.”
Though many of us didn’t know him personally, I’m sure he left an impact in minds of those who watched anything he starred in. Patrick Swayze was a talented man, a warrior, and a legacy. He will be missed.
