Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze
Occupation(s)	actor, dancer, singer and songwriter
Years active	1978 - present
Spouse(s)	Lisa Niemi, 1975 - Present

Patrick Wayne Swayze (Template:PronEng, born August 18 1952) is an American dancer, actor, singer and songwriter. His breakthrough role was as the dance instructor in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, and he also had a hit with the 1990 film Ghost.

Biography

Early life

Swayze was born in Houston, Texas to Jesse Wayne Swayze and choreographer and ballet school owner Patsy Swayze. According to his website, he is part Apache. His brother, Don Swayze, is also an actor. Swayze attended St Rose of Lima Catholic School, Oak Forest Elementary School, Black Middle School, and Waltrip High School in Houston. For most of his life, he lived in the Oak Forest area. His formal dance training was at the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet Schools in New York City.

Career

Swayze's first professional appearance was as a dancer for Disney on Parade, then in the Broadway production of Grease, before his debut film role as Ace in Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979). He also appeared in the M*A*S*H episode "Blood Brothers" (Episode 9.18, 6 April 1981).

Swayze's first roles were in films such as The Outsiders (1983), Red Dawn (1984) and Youngblood (1986) but his first major success was in the 1985 television mini-series North and South, which was set during the Civil War. His real breakthrough to stardom came with his performance as the dance instructor in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, where his earlier ballet experience came to good use. He starred with Jennifer Grey, who had also co-starred in Red Dawn. Dirty Dancing was originally a low-budget project that was intended to show in theaters for one weekend only and then go straight to video, but it became a surprise hit, and achieved massive international success. It was the first film to sell one million copies on video, and as of 2007 has earned over $US 300 million worldwide and spawned several alternate versions ranging from a television series to stage productions to a computer game. Swayze received a Golden Globe Award nomination for the role, and also sang one of the songs on the soundtrack, "She's Like the Wind", which he had originally co-written with Stacy Widelitz for the film Grandview, U.S.A.. The song became a top-10 hit, and has been covered by other artists such as David Hasselhoff, and in 2006 was converted into a hip-hop version by Lumidee, who brought it to the top of the charts in Germany. After the success of Dirty Dancing, Swayze found himself heavily typecast and appeared in a series of flops. In 1989, he starred in the well-received Road House. However, his biggest hit came in 1990 when he starred in Ghost, working with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. This role had considerable cultural impact, and modern hip-hop lyrics routinely use the phrase "Like a Swayze", referring to that film (for more info, see the "Cultural Impact" section of the movie "Ghost"). In 1991 he starred alongside "Youngblood" castmate Keanu Reeves in another major action hit, Point Break.

In 1996, Swayze was seriously injured while filming the HBO Letters from a Killer in the Ione area, when he fell from a horse and hit a tree. Both of his legs were broken, and he suffered four detached tendons in his shoulder. Filming was suspended for two months, but the film finally aired in 1999. Swayze recovered from his injuries, but had trouble finding work until 2000, when he co-starred in Waking Up in Reno with Billy Bob Thornton and Charlize Theron, and Forever Lulu with Melanie Griffith.

He made the news again on June 1, 2000 when flying with his dogs in his twin-engine Cessna from Van Nuys, California to Las Vegas, New Mexico. The plane developed a pressurization problem over northern Arizona, and Swayze made a precautionary landing on a dirt road in a housing complex in Prescott Valley, striking a light pole (with his right wing) that he hadn't seen from the air. Swayze was unhurt, locked up the cockpit and left it parked in the subdivision. He took his dogs and obtained a ride from a passing vehicle, allegedly to telephone authorities. According to the police report, witnesses said that Swayze appeared to be extremely intoxicated and asked for help in removing evidence (including an open bottle of wine and a 30-pack of beer) from the crash site. He also made himself unavailable to police for several hours. It was later determined that the alcohol in question was not in the cabin but stored in external storage compartments inaccessible in flight and the alleged "intoxication" was due to the effects of hypoxia during descent.

In 2001 he appeared in Donnie Darko, and in 2004 played Allan Quatermain in King Solomon's Mines; he also had a cameo appearance in the Dirty Dancing sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, where he played a dance instructor.

He made his London stage debut in the musical Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit on July 27, 2006 alongside Neil Jerzak, and remained in the role until November 25, 2006. He had appeared on the Broadway stage in productions of Goodtime Charley (1975), and Chicago (2003).

Swayze's latest starring role was the film Christmas in Wonderland. In August of 2007 Swayze played an aging rock star in the upcoming film "Powder Blue", co-starring with his younger brother Don Swayze, in their first film together. Swayze is currently working on an A&E pilot/FBI drama The Beast, being filmed in Chicago. He will play FBI Agent Charles Barker.

Personal life

Swayze has been married to Lisa Niemi since 1975. The couple has been together since Lisa, at 15, began dance lessons with Swayze's mother.

His father died of a heart attack. Swayze attended a clinic to overcome alcoholism after his sister Vicky passed away. After initial recovery, he retreated to his ranches in California and New Mexico to breed Arabian horses. His best-known horse was the late Tammen, a chestnut Arabian stallion. He also follows several spiritual traditions. Brought up a Roman Catholic, he has also studied Bahá'í, Buddhism, and Scientology. Both Swayze and actor William Holden (Real name William Franklin Beedle) are direct descendants of Samuel and Penelope Horton Swazey (old spelling of Swayze name) making them distant cousins.

Cancer

Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late January 2008 and has been undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments at the Stanford University Medical Center. A March 5, 2008 Reuters article reports that Swayze "has a very limited amount of disease, and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far." Swayze's doctor has confirmed the actor has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but insists he's not as close to death as reports suggest. Swayze has admitted to have smoked up to three packs of cigarettes per day, which can be a leading cause of pancreatic cancer. Swayze was reported to still be smoking, even after receiving chemotherapy.

Selected filmography

Year	Movie	Role	Other notes
1983	Uncommon Valor	Kevin Scott
	The Outsiders	Darrel "Darry" Curtis
1984	Red Dawn	Jed Eckert
	Grandview, U.S.A.	Ernie "Slam" Webster
1986	Youngblood	Derek Sutton
1987	Dirty Dancing	Johnny Castle
	Steel Dawn	Nomad
1988	Tiger Warsaw	Chuck "Tiger" Warsaw
1989	Next of Kin	Truman Gates	Nominated for Razzie Award for Worst Actor
	Road House	Dalton	Nominated for Razzie Award for Worst Actor
1990	Ghost	Sam Wheat
1991	Point Break	Bodhi
1992	City of Joy	Max Lowe
1993	Father Hood	Jack Charles
1995	Disney's Tall Tale	Pecos Bill
	Three Wishes	Jack McCloud
	To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar	Vida Boheme
1998	Letters from a Killer	Race Darnell
	Black Dog	Jack Crews
2001	Donnie Darko	Jim Cunningham
	Green Dragon	Gunnery Sergeant Jim Lance
2002	Waking Up in Reno	Roy Kirkendall
2003	11:14	Frank
2004	Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights	Dance class instructor
	Dragon Sword	Garth
	King Solomon's Mines	Allan Quatermain
2005	Keeping Mum	Lance
	Icon	Jason Monk
2006	The Fox and the Hound 2	Cash (voice)
2007	Jump!	Richard Pressburger
	Christmas in Wonderland	Wayne Saunders
2008	Powder Blue	TBA	post-production

Pop culture references

• In the 2006 song, Ghost Ride It by Mistah F.A.B., one of the verses in the lyrics is, "Ghost ride, ghost ride, get out the way, let Casper drive, ghost ride, go crazy, who's that drivin'? Patrick Swayze!"
• In Lazy Sunday, the phrase "I'm Ghost like Swayze" is used as a farewell
• In an episode of Full House Kimmy sleeps over and they have a "Crazy for Swayze Night".

References

• Patrick Swayze at IMDb

• Patrick Swayze at the Internet Broadway Database

External links

• Patrick Swayze International Fan Club