Patrick Swayze |
News about Patrick Swayze, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times. More
Updated Sept. 14, 2009
Patrick Swayze, the balletically athletic actor who rose to stardom in the films "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" and whose 20-month battle with advanced pancreatic cancer drew wide attention, died on Sept. 14, 2009. He was 57.
Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on Aug. 18, 1952, in Houston, the son of Jesse Wayne Swayze, an engineer and rodeo cowboy, and Patsy Swayze, a dance instructor and choreographer. He began dancing as a child and was often teased about it. But he was also a student athlete, and his dancing career was hampered by a football injury.
His first notable film was "The Outsiders" (1983), a drama about teenage gangs that starred other newcomers including Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon and Emilio Estevez.
Mr. Swayze rose to stardom in 1987 when the coming-of-age film "Dirty Dancing" established him as a romantic leading man. He starred opposite Jennifer Grey as a young working-class dance instructor at a Catskills resort who proved to have more heart, integrity and sex appeal than many of the wealthy guests with whom he was forbidden to fraternize.
He exhibited similar emotional intensity in the supernatural romance "Ghost" (1990), an enormous box-office hit. His character, a loft-living yuppie banker, is murdered early in the film and spends the rest of it as a spirit, desperately trying to communicate with his fiancée (Demi Moore) with the help of a psychic (Whoopi Goldberg). The film, which also showcased his physical grace, solidified his stardom.
Mr. Swayze's cancer was diagnosed in January 2008. Six months later he had already outlived his prognosis and was filmed at an airport, smiling at photographers and calling himself, only half-facetiously, "a miracle dude."
He even went through with plans to star in "The Beast," a drama series for the A&E network. He filmed a complete season while undergoing treatment. Mr. Swayze insisted on continuing with the series. "How do you nurture a positive attitude when all the statistics say you're a dead man?" he told The New York Times in October 2008. "You go to work."
Read the entire obituary by Anita Gates.
Patrick Swayze's Rise to Stardom
Patrick Swayze, who solidified his leading man status with films like "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" and who fought a public battle with pancreatic cancer, has died. He was 57.
The Caucus
A Celebrity Push on Pancreatic Cancer
Lisa Niemi Swayze, the widow of the actor Patrick Swayze, is lobbying for more attention to the disease that killed her husband.
Summer DVDs
Sit Down, Cool Off and Fire Up a DVD
Want a film for a quiet Sunday? How about "Barbarella" (1968)?
Stars of 'Ghost: The Musical' in London to Move With Show to Broadway
The show is to begin previews in March.
See You in the Next Life: 'Point Break' Is Hollywood's Latest Planned Remake
Kathyrn Bigelow's original 1991 film starred Keanu Reeves as an F.B.I. agent infiltrating a ring of surfers-cum-bank robbers; the new movie will be set in the world of international extreme sports.
'Ghost' Musical to Materialize on Broadway in the Spring
The musical, which features a book by Bruce Joel Rubin adapted from his screenplay, and a score by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, will open in April at a Nederlander Theater to be determined.
Patrick Swayze's 'Hills and Valleys'
A look at the varied career of the actor, who is starring in a new television series less than a year after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Grim Readers
Why are the baby boomers turning to the obituary pages?
Patrick Swayze, Star of 'Dirty Dancing,' Dies at 57
Mr. Swayze was a balletically athletic actor who rose to stardom in the films "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost."
Arts, Briefly
Patrick Swayze Is Back Home
Patrick Swayze, who was hospitalized a week ago with pneumonia, was released on Friday and was resting at his Los Angeles-area home, People magazine reported.
Swayze's Best Act: Being Able to Show Up
Diagnosed less than a year ago with pancreatic cancer, the actor is defying expectations and putting in 12-hour days as the lead in a television series, "The Beast" on A&E.
Patrick Swayze's New TV Series Will Proceed Despite His Cancer
Patrick Swayze, who only a few months ago was found to have a life-threatening case of pancreatic cancer, has recovered enough that his planned drama series for the A&E network will go into production.
TELEVISION REVIEW
For Dancing Schools These Days, a New Core Curriculum
Virginia Heffernan reviews WE reality series Dirty Dancing; photo (M)
TV Review | 'Dirty Dancing'
"Dirty Dancing," the reality series now on WE, pairs reality-ready babes with swashbuckling dance instructors in a bid to conjure the old Patrick Swayze-Jennifer Grey magic.
Mary Poppins's Dotty Doppelgänger
The dark British comedy ''Keeping Mum'' exudes the comfy familiarity of a vintage episode of ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' stretched into a feature-length film. All that's missing is a mordant epilogue by the master of suspense himself reassuring us with lofty comic hauteur that justice will eventually be visited upon the guilty. This particular story trafficks in the same black humor as the episode in which a mischievous murderess (played by Barbara Bel Geddes, if I remember correctly) ends up serving the murder weapon (a leg of lamb) to the police. In ''Keeping Mum,'' Maggie Smith, her tongue digging a hole in her cheek, is Grace Hawkins, a seemingly angelic old lady who materializes almost Mary Poppins-like in the English village of Little Wallop, population 57. No sooner has she begun working as a housekeeper for the local vicar's troubled family than she sets about solving their problems, large and small.
Movie Review | 'Keeping Mum'
This dark British comedy exudes the comfy familiarity of a vintage episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" stretched into a feature-length film.
On London Stage, Celebrity Doesn't Ensure Quality
Several big names are looking smaller-than-life when glimpsed in three dimensions on the London stage.
An Interview With S. E. Hinton
An Outsider, Out of the Shadows
Profile of and interview with S E Hinton, whose 1967 book, The Outsiders, about teenage gangs and alienated youth in Tulsa during 1960's, transformed young-adult fiction genre; Susan Eloise Hinton, who has never allowed photos of herself to be included on jacket covers and has rarely spoken publicly or in interviews, breaks carefully preserved secrecy for release of re-cut DVD version of Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film of The Outsiders; photos (M)
Residents of Florida Flee Storm and Hiltons
Residents of Florida Flee Storm and Hiltons Tropical Storm DIDDY reached the Florida coast four days before the MTV Video Music Awards, officially touching down yesterday at the Hotel MTV (um, the Doubletree Surfcomber) almost two hours after he was supposed to touch down officially. Apprehensive guests at the hotel were forced to cope during his delay by playing video games, sweating and getting henna tattoos.
The Time of Their Lives, Live
Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story Onstage, starring Josef Brown and Kim Valentine, has found success at Royal Theater in Sydney; script writer and producer Eleanor Bergstein comments on plans for tour to other major cities worldwide; photos (M)
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