Patrick Swayze

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Image:Rhghguh.jpg Swayze on the red carpet at the 1989 Academy Awards, March 29, 1989
Born	August 18, 1952 (1952-08-18) (age 55) Houston, Texas, USA
Occupation	actor, dancer, singer and songwriter
Years active	1978 - present
Spouse(s)	Lisa Niemi, 1975- present

Patrick Wayne Swayze (born August 18, 1952) is an American dancer, actor, and songwriter. His best-known movie roles have been the romantic leads in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, Point Break and the 1990 film Ghost.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 3.1 Cancer 4 Filmography 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Swayze was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Patricia "Patsy" Yvonne Helen (née Karnes), a choreographer, dance instructor, and dancer, and Jesse Wayne Swayze, an engineering drafter.^[1] According to his website, he is part Apache. His brother, Don Swayze, is also an actor.

Until age 20, Swayze lived in the Oak Forest area, where he attended St Rose of Lima Catholic School, Oak Forest Elementary School, Black Middle School, and Waltrip High School. During this time, he also pursued multiple artistic and athletic skills such as ice skating, classical ballet, and acting in school plays. He studied gymnastics at nearby San Jacinto College for two years, before leaving to tour with Disney on Ice in the lead role of Prince Charming.

In 1972, he moved to New York City to complete his formal dance training at the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet Schools.

[edit] Career

Swayze's first professional appearance was as a dancer for Disney on Parade. He starred as "Danny Zuccho" 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. In the episope Swayze plays a soldier that finds out he has leukemia, thus he can not donate blood to his friend. Because they have the same blood type they considered each other blood brothers. Many of 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 American Civil War.

His real breakthrough to stardom came with his performance as the dance instructor in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, alongside his Red Dawn costar Jennifer Grey where his earlier ballet experience came to good use. 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; it 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 Dirty Dancing, Swayze found himself heavily typecast as beefcake and appeared in several flops, of which Road House (1989) was the most successful. His biggest hit came in 1990 when he starred in Ghost with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.^[2] This role had considerable cultural impact, and modern hip-hop lyrics routinely use the phrase "I'm Swayze" (meaning "I'm ghost," which is in turn slang for "I'm leaving") in reference 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, and was also chosen by People magazine as that year's "Sexiest Man Alive".

Swayze was seriously injured in 1996 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 resuming his career until 2000, when he co-starred in Waking Up in Reno with Billy Bob Thornton and Charlize Theron, and in Forever Lulu with Melanie Griffith.

In 2001 he appeared in Donnie Darko, where he played a psychologist who was secretly a paedophile, and in 2004 he played Allan Quatermain in King Solomon's Mines. He also had a cameo appearance in the Dirty Dancing sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), as an unnamed 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. His previous appearances on the Broadway stage had included productions of Goodtime Charley (1975), and Chicago (2003).

Swayze's latest starring role was in the film Christmas in Wonderland (2007). In August of 2007 Swayze played an aging rock star in the upcoming film "Powder Blue" (slated for 2008 release), 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, filming in Chicago in summer 2008; he will play FBI Agent Charles Barker. The Beast is scheduled to air in early 2009. ^[3]

[edit] Personal life

Swayze has been married to Lisa Niemi since 1975. The couple first met in 1970 when Lisa, at age 14, was taking dance lessons from Swayze's mother. Niemi was born in Houston, Texas to her Finnish-American parents Edmond Melvin Haapaniemi and Edna Karin Hyttinen.

As a reaction to his father's death by heart attack in 1982, Swayze began to drink heavily. His sister Vicky passed away in 1994,^[4] leading him to seek treatment for alcoholism. After initial recovery, he temporarily withdrew from show business, retreating to his ranches in California and New Mexico to breed Arabian horses. His best-known horse was the late Tammen, a chestnut Arabian stallion.

Swayze 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. His plane developed a pressurization problem over northern Arizona, causing Swayze to make a precautionary landing on a dirt road in a housing complex in Prescott Valley. The plane's right wing struck a light pole that he hadn't seen from the air, but Swayze was unharmed. He locked up the cockpit, left it parked in the subdivision, and obtained a ride (with his dogs) from a passing vehicle, allegedly in order to telephone the authorities. According to the police report, witnesses said that Swayze appeared to be extremely intoxicated and asked for help to remove evidence (including an open bottle of wine and a 30-pack of beer) from the crash site.^[5] 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 that the alleged "intoxication" was due to the effects of hypoxia during descent.

He has followed several spiritual traditions. Brought up a Roman Catholic, he has also studied Bahá'í, Buddhism, and Scientology.

[edit] 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.^[6][7] 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."^[8] 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 cause of pancreatic cancer. Swayze was reported to still be smoking, even after receiving chemotherapy.^[9]

In early May, 2008 it was widely reported in a number of tabloids that Swayze had undergone surgery to remove part of his stomach after the spread of the cancer, and that he had rewritten his will, transferring his property to his wife.^[10][11] In a statement made on May 28, Swayze said that he continues to respond well to treatment at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto. In late May, he was seen at a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game - his first public appearance since his diagnosis in 2008^[12]

[edit] 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	Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Actor Comedy or Musical
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	Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Actor Comedy or Musical
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	Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Actor Comedy or Musical
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	One Last Dance	Travis MacPhearson	Directed by his wife Lisa
	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
2010	Point Break 2 (rumored)	Bodhi	pre-production

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Patrick Swayze at the Internet Movie Database
• Patrick Swayze at the Internet Broadway Database
• Patrick Swayze International Fan Club

Preceded by Tom Cruise

People's Sexiest Man Alive 1991

Succeeded by Nick Nolte