Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze in Ghost
Patrick Swayze, the star of Dirty Dancing and Ghost, died from complications from pancreatic cancer yesterday in Los Angeles. Swayze was 57.
The Texan-born Swayze (on Aug. 18, 1952, in Houston), whose background included classical dance training, became a star after playing the romantic lead in the sleeper hit Dirty Dancing (1987), directed by Emile Ardolino and co-starring Jennifer Grey. However, Swayze's follow-up releases — the little-seen Tiger Warsaw; Next of Kin, as a rough cop; and Road House, as a bouncer — were disappointments.
Swayze's career took another upward turn with Jerry Zucker's Ghost, a 1990 supernatural romantic comedy-melorama-thriller in which he dies but hangs around so as to find out the identity of his murderer. Demi Moore played the bereaved girlfriend, while Whoopi Goldberg won a best supporting actress Oscar for her fake seancemeister who, much to her surprise, discovers that she actually can see and chat with ghosts. Throughout it all, a version of the Academy Award-nominated ditty "Unchained Melody" (from the 1955 B-movie Unchained) could be heard in the background.
Despite misgivings in some quarters about the quality of the acting of the two romantic leads and the saccharine tendencies of Bruce Joel Rubin's storyline, Ghost turned into a worldwide box-office hit. It even earned an Academy Award nod for Best Picture, an announcement that drew gasps and laughter from the crowd of reporters at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Among Swayze's other film roles — none of which came close to matching the financial success of either Dirty Dancing or Ghost — were those of an idealistic American doctor working the slums of Calcutta in the poorly received City of Joy (1992), a drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995), and an angel-cum-tramp in Three Wishes (1995).
At one point, Swayze developed a serious drinking problem, but publicly stated that he was able to overcome it with the help of his wife, fellow dancer Lisa Niemi.
His last appearance in front of the cameras was in the television series The Beast.
Patrick was an amazing actor and a big inspiration for me. His last show was also incredible – I will miss his presence.
Patrick Swayze is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood, he would surely be missed by a lot of his fan.
Patrick Swayze was one of my favorite actors. i always watch his last television series which is The Beast.
Patrick Swayze is one of the greatest actors that i have ever seen. we would miss him just like the king of pop.
This is a terrible loss, for his wife-first, then for his extended family and friends, then for Hollywood. He was a great actor and now cancer took his life. Well, life is short and the unexpected does happen!
He had such an accomplished life, though he died so young, at least it was complete. It is so sad to hear about his death from Pancreatic cancer. My great aunt just died of Pancreatic cancer, and her sister died of it several years ago. It is such a painful thing to watch, knowing that they are suffering and even with the care of a nurse, it is just knowing that their days are numbered that makes it so hard. Prayers go out to his family.