Everything about Patrick Swayze totally explained
Patrick 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, and the 1990 film
Ghost.
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. According to his website, he's 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.
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). 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, where his earlier ballet experience came to good use. He starred with
Jennifer Grey, who he'd also co-starred with 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'd 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. 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, (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, being filmed in
Chicago; he'll play
FBI Agent Charles Barker.
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, 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. He also made himself unavailable to police for several hours. It was later determined that the alcohol in question wasn't 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's also studied
Bahá'í,
Buddhism, and
Scientology.
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 cause of pancreatic cancer. Swayze was reported to still be smoking, even after receiving chemotherapy.
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'd rewritten his will, transferring his property to his wife.
Filmography
Further Information
Get more info on 'Patrick Swayze'.
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