Actor Patrick Swayze dies at 57 tonight--losing his brave 21 month long fight against Pancreatic cancer says publicist Annett Wolf.
Born in Houston, Texas, Swayze moved to New York to train as a professional ballet dancer before taking the lead role of Danny Zuko in the Broadway production of the hit musical Grease.
He had bit parts on TV in shows like"M*A*S*H"and then broke into movies with a leading role in Francis Ford Coppola's cult hit The Outsiders in 1983. The next year, Swayze starred in Red Dawn.
But it was Swazye's role as dance instructor Johnny Castle in 1987's Dirty Dancing that catapulted him onto the A-list.
He also established himself as a recording artist, performing the song he co-wrote for the movie's soundtrack, She's Like the Wind Lyrics which became a top 10 hit in the U.S.
He matched his Dirty Dancing success three years later in Ghost, opposite Demi Moore, and also found big screen acclaim in cult movies Point Break and Road House.
He tested his hunk status in 1995 by playing a drag queen on a road trip in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, which earned him his third Golden Globe Award nomination.
The 21st century saw Swayze take small parts in films like one of my faves Donnie Darko And his career swan song was the lead role in the 1 season TV cop drama The Beast, which he did as be battled cancer.
One of his most moving appearances came during the Stand Up To Cancer fundraiser a year ago, when he made an emotional appeal for donations to further cancer research, saying: "I dream that the word 'cure' will no longer be followed by the words 'it's impossible.' Together, we can make a world where cancer no longer means living with fear, without hope, or worse." ...
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