Farewell and thanks for the memory

“Nobody puts baby in the corner” Dirty Dancing film star Patrick Swayze has died aged 57, advised the star’s publicist . Annett Wolf said that the US actor had died after battling pancreatic cancer for almost two years. The star of such classic films as Dirty Dancing and Ghost was diagnosed with advanced stage four pancreatic cancer in January last year. "Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” the statement said, no further details were released. No other details were given. In an interview earlier this year, the 57 year old told Barbara Walters that he was going through hell and was scared of the future, but remained positive on his bleak prognosis. "Am I dying? Am I giving up? Am I on my death bed? Am I saying goodbye to people? No way," he said. "I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life, not lived in the shadow of cancer but in the light," Pancreatic cancer is one of the most virulent types of cancer which medical experts say has a 5% five-year survival rate. Patrick Wayne Swayze, born on 18 August, 1952 in Houston, Texas, he was the son of a choreographer and dance instructor and an engineer and developed into a natural athlete. Later he studied gymnastics for two years and in 1972 he moved to New York to complete his dance training at the Harkness and Joffrey ballet schools. He started professional career dancing professionally with Disney on Parade, he played Prince Charming. He also appeared in the Broadway musical Grease. When he was 27 in 1979, he landed the role of Ace Johnson in the movie Skatetown USA, a rather dire flick about the recent passion for roller discos. Patrick Swayze's big break came at ripe age of 31 starring alongside Rob Lowe in the Outsiders. This 1983 drama, also starred Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez and Matt Dillon, and it’s said, this was the birth of the Brat Pack! His TV breakthrough came in the American civil war miniseries North and South, which received critical acclaim both in the US and the UK and became one of the most successful TV mini-series of all time. It was 1987 when he starred as a naughty dance instructor with a heart of gold in global runaway success Dirty Dancing. It was a low low-budget movie that was intended for a very brief cinema run before going straight to video. However, things didn’t pan out that way and the movie became a modern day classic. Indeed, it was the first film to sell one million copies on video and as of 2007 has earned over £210 million that’s $300 million worldwide. It was also this film that gave Patrick his first and only top 10 song “She's like the Wind” A string of moderately successful action movies followed until 1990 when Swayze again found top form with the box office smash hit Ghost, alongside Demi Moore. It’s a well known Hollywood fact that the role, of a man who comes back from the dead to protect his girlfriend was turned down by several top A-listers including Tom Hanks Paul Hogan and Bruce Willis before Swayze was offered the part. Ghost made over £347million that’s $500million and earned an Academy Award for Whoopi Goldberg, as best supporting actress. Patrick Swayze followed that success with Point Break, a white knuckle action movie about thrill seeking surfers turned bank robbers and it was this film that his title of Sexiest Man Alive, by People magazine. Not very successful, yet earning Swayze brownie points with the gay community was the drag queen flick, “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, where he donned a dress and became tranny Vida Boheme. The film came out around the same time as the more globally successful Pricilla, Queen of the Desert – now a popular West End Musical, however, still raised Swayze’s popularity with us gays. He fell from a horse and broke both his legs in 1996 and the accident prone star was back in the headlines in 2001 when he crash landed his light plain. He never regained the popularity and box office sales as he did with Ghost and Dirty Dancing, despite an all too short role in Donnie Darko. In early 2008, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he then retreated from public life and stayed at his ranch in California, Swayze talked about his health. "I live to keep fit. I don't have any option. I have to flank cattle every day of my life, and train horses, ride fences and dance with my wife." He said. He returned to work, playing veteran FBI agent Charles Barker in The Beast. Swayze's performance was praised by critics as "one of the performances of his career". In January this year he was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, he was released after a few days and insisted he was fighting his cancer as best he could. It’s said that he died on Monday, surrounded by his family. “To Patrick Swayze, farewell and thanks for everything”

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