The man who uttered the line "Nobody puts Baby in the corner"; motivated many a bride to willingly be hoisted aloft on their wedding day by their quivering husbands; and inspired many a man to consider taking dance/pottery classes, died in Los Angeles yesterday, aged 57.
His publicist, Annett Wolf, has issued this satement: "Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months."
Swayze went public with his pancreatic cancer battle in early 2008 and underwent regular bouts of chemotherapy as he repeatedly denied tabloid reports he was close to death after learning the cancer had spread to his liver.
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 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 in1983.
But it was Swazye's role as dance instructor, Johnny Castle, in 1987's Dirty Dancing that catapulted him into the Hollywood 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, which earned him 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 RoadHouse.
In 1991, he was named People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive - and 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 nomination. The new century brought him small parts in films like Donny Darko and he wrapped up his career with a lead role in TV cop drama The Beast, which he concluded as he battled cancer.
One of his most moving appearances came during the Stand Up To Cancer fundraiser a year ago (Sep08), 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."
The actor is survived by his high school sweetheart, Lisa Niemi, who he married in1975.