Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on August 18, 1952, in Houston, Texas. The son of Jesse and Patsy, he went against the grain of most Texas boys by immersing himself in dance and eventually in New York City at the dancing schools Joffrey and Harkness. Patrick Swayze’s dance moves paid off, first in Disney on Parade as a dancer, and later on Broadway in a production of Grease.
The movies soon followed for Patrick Swayze, who made his motion picture debut as Ace in 1979′s rollerskating disco extravaganza, Skatetown USA. After guest-starring in a 1981 episode of M*A*S*H, he was cast alongside future stars Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Matt Dillon in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 drama The Outsiders. A year later, he starred with Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Grey in the World War III drama Red Dawn, but his next movie with Jennifer Grey would make him a superstar.
Patrick Swayze stars in dirty dancing and ghost
In 1987, Patrick Swayze re-teamed with Jennifer Grey for the low-budget Dirty Dancing, about a 1950s teenager who hooks up with her steamy dance partner. Intended as a straight-to-video release, its limited theatrical run defied all expectations and it wound up as one of the decade’s best-known hits. Patrick Swayze followed it up with the bone-crunching drama Road House as a bouncer taking out the trash at a seedy bar.
1990 saw Patrick Swayze star opposite Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, a film about a recently deceased man trying to warn his girlfriend that she is still in danger. As with Dirty Dancing, Ghost was not expected to rake in the box office, but it did just that and renewed Patrick Swayze’s leading-man star power. A year later, he starred as surfer dude/bank robber Bodhi opposite Keanu Reeves in the fast-paced action Point Break. These two films proved to be Patrick Swayze’s biggest hits of the ’90s.
Patrick Swayze stars in to wong foo and donnie darko
In 1995, Patrick Swayze went completely against his “usual” type of character to play a drag queen Vida Boheme in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, which also costarred the unlikely duo of Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo. To Wong Foo was Patrick Swayze’s last major hit of the ’90s, as he shifted towards character-driven roles that would allow him to better flex his creative muscles. One of these was 2000′s Donnie Darko, a cult favorite that had Patrick Swayze starring as a self-help expert with skeletons in his closet.
More recently, Patrick Swayze revisited some of the characters and crafts that first made him famous. He had reprised his Johnny Castle role for a cameo in 2004′s Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and invaded the London stage for a turn in Guys and Dolls in 2006. In 2008, Patrick Swayze won the lead in A&E’s crime pilot, The Beast, and also starred in the drama Powder Blue with Jessica Biel, Ray Liotta and Forest Whitaker.
Patrick Swayze dies from pancreatic cancer
In 2008, Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He battled the illness for 20 months before passing away on September 14, 2009. His wife and family were at his side.
Buying cigarettes is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?
