Texas Actor/Dancer Patrick Swayze Loses Battle with Cancer

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Patrick Swayze

It is with great sadness to report that after 20 months of battling pancreatic cancer, Texas-born actor/dancer Patrick Swayze passed away on Monday.

Patrick Swayze was born on August 18, 1952 in Houston, where his mother Patsy Swayze was well known for her dance school. I remember stories my Aunt Judy told me after Dirty Dancing came out about "Pat" when he was a pre-teen. She would go to Patsy's dance studio with her best friend, and recalls Patrick hanging around the dance studio and getting underfoot.  At the time he was about 13 years old and was not into dancing. Patrick later graduated from Waltrip High School in Houston and then "San Jack," as San Jacinto College is known.

He went on to follow in his mother's footsteps and became a professional dancer, performing with the Feld, Joffrey and Harkness Ballets and appearing on Broadway as Danny Zuko in Grease. He met his wife Lisa Niemi when she was a student of his mother's, and they married in 1975. After a series of injuries, Patrick turned his attention to acting in 1978. 

Although his first film was Skatetown, U.S.A., in 1979, Patrick Swayze's first memorable role was his portrayal as the fatherly older brother Darrel "Dary" Curtis in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders (1983). The next year, Patrick was back again as a protective older sibling in the post-apocalyptic film Red Dawn, which featured an emotionally powerful scene between Patrick as Jed Eckert and Harry Dean Stanton as Mr. Eckert. His acting career has spanned numerous genres and unforgettable characters, from bad boy Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing to loving husband Sam Wheat in Ghost to the refined Vida Boheme in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Love Julie Newmar.

His most recent feature role was in A&E's critically acclaimed The Beast as a veteran FBI agent. Patrick was stricken with unexplained illness during filming and then diagnosed in January 2008 with pancreatic cancer, at which time he was told that he might only have weeks to live. Regardless of the original prognosis, his health had improved somewhat following treatment until recently.

Patrick and his wife Lisa Niemi had a horse ranch not far from Tomball, and were often seen in town at the local feed store. As a licensed pilot, Lisa was able to fly her husband to Stanford Cancer Center for treatment.

Patsy Swayze was choreographer for Urban Cowboy and Hope Floats which were filmed in Texas. She moved out to California after Patrick started his acting career. His aunt Diana Latham resides in Austin, and had this to say in a March 2008 interview with Michael Barnes, Entertainment Editor for the Austin-American Statesman:

"All this stuff you’ve heard about Patrick being a good guy: He is," says Latham, who believes her nephew, a high school football player himself, inherited the Karnes stamina. "If anyone can make it, he can."

Patrick Swayze will be sorely missed by many people across the world, but especially in the heart of Texas.