Patrick Swayze, who danced his way into our hearts with "Dirty Dancing" and then later broke them with "Ghost," died today Monday 9/14/07 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57."Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," said a statement released Monday evening by his publicist.
Of course, who can forget his dancing moves and the swagger he had in "Dirty Dancing" but it was the heartfelt role of 'Vida Boheme' that he played in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," that really resonated with me.
The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.
His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.
"I couldn't get seen on it because everyone viewed me as terminally heterosexually masculine-macho," he told the AP then. But he transformed himself so completely that when his screen test was sent to Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin pictures produced "To Wong Foo," Spielberg didn't recognize him.
The other vivid memory I have of his performances was when he hosted SNL and poked fun at himself in a classic sketch, in which he played a wannabe Chippendales dancer alongside the hilarious Chris Farley, who sadly passed away in 1997.I shall always remember Patrick Swayze as a talented and fearless entertainer.
RIP Patrick Swayze
August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009
August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009
I leave you with my top favorite memories of Swayze....
I saw this on my phone this morning. So sad. Nice tribute Gio.
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Aww, Thanks J. Truly sad he's gone. Sniff Sniff.
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