WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers

Born: 18th August 1952

Died: 14th September 2009 (aged 57)

Powerhouse of talent, Patrick Wayne Swayze was born to a choreographer and engineer in Houston, Texas, yet his paternal heritage dates back to an Englishman, John Swasey, from Dorset who migrated to New England in the 1600s and it was Swasey’s grandson who was one of the first to use the spelling Swayze. Patrick himself was educated in Houston and attended his mother’s dance school (where he first met his future wife, Lisa). He pursued many pastimes, including dance and martial arts, and he hoped to get a football scholarship for college but a knee injury prevented this. At the age of 20 he moved to New York to complete his formal dance training at the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet schools; his dance training helped get his first stage job, performing in Disney on Parade. His film debut came in 1979 a small role in Skateboarders, U.S.A and some TV roles followed (including a role in M*A*S*H as a soldier who develops leukaemia) but his big break came in 1983 with a film called Outsiders, this was the film that caught directors’ eyes not only for film but also TV, his first major acting role was as Orry Main in ABC’s miniseries about the American Civil War drama North and South (Swayze appeared in both Part 1 and Part 2). The 80s and 90s were big decades in Swayze’s career starting with Dirty Dancing and ending with him being named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive”. In the 00s he appeared in the (now cult) film Donnie Darko (if you haven’t seen it it’s definitely worth a watch or two – second watch is to try and understand what you watched the first time round!). He made a film with his wife, called One Last Dance, and he made his West End debut in Chicago and he appeared in Powder Blue; his first, and only, film with his brother Don. At the end of the 00s he made the pilot for a new crime drama series, The Beast, and although he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer soon after he continued with filming the first season. This was to be his last screen role before his death. The series received a good critical reception but did not go down so well with the viewing public.

I was surprised to find Ghost in pole position on Patrick’s list, seriously thought Dirty Dancing would have pipped it! I enjoy the thriller part of this film more than the romance (blurgh!) and I feel Patrick is better suited to that side too. He has his moments as Sam Wheat but for me he doesn’t connect with Demi Moore in the way he should (actually maybe that’s her not him – I’m not a fan). The lighter side, brought to us by Whoopi Goldberg, is funny, as it should be. Patrick and Whoopi play off each other very well – especially their first scene together.  It’ll come as no surprise that Dirty Dancing is the second film on this list; it’s probably the most iconic film he made and yet Ghost almost doubled its Box Office! Firstly, what I love about Dirty Dancing is the music then it’s the plot. I’m not sure on the casting of ‘Baby’ and Johnny Castle, Swayze’s character, he looks a lot older than her and the more I watch it now the creepier it seems to get – I know he’s supposed to be in his twenties and she’s a teenager but he looks his age (35 at the time) and she does look younger than her 27 years. I have to admit this is one of a few romances I will watch, the plots a little corny but it’s not for that that I watch it it’s to see Swayze dance because he could dance – this man could do it all it seems.

Unfortunately I knew the outcome of Point Break before I saw it – not the complete finale but the main story – but it made no difference to my enjoyment of the film. Swayze plays Bodhi ‘Bodhisattva’, a surfer who befriends Johnny Utah who, unbeknownst to Bodhi, is an undercover FBI agent. This film brings out the best in Swayze its full of action and it looks like Swayze’s own adrenalin lifestyle comes to the fore – I don’t know how much of the stunt work he did himself (insurance being what it was back then) but its obvious that he at least jumps out of a plane himself and some of the surfing.

OK I have to ask what happened to Patrick Swayze? In Red Dawn he was 32 years old but could easily pass as the older brother of the ‘teenagers’ in the film, including Jennifer Grey, but within three years he had aged so much that he looks much too old to play Jennifer Grey’s dancing teacher/love interest in Dirty Dancing! (Maybe it was working with Jennifer Grey – rumour has it they did have a difficult working relationship during both films) Anyway let’s get back to Red Dawn itself, the role of Jed Eckert came very early in Swayze’s portfolio and to be honest it is difficult at first to understand the age gap or relationship between Jed and the boys as they get into the action very quickly and it’s not the best script in the world there’s a lot of explosions and killings but what Swayze has at his disposal he does well – he fits these types of action roles very well. Finally after all these action roles we have a completely different role for Swayze in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar. For those of you that haven’t seen it, or heard of it, you’re in for a surprise as Swayze is drag queen Ms. Vida Boheme (said you’d be surprised). The subtleties of voice, movement and mannerisms of playing a woman are not lost here at first glance you wouldn’t be blamed for not believing that this was Patrick Swayze.

I find it hard to pick my favourite Patrick Swayze role – at one time I would have said that Johnny Castle was but now I find the age difference between the two characters kind of creepy and it slightly effects my viewing – but I have to say that his performance as Ms. Vida Boheme has earned my respect and admiration. As it is I love the film, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, it is fun to watch with incredible actors (totally what you’d think of as out their comfort zones) and evokes many emotions – and it is a tale with a moral that we could all learn from. But there is something about the way he portrays Vida that I love – from the first scene where he steps out of the shower you’d think this was his usual style of film but as soon as he sits at the dressing table you see ‘her’ start to appear then when it comes to scenes where the man comes to the forefront, like when he reacts to the Sheriff, to keep the womanly composure had to be very difficult for Swayze. However much I enjoy a piece of Swayze action (film that is nothing else) To Wong Foo…. is a pleasure to watch anytime just sometimes I need tissues to hand for the ending.

I started this article by calling Patrick Swayze a ‘Powerhouse of talent’ and he was, in fact I would say that he was an anomaly in his time. There were very few actors of his time that could sing, dance, compose, choreograph, perform martial arts and act to the standard that Swayze could. Swayze also bred Arabian horses and rode – in 1997, whilst filming Letters from a Killer, he fell from his horse and hit a tree breaking both of his legs and he suffered four detached tendons in his shoulder. Both he and his wife flew Cessnas; but a bit like his riding didn’t have much luck having had two accidents. Swayze was diagnosed in January 2008 with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. A year later he was hospitalised with pneumonia. Nine months later Patrick Swayze passed away with his family by his side.