Patrick Swayze died at 57

THE EXAMINER story below.


This news was upsetting. I remember Dirty Dancing and Roadhouse.


Who could forget the dynamic job he did in GHOST.

Those are the three movies that stand out in my head the most. He was a great

actor and played his roles very well.

                    Patrick Swayze died of pancreatic cancer.





The news as it first came over the AP wire was "Patrick Swayze at 57": they'd forgotten to put the "died" part in the headline. Given that we all know that Swayze had been battling with pancreatic cancer for a couple of years (when the prognosis is usually less than 6 months) there wasn't that much surprise when the headline in its next incarnation was "Patrick Swayze died at 57".

The British newspapers have been giving huge coverage to this news of Patrick Swayze's death from pancreatic cancer. The Telegraph collected quotes from those who knew him:

Demi Moore, who played Swayze's fiancee in Ghost, wrote: "Patrick you are loved by so many and your light will forever shine in all of our lives."

Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher, tweeted: "RIP P Swayze".

(One might want to make a note about Demi Moore's Twitter there. We usually use the past tense about those, like Swayze, who have died, not the present. And, err, that particular sentiment, shouldn't it have been said to Patrick Swayze while he was alive? As for Ashton Kuchner's Twitter: are there really a million people signed up to follow such pearls of wisdom as might come from a bookend?)

The Telegraph also collects facts and figures about Patrick Swayze's life:

Swayze's movie characters had some lines that became cultural catch phrases, such as, "Pain don't hurt" from his role in "Road House." Author Marcus Eder compiled Swayze's movie lines and compared them to the words of Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu in "Nobody Puts Swayze in a Corner: The Tao of Swayze." The title refers to his often-cited line "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!" from "Dirty Dancing." Proceeds from the book went to the American Cancer Society.

The Guardian goes with a more traditional retelling of the highpoints of Swayze's life:

The Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze died last night after living with pancreatic cancer for almost two years. The star of Dirty Dancing and Ghost was 57.

Swayze went public with his illness in the spring last year, and worked while he underwent treatment. He was writing a memoir and recently made The Beast, a well-received cable TV series about a veteran FBI agent.

Days ago it was reported he had left hospital to be at home with his wife, Lisa Niemi, his childhood sweetheart from Houston.

The Times gives him a full obituary:

Patrick Swayze was in his mid-thirties when he became an overnight sensation in 1987 with the romantic dance movie Dirty Dancing, in which he played the dance instructor Johnny Castle, and Jennifer Grey was his pupil Baby. The film cost $5 million and was intended primarily for video, but it grossed more than $200 million worldwide and was one of the biggest hits of the year.

Plus a series of tributes from those who knew him:

Patrick Swayze’s Dirty Dancing co-star Jennifer Grey led tributes to the actor who died last night, describing the former dancer as a “real cowboy with a tender heart”.

Grey, 49, played the naive teenager who falls in love with Swayze’s sultry dance instructor in the hit movie which became a cult classic after its release in 1987. The pair’s on-screen chemistry – best highlighted in their sizzling dance moves and the famous lift scene in a lake – helped turn both actors into Hollywood stars.

"When I think of him, I think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing, practising the lift in the freezing lake, having a blast doing this tiny little movie we thought no one would ever see," Grey, who played Frances 'Baby' Houseman, told People magazine.

Plus a straight news report of Swayze's death:

The American actor Patrick Swayze died last night after almost two years battling pancreatic cancer.

The Mail offers a combination of all three types of story, the obituary (including some wonderful photos and pictures of a young Patrick Swayze), the celebrity quotes and the news story:

Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on 'man's greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature's laws,' he said in 2004.

The Express notes his anger at the reports from last year that he was about to die imminently:

In May 2008, Swayze slammed the media for spreading the false information, stating, "Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease and from the moment I was diagnosed, I knew I was in for the fight of my life. It's a battle, and so far, I've been winning. I'm one of the lucky few that responds well to treatment.

"It's upsetting that the shoddy and reckless reporting from these publications cast a negative shadow on the positive and good fight I'm fighting. For me, my family, and those close to me, it amounts to downright emotional cruelty. That makes me angry when hope is so precious."

And The Sun gives us this quotation:

Actor Rob Lowe - who co-starred with Swayze in '80s flicks The Outsiders and Young Blood - said he had "lost a brother".

Speaking in Toronto, Lowe said: "Patrick lived a thousand lifetimes in one lifetime.

"He was an expert dancer, he wrote hit songs, he starred in hit movies, he was an amazing horseman.

"But the thing I will remember him most for was his amazing love affair with his wife Lisa."

Patrick Swayze: a talented man who used his talent, a loving man who loved his wife. There has to be a suspicion that most of us would be happy to be remembered that way.