'Dirty Dancing' star Patrick Swayze passes away
Sara Carr
Issue date: 9/22/09 Section: Arts & Society
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Nobody put Patrick Swayze in a corner. The beloved actor of "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" fame knew how to play both tough and tender characters in a lengthy career that touched so many audiences worldwide. Besides the aforementioned romance films, his career included "The Outsiders," "Red Dawn," "Road House," "Point Break, and Donnie Darko" (as well as a cameo in "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights"). He worked on the show "The Beast" even when he was going through chemotherapy treatments last year.
The son of a dance instructor and a rodeo cowboy, Swayze grew up in Texas and would meet his future wife, Lisa Niemi, at the dance studio where they lessons as teenagers. They were married for 34 years and shared a love of the outdoors and horseback riding.
Swayze began his career as a dancer, appearing as Danny Zuko in a Broadway production of "Grease." His film debut was in the 1979 film "Skatetown U.S.A," a production about the popular trend of the time, roller disco. He started to break into the Hollywood elite with his starring role in "The Outsiders," a Francis Ford Coppola-directed film that chronicled the lives of young gangsters in the 1950s. In the film, Patrick Swayze played the older brother of Rob Lowe's character, Sodapop.
It wasn't until "Dirty Dancing" became an international sensation in the summer of 1987 that Swayze became an affirmed member of the A-list and earned his first of three Golden Globe nominations.
In the film he stars as the hard-edged Johnny Castle who falls in love with Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Gray), a rich, young and sheltered teenager who vacations with her family at the resort where Johnny teaches dance.
The little independent film shot on a modest budget in locations in Virginia and North Carolina would go on to become one of the biggest blockbusters of that year. Despite mixed reviews among film critics, the movie took on a life of its own earning, $10 million in its first 10 days of release (a feat for the time). "Dirty Dancing" would go on to earn more than $63 million domestically and $170 million worldwide.
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