French postcard, no. 3004.
Italian postcard in the World Collection series by Edibos s.r.l., Torino, no. P.c. 100. Photo: Grazia Neri.
British postcard by Santoro Graphics, London, no. C282.
French postcard, no. INC 030.
Both dancing and acting were in his blood
Patrick Wayne Swayze was born in Houston, Texas, in 1952. His mother, Patsy Swayze (née Yvonne Helen Karnes), was a well-known choreographer whose credits include choreography for Urban Cowboy (James Bridges, 1980) and other films. His father, Jesse Wayne, was a chemical plant engineer and a former rodeo cowboy.
Patrick went through school and soon found that both dancing and acting were in his blood. With his mother as his first dance teacher and a father who encouraged him to keep up with sports, young Patrick soon found himself on stage as a dancer as well as an actor. He was also a member of his university's gymnastics team.
He took classes with the Houston Jazz Ballet Company, Harkness Ballet Theatre School (New York) and Joffrey Ballet Company, among others. Finally, he joined Eliot Feld Ballet Company as a dancer. The role of Danny Zuko in the original Broadway production of 'Grease', which had already made John Travolta famous, was the opening to Hollywood for Swayze.
In 1975, he married the dancer, actress and lyricist Lisa Niemi, whom he had known since he was 19 and she was 15 and a student at his mother's dance school. From 1979 he played leading and supporting roles in film and television productions such as the television movie The Renegades (Roger Spottiswoode, 1982) and the feature film The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) with C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon and Tom Cruise.
He became known to a wider audience in the action film The Red Dawn (John Milius, 1984). Worldwide success was the Miniseries North and South (Richard T. Heffron, 1985), based on the trilogy of novels 'North and South' by John Jakes. In the twelve-part miniseries, Swayze played plantation owner Orry Main, one of the two main roles alongside George Hazard, portrayed by James Read. Swayze had a close friendship with James Read for a time.
Australian postcard by TV Hits. Photo: N. Moran / Sygma / Austral International. Photo: Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise in The Outsiders (Francis Coppola, 1983).
Italian postcard by Vittorius, Roma, no. VR 619.
British postcard. Photo: First Independent. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing (Emile Ardolino, 1987).
Italian postcard by Vittorius Roma, no. VR 645. Patrick Swayze in Tiger Warsaw (Amin Q. Chaudhri, 1988).
Struggling with alcohol problems
Patrick Swayze became best known for his role as a dance teacher in the highly successful dance film Dirty Dancing (1987), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. Before his starring role, few fans knew that Swayze was an excellent dancer. In addition to his acting, he also worked as a singer for the film. He contributed the power ballad 'She's Like the Wind' to the film's soundtrack, which charted worldwide.
He played an expert barroom bouncer in the action drama Road House (Rowdy Herrington, Joel Silver, 1989) opposite Kelly Lynch and Ben Gazzara. For his portrayal of Sam Wheat alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Demi Moore in Ghost (Jerry Zucker, 1990), Swayze received his second Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in 1990. The tragicomedy was the highest-grossing film of 1990 and ended up grossing more than $200 million.
The surfing thriller Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991), with Swayze opposite Keanu Reeves, became another worldwide box-office success. He earned another Golden Globe nomination for playing a drag queen in To Wong Foo, thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (Beeban Kidron, 1995).
After the death of his father in 1982, Swayze struggled with alcohol problems. After his sister committed suicide in 1994, he decided to go to rehab. After a three-year break from the film business, Patrick Swayze returned to the screen in Black Dog (Kevin Hooks, 1998) as trucker Jack Crews. After that, he mostly appeared in supporting roles and independent productions such as the dark mystery drama Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Waking Up in Reno (Jordan Brady, 2002) and 11:14 (Greg Marcks, 2003). In December 2003, he returned to Broadway as a replacement for the lead role of Billy Flynn in the acclaimed revival of John Kander & Fred Ebb's musical, 'Chicago'.
In 2008, a spokesman for Patrick Swayze announced that he had pancreatic cancer. The spokesman denied that the actor had a short time to live. At the time, Swayze was responding well to treatment and was able to continue his daily activities. However, his condition worsened and a year and a half later, in 2009, Swayze died at the relatively young age of 57.
French postcard, no. C 155. Patrick Swayze in Next of Kin (John Irvin, 1989).
French postcard, no. INC 028. Patrick Swayze in Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1991).
American postcard by Pik:nik Free Postcards. Image: Tower Records / MCA. Advertising for the soundtrack of To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (Beeban Kidron, 1995) with Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.
British postcard by New-Line, no. 211.
Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Cammila Collar (AllMovie), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.
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