Yesterday, Patrick Swayze died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.
I will remember him the most in the following movies: Dirty Dancing (1987), Ghost (1990) and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
His performances in those three movies were moving and memorable, with the latter role the most sympathetic, in my opinion.
I saw Swayze's interview with Barbara Walters on TV early this year. It was an interesting glimpse of his life, thoughts, fears and suffering brought on by the cancer as he mentioned writhing on the bathroom floor in pain. He and his wife, Lisa Niemi, of thirty four years had no children but doted on their many horses at their ranch. Yet, I remember hearing almost a hint of regret for not having children of their own given what they know of his mortality.
The interview was sobering as Lisa started to break down towards the end despite the image of strength and willpower. She is simply human ... and also a woman and a wife.
As I combed through the internet for a photo to accompany this blog, I saw a collection showing Swayze being out and about, dated April 7, 2009. I was shocked and in disbelief about how aged he looked like, initially not recognizing that it was him. His face was punishingly gaunt and his body looked very thin and fragile, as if he aged by thirty years! In one of the photos, he was holding a cigarette. I read that he never hid his chain smoking habit. He talked about his smoking in the Walters interview ... I wasn't sure if he was being smug about it or just fatefully resigned about its irrelevance.
He may now just be dancing somewhere, with the vibrancy of his role as dance instructor Johnny Castle, having a pain-free time of his life beyond.
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