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R.I.P. Patrick Swayze


Dirty dancing final Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze lost his battle with pancreatic cancer today. I'll always remember him for Dirty Dancing and Roadhouse, both of which I watched over and over. Another one of my favorites was Point Break. He was a great romantic lead. HuffPo has more videos here.

R.I.P. Patrick, we've lost you far too early.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Rest in peace. (5.00 / 3) (#1)
    by scribe on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:22:27 PM EST
    I was not much of a fan, but no one should have to go that young, or that way.

    Agreed on all points. (5.00 / 4) (#8)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:53:28 PM EST
    An evil, insidious, painful disease.  

    RIP to Patrick--as well as Jim Carroll, and the real life Norma Rae.

    Parent

    And Jody Powell.... (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by oldpro on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:55:57 PM EST
    And Larry Gelbart (5.00 / 2) (#26)
    by ruffian on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 09:11:43 AM EST
    He gave me more laughs over a lifetime than probably anyone else.


    Parent
    Man, I missed that (none / 0) (#10)
    by nycstray on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:57:25 PM EST
    Jim C had died :(

    Parent
    that is unfortunate. (5.00 / 4) (#2)
    by cpinva on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:35:26 PM EST
    i always liked him, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and didn't take himself too seriously. one of the funniest SNL skits was with him and the chubby cast member (sorry, can't remember his name), doing the "chipendales" auditions.

    not to mention, my wife thought he was wayyyyyyyyyyy hot!

    That was Chris Farley (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Cream City on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:37:57 PM EST
    who also died young, if more by his own hand, as it were -- the same way that John Belushi went. . . .

    And I agree with your wife re Swayze.  I didn't see much of his work, and it wasn't earth-shattering, but it was entertaining.  And that's all we can ask.

    Parent

    That was a seriously funny skit (5.00 / 3) (#5)
    by scribe on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:44:47 PM EST
    It was - jeez- going on 20 years ago and still memorable.  And absolutely hilarious.

    Parent
    The SNL skit is one of the videos (5.00 / 3) (#4)
    by MO Blue on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:41:21 PM EST
    over at Huf Post that Jeralyn has linked in her post. Still funny. And your wife is right.

    Parent
    You just named two fun flicks (5.00 / 4) (#11)
    by Cream City on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 09:02:35 PM EST
    and I must go rent To Wong Foo again.  And Ghost is eminently watchable, in part thanks to his ability to underplay a scene, which saved it from nonstop maudlin.  That's too rare these days.

    That is sad (5.00 / 2) (#12)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 09:15:31 PM EST
    He did some entertaining work, and seemed like a good guy.

    The last TV series he did (name I forget) was really good.  He knew he was dying when he filmed it.

    I loved him in Ghost. And Dirty Dancing. He (5.00 / 3) (#13)
    by Angel on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 09:22:07 PM EST
    seemed like a genuinely nice person.

    Swayze (5.00 / 2) (#14)
    by kaleidescope on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 09:30:11 PM EST
    I really liked him (along with Matt Dillon) in The Outsiders, one of Francis Ford Coppola's best films.

    A must-see. (none / 0) (#20)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 01:23:41 AM EST
    And Red Dawn strongly appealed to my teen-aged self...

    RIP Patrick.

    Parent

    Yeah... (none / 0) (#24)
    by kdog on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 07:54:39 AM EST
    those are the two roles I remember and really enjoyed...Darrel in "The Outsiders" and Jed in "Red Dawn".  Swayze had a knack for the fatherly big brother role.

    "Wolverines!"

    Parent

    I too (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by CoralGables on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 10:07:07 PM EST
    always enjoy another encore showing of Dirty Dancing or Roadhouse on TBS. What has always amused me about Swayze, is how someone who has done about 40 films can be best remembered for, "Nobody puts baby in a corner".

    Takes me back to college (5.00 / 2) (#22)
    by jbindc on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 06:17:18 AM EST
    My sophomore year - every Tuesday night for a semester, my roommates and I went to a local movie theater (the old kind - one theater, a balcony, painted walls, red curtain, etc.) to see "Dirty Dancing".  Tuesday night was  $1.49 movie night, and every Monday they ran a coupon in the college paper for 50 cents off, so we went to watch Patrick Swayze for 99 cents. Great way to spend a Tuesday evening.

    RIP.

    Parent

    He didn't actually have a macho (5.00 / 2) (#17)
    by gyrfalcon on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 11:25:25 PM EST
    image, though.  That lack of macho is one of the things that made him so appealing to women fans.  He was all male, but without the macho swagger.

    He wasn't the world's greatest actor, but he was a good guy, and not addicted to fame for its own sake, which I really liked and respected about him.

    I think you are forgetting Roadhouse (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by samtaylor2 on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 07:24:21 AM EST
    Which is one of the worst best movies of all time.

    Parent
    Roadhouse (none / 0) (#32)
    by jbindc on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 08:42:55 PM EST
    Dalton: Sorry, we're closed.

    Ketchum: Then what are all these people doing here?

    Dalton: Drinking and having a good time.

    Ketchum: That's why we're here.

    Dalton: You're too stupid to have a good time.



    Parent
    His movies were fun (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by hairspray on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 11:34:03 PM EST
    and he seemed like a nice guy.  What a shame that he had to go so young.  Nice video as a tribute Jeralyn.

    My Mom died at the same age, same disease (5.00 / 3) (#28)
    by esmense on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 10:58:39 AM EST
    It really makes me sad that after 30 years so little progress has been made against pancreatic cancer. I wasn't a huge fan, but Swayze always seemed like an extremely decent guy. A very hard way to go -- and much too young.

    A dear friend's husband is in chemo now. (none / 0) (#29)
    by oculus on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 02:26:23 PM EST
    The constantly repeated news about Swayze's death can't be helping my friend and her husband.  Also, a specialist on CNN sd. the best way to detect is CT scan, but he sd. that isn't practical, meaning, I suppose, it is too expensive a tool for complaints of GI upset.  

    Parent
    I hadn't realized the disease was so (none / 0) (#30)
    by Inspector Gadget on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 04:50:09 PM EST
    tightly connected to smoking. During Patrick's last interview he said he continued smoking and would continue to the end.

    They wanted to test my mother for pancreatic. The best test was one where they put a camera down the throat because the position of the pancreas is behind everything else, so it's very difficult to see any other way. They did do an MRI, but unless you can hold your breath long enough for those, the results are not clear.

    He seemed like a terrific person from what we learned about him through interviews. My heart goes out to his wife and mom.

    Parent

    And alcohol consumption. LAT health blog (none / 0) (#31)
    by oculus on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 05:18:17 PM EST
    has lots of links to current research information

    Parent
    Yes, and he was an (none / 0) (#33)
    by Inspector Gadget on Wed Sep 16, 2009 at 02:58:40 PM EST
    alcoholic in recovery.

    It's very much the same as Michael Landon.

    Parent

    The great equalizer... (none / 0) (#6)
    by jerry on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:46:58 PM EST


    for me (none / 0) (#25)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 08:31:03 AM EST
    I will always remember him as Miss Veda.
    and Wesley as Noxzema


    I was just corrected (none / 0) (#27)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 09:19:02 AM EST
    his name was `Vida Boheme' (as in La Vie de Boheme)

    Parent