Patrick Wayne Swayze (born August 18, 1952), is an American dancer, actor, singer and songwriter. His breakthrough role was as the dance instructor in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, and he also had a hit with the 1990 film Ghost.

Biography

Early life
Swayze was born in Houston, Texas to Jesse Wayne Swayze and choreographer and ballet school owner Patsy Swayze. According to his website, he is part Apache. His brother, Don Swayze, is also an actor. Swayze attended St Rose of Lima Catholic School, Oak Forest Elementary School, Black Middle School, and Waltrip High School in Houston. For most of his life, he lived in the Oak Forest area. His formal dance training was at the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet Schools in New York City. Swayze took dance lessons from John Travolta when making the film Dirty Dancing, Swayze and Travolta are best friends to this day.

Career

Swayze's first professional appearance was as a dancer for Disney on Parade, then in the Broadway production of Grease, before his debut film role as Ace in Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979). He also appeared in the M*A*S*H episode "Blood Brothers" (Episode 9.18, 6 April 1981).
Swayze's first roles were in films such as The Outsiders (1983), Red Dawn(1984) and "Youngblood" (1986) but his first major success was in the 1985 television mini-series North and South, which was set during the Civil War. His real breakthrough to stardom came with his performance as the dance instructor in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, where his earlier ballet experience came to good use. He starred with Jennifer Grey, who had also co-starred in Red Dawn. Dirty Dancing was originally a low-budget project that was intended to only show in theaters for one weekend and then go straight to video, but it became a surprise hit, and achieved massive international success. It was the first film to sell one million copies on video, and as of 2007 has earned over $US 300 million worldwide and spawned several alternate versions ranging from a television series to stage productions to a computer game. Swayze received a Golden Globe Award nomination for the role, and also sang one of the songs on the soundtrack, "She's Like the Wind", which he had originally co-written with Stacy Widelitz for the film Grandview, U.S.A.. The song became a top-10 hit, and has been covered by other artists such as David Hasselhoff, and in 2006 was converted into a hip-hop version by Lumidee, who brought it to the top of the charts in Germany.
After the success of Dirty Dancing, Swayze found himself heavily typecast and appeared in a series of flops. In 1989,he recovered with the fan favorite Road House. However, his biggest hit came afterwards, in 1990 He starred in what some consider his most famous film, Ghost, working with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.[1] This role had considerable cultural impact, and modern hip-hop lyrics routinely use the phrase "Like a Swayze", referring to that film (for more info, see the "Cultural Impact" section below). In 1991 he starred alongside "Youngblood" castmate Keanu Reeves in another major action hit, Point Break.
In 1996, Swayze was seriously injured while filming the HBO Letters from a Killer in the Ione area, when he fell from a horse and hit a tree. Both of his legs were broken, and he suffered four detached tendons in his shoulder. Filming was suspended for two months, but the film finally aired in 1999. Swayze recovered from his injuries, but had trouble finding work until 2000, when he co-starred in Waking Up in Reno with Billy Bob Thornton and Charlize Theron, and Forever Lulu with Melanie Griffith.
He made the news again on June 1, 2000 when flying with his dogs in his twin-engine Cessna from Van Nuys, California to Las Vegas, New Mexico. The plane developed a pressurization problem over northern Arizona, and Swayze made a precautionary landing on a dirt road in a housing complex in Prescott Valley, striking a light pole (with his right wing) which he hadn't seen from the air. Swayze was unhurt, locked up the cockpit and left it parked in the subdivision. He took his dogs and obtained a ride from a passing vehicle, allegedly to telephone authorities. According to the police report, witnesses said that Swayze appeared to be extremely intoxicated and asked for help in removing evidence (including an open bottle of wine and a 30 pack of beer) from the crash site.[1] It was later determined that the alcohol in question was not in cabin but stored in external storage compartments inaccessible in flight and the alleged 'intoxication' was due to the effects of hypoxia during descent.
In 2001 he appeared in Donnie Darko, and in 2004 played Allan Quatermain in King Solomon's Mines; he also had a cameo appearance in the Dirty Dancing sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, where he played a dance instructor.
He made his London stage debut in the musical Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit on July 27, 2006 alongside Neil Jerzak, and remained in the role until November 25, 2006. He had appeared on the Broadway stage in productions of Goodtime Charley (1975), and Chicago (2003).

Awards

• Golden Globe Award nominations
  • Dirty Dancing (1987)
  • Ghost (1990)
  • To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

Personal life

Swayze has been married to Lisa Niemi since 1975. The couple have been together since Lisa, at 15, began dance lessons with Swayze's mother.
His father died of a heart attack. Swayze attended a clinic to overcome alcoholism after his sister Vicky committed suicide in 1994 using painkillers.[2] After initial recovery, he retreated to his ranches in California and New Mexico to breed Arabian horses. His best-known horse was the late Tammen, a chestnut Arabian stallion. He also follows several "spiritual" traditions. Brought up a Roman Catholic, he has also studied Bahá'í, Buddhism, and Scientology. He has also purchased many crystals[citation needed] for their alleged healing power.

Cultural impact

Swayze's name has become a commonly-used term in hip hop songs. Lyrics will use the phrase "...and I'm Swayze," meaning that the singer has become "like a ghost", or gone. This is a reference to the title character of Swayze's 1990 film Ghost. The first time this is known to have occurred was in the early 1990s, in a song by EPMD.[3] More recent usage is by such artists as The Notorious B.I.G. in the song "Runnin' (Dying to Live)" and in Mista Fab's "Ghost Ride The Whip". The expression has become such a hip hop staple that it was even used in the Saturday Night Live hip hop parody, "Lazy Sunday".
Swayze has also been referred to in other elements of popular culture. For example, the Trailer Park Boys character Julian is sometimes called Patrick Swayze due to a slight resemblance, and a history of having dressed up like Swayze to dance to the music from "Dirty Dancing". The Seattle indie rock band Kane Hodder has a song titled "I Think Patrick Swayze is Sexy". Houston metalcore band, The Swayze Factory have named their entire band after their famous fellow Houstonian. The television show Mystery Science Theater 3000, in the episode "Santa Claus conquers the Martians", has one of the MST3K characters writing a Christmas carol entitled "Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas" as a tribute to his favorite Swayze (bad) movie: Road House. Swayze has been parodied in several strips of the online gaming comic Penny Arcade, where one of the characters indicates an obsession with Swayze and Dirty Dancing. And in an episode of Clerks: The Animated Series, Swayze is featured as a pet store employee, voiced by comedian Gilbert Gottfried.

Notes