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Dirty Dancing star Patrick Swayze dies after cancer battle
Ben Bailey15 Sep 2009
Actor Patrick Swayze has died after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, his publicist said today.
Annett Wolf said the 57-year-old Dirty Dancing actor died yesterday with family members by his side.
He spoke about his illness last spring but
continued working as he underwent treatment.
Swayze kept on working even after it was disclosed in March last year that he had a particularly deadly form of cancer.
He starred in The Beast, a drama series about the FBI, and said he and his wife Lisa Niemi were working on a memoir.
Swayze became a star in 1987 with his performance as dance instructor Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing, a coming-of-age story set in a Catskills resort in New York.
The 1990 quirky romance Ghost cemented his status as a screen heart throb.
Swayze played a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee through a spirit played by Whoopi Goldberg.
He went on to receive warm reviews for the surf thriller Point Break and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his 1995 role as a drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar.
In 2006, the actor made his debut on the British stage, playing Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls in the West End opposite former Brookside actress Claire Sweeney.
Stars were shocked to hear the news of Swayze's death as they arrived at the premiere of Partir in Toronto.
The film's star, British actress Kristin Scott Thomas, looked visibly shaken and distressed as she passed reporters after learning the sad news.
Actor Rob Lowe said tonight he had "lost a brother".
Speaking in Toronto at the premiere of his new film The Invention of Lying, Lowe said: "Patrick lived a thousand lifetimes in one lifetime.
"He was an expert dancer, he wrote hit songs, he starred in hit movies, he was an amazing horseman.
"But the thing I will remember him most for was his amazing love affair with his wife Lisa."
Lowe added: "He played my brother twice, in The Outsiders when I was 17, and then in Youngblood.
"Tonight I lost a brother."
