Born: 1952-08-18 - Died: 2009-09-14 Cause of Death: Pancreatic Cancer

 Death Summary: In January 2008 Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and began undergoing chemotherapy and various other treatments at the Stanford University Medical Center. It was confirmed by his doctor that Swayze was diagnosed with Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm (IPMN). In May 2008 Swayze underwent Cyberknife radiotherapy cancer treatment to aid his battle against the disease.

In January 2009 Swayze denied that the cancer had spread to his liver, but shortly after told Barbara Walters that he had a “tiny little mass” in his liver. Soon after his interview he was hospitalized with pneumonia, which was said to have been a complication due to the chemotherapy. He was released from the hospital a week after being admitted.

Who was Patrick Swayze : Swayze was a dancer, singer-songwriter and an iconic actor with numerous cinematic greats on his resume. Some of his best films include The Outsiders, Red Dawn, Point Break, Ghost, Dirty Dancing and of course Road House.

Swayze got his start as a dancer for Disney on parade. Soon after, he got the part of Danny Zuko in the Broadway theatre production of Grease. It wasn’t until he played the older brother of C. Thomas Howell in The Outsiders that people started to notice his talent. In 1985 Swayze was cast in the television miniseries North and South, this was his first major success.

1987 saw the release of the cult classic, Dirty Dancing. Swayze was cast opposite Jennifer Grey, whom he had previously worked with on Red Dawn. Dirty Dancing wasn’t suppose to be successful, it was a low budget film that was only suppose to be in theatres for one weekend and go straight to video. The films popularity reached so far that alternate versions were made which ranged from a television series to a computer game. Altogether Dirty Dancing has made over $300-million dollars worldwide.

The 1990s started off very promising for Swayze. His film Ghost, also starring Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, would go on to become his biggest critical success. The very next year he starred alongside Keanu Reeves in the action hit Point Break. That same year he was chosen as the years “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine.

Swayze’s career began to cool off in the mid 1990s starring in films such as Tall Tale, Black Dog, Father Hood, To Wong Foo, Thanks Everything! Julie Newmar to name a few. Some feel that his alcoholism, which he sought treatment for, played a role in the decline of his career.

In 2001 he co-starred in Donnie Darko, a low budget cult classic where he played a motivational speaker and closet pedophile.

Most recently Swayze took the lead role in the A&E television series The Beast. In the show Swyze plays FBI Agent Charles Barker
With his newfound stardom, Swayze found himself being typecast as a “beefcake” and went on to star in numerous movies that never really done his career justice. During this time period he starred in one of the most underrated movies of the 1980s Road House. In the film he played Dalton, a professional “cooler” who is hired to fix the problems at the Double Deuce. Road House also stars Sam Elliot features performances by Jeff Healey.