patrick swayze (28 posts)

Courtesy: Brian Braff

As much as Patrick Swayze's death hurt his fans, the pain was infinitely worse for Lisa Niemi, his wife of 34 years.

"I am so grateful for what I had and my connection to him, and part of me believes that I will see him again, and I'm just going to have to go on until then," said the actor's widow Tuesday during the "Grief, Healing and Resilience" talk at the Women's Conference 2009 in Long Beach.

The roundtable discussion took place in front of about 14,000 people and was moderated by California first lady Maria Shriver. Kelly Preston had originally been scheduled to take part, but she later canceled, saying it was too soon to discuss her son Jett's death in January.

Recalling how she told Swayze she loved him over and over in the weeks before his death, Niemi said she still worries it wasn't enough.

Keep Reading

Mike Marsland/Getty Images

Patrick Swayze will be getting a real Hollywood send-off this weekend. 

Two weeks after fans were able to bid farewell at a public event in Lake Lure, N.C., where Dirty Dancing was filmed, a private memorial for the fallen star is scheduled for Sunday at Sony Studios in Culver City, Calif.

Mourners are being asked that in lieu of flowers they donate to either the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund or Stand Up to Cancer, the organization that benefited from a multinetwork, star-studded telethon last September. Swayze was one of the featured speakers.

Dancing With the Stars had a tribute to Swayze last week, with Cheryl Burke and Tony Dovolani re-creating Dirty Dancing's famed last dance, lift included.

The actor died Sept. 14 at 57 after a 20-month battle with pancreatic cancer. His remains were cremated, but there was no word on if his wife of 34 years, Lisa Niemi, had yet selected a final resting place for the ashes.

In another excerpt from his new memoir, Time of My Life, Swayze characterized fighting cancer as "the most challenging, eye-opening battle I've ever had."

________

Remember some of Swayze's finest celluloid moments in our tribute gallery.

Mike Marsland/Getty Images

Patrick Swayze is closer to his final resting spot.

The actor's remains have been cremated, according to his death certificate released today and obtained by E! News.

Swayze died Monday at the age of 57 of pancreatic cancer.

His ashes are being stored at his lawyer's office on behalf of his wife of 34 years, Lisa Niemi, per the death certificate.

There has been no comment from Swayze's publicist about any plans for a family memorial service at this time or whether his ashes will be scattered at his beloved New Mexico ranch.

However, fans will be able to pay their respects to Swayze at a public event being organized by the North Carolina town of Lake Lure, whose pristine outdoors doubled for much of Dirty Dancing's Catskills setting, including the cabin where Baby meets Johnny Castle.

Keep Reading

George Pimentel/Getty Images

Some stars are clearing out of the Toronto Film Festival midway through, but there's still plenty of films and action left, from heartful to ho-hum to simply weird.

Speaking of which, look—Keanu Reeves! And a two-time Oscar nominee going nuts in a karaoke bar!

Keep Reading

Get ready for some dirty dancing with the stars.

ABC's hit hoofing contest will pay tribute to Patrick Swayze by busting out a Sept. 23 special dedicated to his unforgettable moves.

A DWTS rep tells E! News the episode will feature choreography inspired by Swayze's role as hunky dance instructor Johnny Castle in 1987's Dirty Dancing.

Swayze, who lost his nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer on Monday at the age of 57, began his showbiz career as a dancer. He even appeared as a guest on the first season of DWTS in 2005, giving hints to his friend John O'Hurley during rehearsal and then turning up at the finale.

The competition's second season also featured a recreation the Dirty Dancing dance along with a reprise of the classic song "I've Had the Time of My Life" performed by Bill Medley and his daughter.

(Originally published Sept. 16, 2009, at 9:22 a.m. PT)

________

E! Online looks back at Patrick Swayze's life and career.

Courtesy of Fox

You never forget the costar you have to jump out of an airplane with.

"There was some skydiving sequences in this film we did together and as filming was going on, it came to be that Patrick was jumping out of airplanes all the time," recalled Keanu Reeves, who was referring to a little cult-classic caper flick by the name of Point Break, in which he played an FBI agent opposite Patrick Swayze's bank-robbing surfer.

"I think he had over 30 jumps during the course of filming and so the production served him with a cease and desist, which he listened to until they got to Hawaii."

Swayze died Monday after a nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Until he got sick, the 57-year-old star of action and/or movement-packed movies such as Roadhouse and Dirty Dancing was known for his exceptional fitness and physical grace.

While shooting Point Break, Reeves continued, Swayze not only jumped out of planes, but "he did the flips and falling to the ground and he did it with an open heart.

"He was a beautiful person, an artist. Patrick, he just wanted to experience life and for his work he wanted to take the opportunity of the film and it gave him that sense. I can say what I know, that he lived life to the fullest. My sympathies and condolences go out to his friends and family."

A fitting tribute, indeed.

________

Remember some of Patrick Swayze's best movie moments in our tribute gallery.

Michael Caulfield/Stand Up To Cancer via Getty Images

Patrick Swayze died yesterday at age 57 after a long battle with cancer. Read our complete coverage of his life and work as Hollywood mourns one of its own.

• From his first big break to his final days, Swayze kept looking toward the future.

• From Whoopi to Demi, Swayze's friends and costars pay tribute to the star.

• Road House! Red Dawn! Point Break! Check out our gallery of his best films and more.

Paramount Pictures

Hollywood has lost another one of its own. And although this star made us believe in ghosts at one time, we know Patrick Swayze is no longer of this world.

And his friends and colleagues are extraordinarily saddened by that fact.

"Patrick you are loved by so many and your light will forever shine in all of our lives," twittered the love of his Ghost life, Demi Moore. 

"And in the words of Sam to Molly. 'It's amazing, Molly. The love inside, you take it with you.' I love and will miss you Patrick."

Whoopi Goldberg, who channeled the spirit of Swayze's murdered banker in the 1990 film and won an Oscar for it, said in a statement: "Patrick was a really good man, a funny man and one to whom I owe much that I can't ever repay. I believe in Ghost's message, so he'll always be near." 

"When I think of him, I think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing, practicing the lift in the freezing lake, having a blast doing this tiny little movie we thought no one would ever see," said Jennifer Grey, who became the envy of girls ages 8 to 98 when she starred with Swayze in Dirty Dancing.

Keep Reading

Courtesy: Brian Braff

Johnny Castle. Sam Wheat. Fighter.

Patrick Swayze, the movie star whose iconic roles in Dirty Dancing and Ghost transcended and the man whose perseverance in the face of advanced cancer inspired, died today in Los Angeles. He was 57.

"One thing I'm not gonna do is chase staying alive," Swayze told Barbara Walters in January. "You spend so much time chasing staying alive, you won't live."

At the time, Swayze guessed he had two more years to live.

Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2008. Despite the gloom and doom of initial tabloid reports, Swayze went on to star in the A&E cop drama The Beast.

"I'm a miracle, dude. I don't know why," Swayze was quoted as saying shortly before he began work on the series.

Still, not one to sugarcoat the toll the disease took on him, Swayze told Walters the show's summer 2008 shoot was hell.

Keep Reading

Vestron Pictures

Whether playing a sexy resort dance instructor or a wise roadhouse bouncer, Patrick Swayze brought something unique to every role he played.

The actor and movie icon died today at age 57.

After starting out as a dancer, Swayze blossomed into one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Throughout his meteroric rise and after, he enjoyed that rarest of Hollywood gifts: a happy, successful marriage to wife Lisa Niemi.

He will be missed.

________

Take a look back at the star's most iconic roles in our gallery.