Patrick Swayze biography, personal life, wife, age and cause of death

Patrick Swayze Biography

Patrick Swayze was a man whose personality, talent, and charisma still captivate people today. A wonderfully harmonious actor who gave the world "Ghost," a graceful and flexible dancer remembered for his talent in "Dirty Dancing," and a songwriter and performer in several well-known Hollywood films. A nominee for Golden Globe and Saturn Awards. He passed away in the fall of 2009 after a twenty-month battle with cancer.

Childhood and Youth

The Swayze family named their second child, born in the summer of 1952 in Houston, Patrick. Patrick's older sister was Vicky Lynn, and after him, two more boys, Don and Sean Kyle, were born. Later, Jesse Wayne and Patsy Swayze adopted a girl named Bambi.

Patrick Swayze with his parents, older sister, and brother Donny

Their ancestors were British, Irish, and Apache. In one interview, Patrick mentioned that his father was a foreman at the world’s largest ranch, the King Ranch, where he once worked as a cowboy:

He introduced me to this life from a very young age. My father was a truly harmonious man, very down-to-earth. He was one of those who radiated the energy of love. Kind and gentle by nature, but cross him, and you'd better run. His tone would change sharply.

The actor explained that his father taught him many things that seem clichéd today: honesty and strong feelings in his work. Patrick lived by the principles his father instilled in him during his early childhood. He later portrayed his father’s image on screen by playing Allan Quatermain in "King Solomon's Mines." His father became a design engineer to realize many of his ideas for improving life on the ranch.

According to Patrick, his legendary choreographer mother passed on to him a certain inner tension, passion, and belief that everything could be expressed through art. Drive and the desire to always be the best came from his mother, which at one point led him down the wrong path. Nevertheless, Swayze believed his parents made an amazing couple. Under his mother's careful guidance, Patrick, among all the children, took up choreography and music from a young age, especially since Patsy had her own ballet school.

The boy was the most talented of all the students and excelled in his studies, earning the nickname "mama's boy" from his classmates. Little Patrick, gentle and obedient, often ran to Patsy in tears, complaining about the boys picking on him again. His mother decided he needed to learn to stand up for himself and enrolled him in a martial arts school. Just six months of training, and Patrick was unrecognizable. He gained respect because he no longer allowed anyone to bully him.

1978. Inside Patsy Swayze's dance studio

He graduated with honors and then went to New York to refine his ballet skills. After finishing two ballet schools, Harkness and Joffrey, Swayze started working with the famous ballet company Elliot Feld Dance Company. The audience immediately noticed the graceful and handsome dancer in the musical "Grease" on Broadway. The renowned Mikhail Baryshnikov, who performed on the same stage with Patrick, recognized the talent of the leading young dancer.

In his youth, Patrick Swayze was professionally engaged in ballet

No one realized how much pain Swayze endured during performances until doctors insisted on urgent surgery and forbade him from ballet if he wanted to avoid becoming disabled. His career as a professional ballet dancer ended due to knee injuries sustained while playing football as a child. His mother helped him cope with the shock by advising him to try acting. And so, he began studying acting.

Acting Career

Swayze was nearly thirty when he, a former dancer, debuted in "Skatetown, U.S.A." Disco roller-skating was all the rage. Patrick, playing Ace Johnson, quickly became a teenage idol. But he didn't plan to stay in this role.

First role of Patrick Swayze (Skatetown)

When he had the opportunity to work in Francis Ford Coppola's crime drama "The Outsiders," he gladly accepted. Besides him, Coppola selected completely unknown actors Tom Cruise and Matt Dillon. Next, Patrick was invited to play the main role of Jed Eckert in the anti-Soviet film "Red Dawn" (1984).

Popularity came to the actor after starring in the miniseries "North and South" (1985). He was immediately invited to play the lead role of Johnny Castle in Emile Ardolino's romance "Dirty Dancing." This is where Swayze's talent as a ballet dancer and dramatic actor fully unfolded.

A shot from the TV series North and South

Together with his co-star, Jennifer Grey, Patrick was nominated for a Golden Globe. The first year of the film's release brought in over $170 million. Grey later recalled that the actor was fearless and performed all the stunts in the movie himself:

“Patrick had a rare combination of raw masculinity and amazing sensitivity. He was beautiful and strong, a true cowboy with a tender heart,” Jennifer said.

The success of the film led to more offers, and each year Swayze appeared in new projects. In the sci-fi film "Steel Dawn," he played the nomad Nomad; in the drama "Tiger Warsaw," he portrayed former drug addict Chuck Warsaw; in the thriller "Road House," he was the legendary bouncer James Dalton; and in "Next of Kin," he played police officer Truman Gates. The '80s were fruitful for his career, and Patrick gave it his all with his restless nature.

The Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing

The '90s brought him perhaps his most unforgettable role – Sam Wheat in Jerry Zucker's dramatic film "Ghost." Paired with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, Swayze created an unforgettable love story on screen.

The actor admitted that this story moved him so much that he couldn't hold back his tears several times while reading the script. Whoopi won an Oscar for her supporting role and said she might not have received it without Patrick's inspiration during filming.

Ghost – Unchained Melody

Swayze then fully immersed himself in the role of Bodhi in Kathryn Bigelow's thriller "Point Break." In the film, he played a surfer and bank robber pursued by an ambitious FBI agent, brilliantly played by Keanu Reeves. The film didn't achieve the box office success of "Ghost," but audiences forever remembered the free-spirited and fearless Bodhi, who chose to catch his perfect wave rather than surrender to justice.

In the '90s, Patrick starred exclusively in leading roles, portraying both positive and negative characters. But even the most notorious villains he played were not so one-dimensional, thanks to his charm and talent.

In almost all his films, Swayze performed all the stunts himself, sometimes with dire consequences. One film's script required the main character to ride a horse without a saddle and bridle through the woods. Stubborn Patrick rode the horse himself, but at one point, the animal darted out of the clearing and into a large tree, and the actor landed on the ground, injuring himself so severely that he temporarily lost the use of his legs.

Losing a finger and dislocating his shoulder were "minor" compared to his spinal injury, after which he underwent long treatment and rehabilitation. But as soon as he was back on his feet, he got back in the saddle:

There are little devils inside me. If I try to suppress them, they’ll kill me, so I have to let them out from time to time. That’s why I skydive and break in horses.

He bought a ranch in Northern California, where he bred horses and participated in races. He competed in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the only American to finish after a four-hour race through the desert. In the eyes of his Arab competitors, he looked like a hero for overcoming the challenging distance, even though he finished only thirty-fifth.

The 2000s weren't as brilliant in terms of roles, but even a cameo as a dance teacher in the prequel "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" earned Swayze a $5 million fee.

In 2004, a sequel to Dirty Dancing was released

Fans of the actor's talent were impressed by his role as a fearless cowboy in "King Solomon's Mines," and then by his completely opposite character, lawyer Richard Pressburger, in the biographical drama "Jump!" directed by Joshua Sinclair. He also played a comedic role as Lance in Nigel Cole's crime film "Keeping Mum."

A shot from the film King Solomon's Mines

Patrick Swayze's Personal Life

The woman of Patrick Swayze's life was Lisa Niemi, whom he first saw at his mother's dance school. The first thing 18-year-old Patrick did upon seeing the beautiful 14-year-old girl was pinch her. He immediately received a sharp slap.

Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi in their youth

He was struck by the fact that, unlike other girls, she almost ignored him, or so it seemed to him at the time. The girl was afraid to admit even to herself that she had fallen for the charming young man almost at first sight, so she chose to behave that way.

Lisa was different from the girls I was used to. If I had started showing off and pretending to be Casanova, she would have just walked away. My wife is the smartest woman I've ever met. It was after meeting her that I realized how incredibly attractive smart women are.

Patrick admitted that if not for his wife, some of his problems could have led him astray. At one point, fame and crowds of adoring fans went to his head, but his wife's sobering help kept him from getting a "star" disease. Despite making Lisa jealous by flirting with his co-stars, Patrick remained a faithful husband.

Despite the fame, Patrick Swayze was a loyal husband

The only thing that saddened the actor was the absence of children in their family. After experiencing two miscarriages, his wife was unable to have more children.

When Swayze learned about his terrible diagnosis, he decided to take Lisa to the altar again, just like in 1975. He arrived at the ceremony on a white horse, trying to impress his wife.

Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi's Dance (1994)

According to friends who knew Patrick well, he always said that his Lisa was the most beautiful woman in the world, his best friend, and loyal partner. Shortly before his death, in a major interview with famous American TV host Barbara Walters, the actor admitted that without Lisa, his life would have been incomplete.

They were together until the last moment

Final Years and Death

The life of this unique actor was full of risk and overcoming challenges. Rally car racing, skydiving, flying airplanes, and desert horseback riding. Swayze seemed to want to prove to himself and everyone else that he could achieve anything he desired.

Patrick's freedom-loving nature knew no barriers

With the same confidence in victory, he faced the diagnosis given by oncologists in March 2008: inoperable stage four pancreatic cancer. He joked that he would definitely live until a cure for cancer was invented and continued acting in movies. His wife, a licensed pilot, personally flew him to treatment.

Lisa took Patrick to the hospital by plane

His last role was an undercover agent, FBI officer Charles Barker in the dramatic series "The Beast". The actor sometimes worked up to twelve hours a day, refusing pity. He wanted the audience to see him full of energy, as before. Patrick refused to take painkillers because their side effects dulled his mind and interfered with his performance.

In his last interview, the actor admitted that the pain on set gave him an "inner rage." Throughout the five months of filming, Swayze missed only one day, although it took him two to three hours each day to gather the strength to go to the set.

Patrick Swayze's last role ('The Beast')

On weekends, he went to a California hospital for aggressive chemotherapy. Swayze also trusted a new radiosurgery method and tried an experimental drug. For a while, his condition improved, which Patrick reported to his fans. But in January 2009, he was hospitalized with pneumonia, and a few months later, metastases were found in his liver.

Patrick Swayze in the last year of his life

While Swayze hurried to finish his memoirs with his wife, indiscreet journalists from a Florida radio station posted a tweet about his death. Patrick was unpleasantly surprised to find that Wikipedia even listed a date of death—May 20. His representative, Annett Wolf, then issued a statement refuting the rumors and speculations, saying that the actor was "alive, feeling well, enjoying his life, and continuing his treatment."

To stop the speculation about his health, Swayze gave a television interview where he honestly talked about fighting the disease and hoping for a miraculous recovery. But he also noted that he didn't intend to cling to life at any cost just to keep existing.

Am I dying? Have I given up? Am I on my deathbed? Am I saying goodbye? No way!—Patrick stated.—I continue to dream of the future, of a further long and healthy life, unclouded by the shadow of cancer.

Swayze couldn't defeat the disease. He passed away on September 14, 2009, in Los Angeles. Mikhail Baryshnikov covered part of the funeral and cremation expenses. The actor's ashes were scattered at his beloved ranch in New Mexico.

Memory and Legacy

On October 5, 2009, a memorial for Patrick Swayze was unveiled at Sony Pictures Studios. The statue is in the form of a white horse, the actor's favorite animal. Lisa Swayze found family happiness with jeweler Albert DePrisco in 2014. In 2019, she released a book titled "Worth Fighting For," in which she talked about the last two years of her life with Patrick.

In 2017, Swayze's relatives criticized Lisa's decision to auction all of Patrick's personal belongings (items, documents, old toys, keys, wallets, etc.) and donate part of the proceeds to a cancer foundation. She had previously refused to sell Patrick's ranch to his family, who wanted to turn it into a museum. Reports said Lisa evicted Patrick's brother and niece from the ranch, even though they had helped care for the sick actor in his last year and maintained the house afterward.

The actor's driver's license also went under the hammer

Close friend Charlotte Stevens told journalists that in the last month of his life, Patrick often called her at night to complain about Lisa. According to Charlotte, Lisa used physical violence and deliberately isolated Patrick from his loved ones. Charlotte remained silent for many years but couldn't hold back when Lisa remarried and began talking about her "touching love and support." We do not claim to judge the truth of this information.

Don Swayze, Patrick's brother, also became an actor

In 2019, the documentary "I Am Patrick Swayze" was released, in which his family, friends, and colleagues remembered one of the most outstanding actors of our time.

Paul Avalos editor

Patrick Swayze

Photos: Patrick Swayze