Remembering Patrick Swayze: 1952 - 2009

Houston native Patrick Swayze lost a well-fought battle with pancreatic cancer yesterday, at the age of 57. Upon hearing this sad news, Houstonist began reflecting back upon his career, his life and his celebrity. Swayze proved to be a talent the likes of which Hollywood rarely experiences, fully-rounded and achieving success as an actor, dancer, singer/songwriter (“She’s Like the Wind”) and to a degree, a comedian. Though his films did not always achieve commercial success, many of his roles received critical acclaim and he was nominated for three Golden Globes for his performances. He will live forever in our hearts and DVD players for his roles in “Dirty Dancing”, “Ghost”, “Point Break” and “Road House”. Accepting roles ranging from dance instructor, bouncer, thrill-seeker, spirit and drag queen, Swayze seemingly strove to expand his craft and ensure that he would never be type-cast. Who can forget his “Chippendale Dancer” skit with Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live? Classic!

Patrick Swayze was more than a talented man. In a world in which many celebrities and musicians succumb to drugs and alcohol and/or are splashed across the tabloids more for their antics than their philanthropy - he is a bright star. If we had to describe him in two words and “hot” was banned from use, we would chose “dignified” and “humble”. His private life rarely in the public eye, he accomplished a feat almost unheard of in today’s celebrity world, remaining married to Lisa Niemi, whom he met while she was a student of his mother’s, for over 30 years. His realness, work ethic and “guy next door” persona is most endearing to us. You see hard-working, responsible people who have not achieved the wealth and fame of celebrity regularly. To find these qualities in someone who has achieved their dreams and found wealth and celebrity is rare indeed. He was a role-model worthy of imitating, as he proved to us that if you work hard and do the very best you can, you can be anything and you can achieve anything.

Remember his career, but honor the man - he set a fine example of being true to yourself and your beliefs, while achieving a success that few who try ever realize. The celebrity who never gave in to celebrity - will be missed.