Swayze's Dancing Brought Characters To Life
Actor Patrick Swayze died yesterday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57. Swayze played some real characters, from a surfer-dude bank robber to a road-tripping drag queen — and, of course, a dirty dancer. He said he always knew he was going to be a performer.
[POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: Our story reported that Patrick Swayze's first movie role was in "The Outsiders" in 1983. That was incorrect. Swayze's first film role came in "Skatetown USA" in 1979. Also, in a reference to the film "Point Break," it was said that Patrick Swayze wore a mask with the likeness of President Richard Nixon while robbing banks. He actually wore a mask depicting the likeness of President Ronald Reagan.]
(Soundbite of music)
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Patrick Swayze died yesterday after a long and public struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57. Through his movie career, the actor played some real characters - a surfer dude bank robber, a road-tripping drag queen, a lovelorn ghost, and of course a dirty dancer. Jesse Baker has this remembrance.
JESSE BAKER: Patrick Swayze said he always knew he was going to be a performer.
Mr. PATRICK SWAYZE (Actor): I kind of came out of the womb onstage. My mother's a choreographer, so in all my younger formative years, into my teens and early adulthood I've done just about every musical ever written.
BAKER: In that 2004 interview on NPR, Swayze credits the role of Danny Zuko in the original Broadway production of "Grease" as his first big break. He made his first film in 1983 in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Outsiders." And then in 1987 he landed a role that would forever embed him in the anthology of American pop culture, as the roughhewn dance instructor Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing."
(Soundbite of song, "I've Had The Time Of My Life")
Ms. BAKER: In the final scene of the film, after being asked to leave the Catskills summer resort where he teaches, Swayze steals the mic and the stage to reclaim what's rightfully his.
(Soundbite of movie, "Dirty Dancing")
Mr. PATRICK SWAYZE (Actor): (as Johnny Castle) Sorry about the disruption, folks. But I always do the last dance of the season. This year somebody told me not to. So I'm gonna do my kind of dancing with a great partner.
Ms. BAKER: An entire generation of high school girls sighed as he stood up for his partner with this unforgettable line...
Mr. SWAYZE: (as Johnny Castle) Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
Ms. BAKER: At the time, the critics pretty much panned the film. But most could agree on one thing: the laconic Johnny Castle became downright eloquent when Patrick Swayze danced.
Here's Philadelphia Inquirer movie critic Carrie Rickey.
Ms. CARRIE RICKEY (Philadelphia Inquirer): There's a moment where he kind of leaps off the stage where he's dancing with Jennifer Grey into the audience, and I heard a gasp, a collective gasp from the audience. It was like watching Baryshnikov crossed with James Dean.
Ms. BAKER: Swayze was back on top of the box office charts three years later with the film "Ghost."
Again, movie critic Carrie Rickey.
Ms. RICKEY: And there was not just little teardrops, but there was there was projectile weeping. There was tears, you know, like a hard rain through the audience. Men, women, everyone.
Ms. BAKER: In the film, Swayze played Manhattan financier Sam Wheat, who's murdered by a co-worker. Wheat spends the rest of the film trying to communicate with his girlfriend, played by Demi Moore. The takeaway scene from this film, which left the audience breathless, has no dialogue. If you need a reminder, it involves a pottery wheel and this Righteous Brothers song.
(Soundbite of song, "Unchained Melody")
RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (Singers): (Singing) I've hungered for your touch…
Ms. BAKER: Patrick Swayze is not often acknowledged as an actor with broad range, but at times he played against type. In "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar," Swayze sported a bustier and a garter belt as a drag queen. He robbed banks in a Nixon face mask and was on the run from Keanu Reeves in the 1991 film "Point Break."
Richard Kelly directed him in the 2001 indie cult film "Donnie Darko."
Mr. RICHARD KELLY (Director): Patrick was really kind of ballsy to take this role because the character, you know, turns out to be a pedophile, and it's not easy to find an actor who wants to play a role like that.
Ms. BAKER: Swayze was an actor, a dancer, he even dabbled in songwriting. But regardless of the genre, at his core Patrick Swayze was a dancer.
Mr. SWAYZE: Lisa and I are dance whores. We just, you know, just, you know, you put on and you put salsa on and we rock.
(Soundbite of salsa music)
Mr. SWAYZE: It's hard to do these days with all the celebrity and fame stuff, you know? At functions, you know, it's really a bummer because it used to be just a private moment with my wife and I on a dance floor. Now it's like, oh my lord, they're going to dance. Watch, Martha.
Ms. BAKER: And watch they did. Swayze said for him dancing was the most intense way to connect with another human being.
For NPR News, I'm Jesse Baker.
(Soundbite of song, "I've Had The Time Of My Life")
Mr. BILL MEDLEY and JENNIFER WARREN: (Singing) I've had the time of my life. No I never felt this way before. Yes I swear, it's the truth, and I owe it all to you, boy, and I've had the time of life...
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Actor, Dancer Patrick Swayze Dies At 57
Patrick Swayze in 1990's Ghost. Co-star Whoopie Goldberg was cast in the movie partly at his insistence; when Goldberg won an Oscar for her performance in the film, Swayze was one of the only people she thanked. Associated Press hide caption
Patrick Swayze in 1990's Ghost. Co-star Whoopie Goldberg was cast in the movie partly at his insistence; when Goldberg won an Oscar for her performance in the film, Swayze was one of the only people she thanked.
Associated Press
Swayze's career fixed him firmly in the annals of American pop culture as the quintessential heartthrob. Wally Fong/Associated Press hide caption
Swayze and his wife, actress Lisa Niemi, had been married since 1975. "I have no greater respect for any other human being on this earth like I have for her," Swayze told Barbara Walters in a 2008 interview. Dave Hogan/Getty Images hide caption
Swayze and his wife, actress Lisa Niemi, had been married since 1975. "I have no greater respect for any other human being on this earth like I have for her," Swayze told Barbara Walters in a 2008 interview.
Dave Hogan/Getty ImagesActor and dancer Patrick Swayze died Monday after a 15-month battle with advanced pancreatic cancer. His performance as rough-hewn dance instructor Johnny Castle in the 1987 cult classic Dirty Dancing permanently embedded him in the anthology of American pop culture.
Swayze's career began on stage, not on screen. His first major role was that of Danny Zuko in the original Broadway production of Grease. He made the move into film, and in 1983 appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders.
But it was Dirty Dancing that really put Swayze on the map. At the time the critics pretty much panned the film, yet Swayze's laconic Castle still won the hearts of a generation of viewers with his dancing and the unforgettable, 11th-hour delivery of the line, "Nobody puts baby in a corner."
Philadelphia Inquirer movie critic Carrie Rickey says, "There's a moment where he kind of leaps off the stage where he's dancing with Jennifer Grey, and I heard a collective gasp from the audience. It was like watching Baryshnikov crossed with James Dean."
Swayze was back on top of the box office charts three years later with the film Ghost.
In the film, Swayze played Manhattan financier Sam Wheat, who is murdered by a co-worker. Wheat spends the rest of the film trying to communicate with his girlfriend, played by Demi Moore.
During the film's heartbreaking climax, Rickey says, "there was projectile weeping — tears like a hard rain through the audience. Men, women, everyone."
Swayze is not often acknowledged as an actor with broad range, but at times he played against type. In To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, he sported a bustier and a garter belt as the drag queen Vida Boheme. He robbed banks in a Nixon face mask and was on the run from Keanu Reeves in the 1991 film Point Break
Richard Kelly, who directed him in the 2001 indy cult film Donnie Darko, says, "Patrick was really ballsy to take this role because the character turns out to be a pedophile. It's not easy to find an actor who wants to play a role like that."
Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008. Even while undergoing treatment, he continued to work, starring as a cop in the A&E series The Beast. He also wrote the memoir The Time of My Life, with his wife of more than 30 years, Lisa Niemi, chronicling his life and his struggle with illness.
Correction Sept. 16, 2009
Our story reported that Patrick Swayze's first movie role was in The Outsiders in 1983. That was incorrect. Swayze's first film role came in Skatetown USA in 1979. Also, in a reference to the film Point Break, it was said that Patrick Swayze wore a mask with the likeness of President Richard Nixon while robbing banks. He actually wore a mask depicting the likeness of President Ronald Reagan.