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He had the time of his life

Text by Warner Roberts

Photo courtesy Patsy Swayze

November 20, 2009 at 10:13 PM

Patrick Swayze lived by a motto: "Never work for money, only for passion." During a long and varied career, he delivered passionate performances in such hits as "Dirty Dancing," "Point Break," "Ghost," "Road House" and, most recently, the A&E drama, "The Beast." In September, he died after a valiant 20-month battle with pancreatic cancer. But he lives on through his screen presence and in our memories. His mother Patsy sent me some treasured photographs from her personal scrapbook when I planned to interview him a few years ago. Without duplicates, she was a nervous wreck until they were returned. Patsy was the founder and artistic director of the Houston Jazz Ballet Company and instructed the likes of Tommy Tune, John Travolta, Debbie Allen, Jaclyn Smith, Lisa Hartman, Randy Quaid, Kenny Rogers and of course, her son, Patrick. In class Patrick met one of Patsy’s students, 14-year-old Lisa Niemi, who was to become his wife of 35 years. “Patrick was always so well liked, always a good singer; and, boy, did he work hard," Patsy told me. "I was forever telling him, ‘Shut up and dance!’” Actress Jaclyn Smith also took classes at the studio. “His mother, Patsy, was my dance teacher so I knew Patrick as a young boy," Jaclyn recalls. "Even then there was a quality about him that was winning. He was a true Texan and a cowboy to the core." "There wasn't anything he couldn't do, from dance to football," Jaclyn Smith recalls. "And then in his 20's he did this beautiful carpentry on a house I had bought. He had an enormous individuality and sensitivity and a self control that certainly saw him through his illness without any trace of self pity, continuing to work 12-hour days, never complaining, never demanding, grateful to work. He presented to the world an uncommon courage. His disease did not touch the beautiful spirit of this man.” Patrick attended Oak Forest Elementary, F. M. Black Middle School and Waltrip High School, where he played football. He received a gymnastic scholarship to San Jacinto College, but he soon headed to New York to study with Harkness Ballet and Joffrey Ballet. Patrick’s first real “gig” was as a dancer in Disney on Parade in which he played Prince Charming. A knee injury ended his ballet career, so he turned to Broadway, where he starred as Danny Zuko in "Grease." He made his film debut in "Skatetown, U.S.A". in 1979. Former Houston Chronicle television editor Ann Hodges remembers meeting Patrick on the set of the 1985 miniseries "North and South," where he played a Southern rebel making friends with his first Yankee at West Point on the eve of the Civil War. By then he had appeared in a variety of television and movie roles. When she watched him filming the scene, Ann remembers thinking: “This guy is really going to be big; this role is going to make him a super star. He WAS a hero; he was dashing; he was romantic. Actually, he was thrilled that he got the role. He was a nice person, and I do not think he ever changed. The miniseries did well, but it wasn’t the blockbuster I thought it would be. It wasn’t Patrick’s “break out” role.” Public relations executive Judy Nichols met Patrick when he and Lisa came to ride in an Arabian horse show on the Galleria ice rink to benefit St. Joseph Hospital Foundation. Later, when she visited his five-acre spread “Rancho Bizarro” in California, she was amazed to see hundreds of scripts that were piled high all over the house. “Everybody wanted him. I remember he was always singing; he had a recording studio in the house and wrote a lot of music. He was an incredibly nice man. Lisa told me that they were so poor when they got married that she had to make the clothes they wore.” Patrick and Lisa moved to his New Mexico Rancho de Dias Alegres (Ranch of Happy Days) shortly thereafter and turned it into a wildlife preserve and timber farm. In 1987, Patrick‘s “breakout” role took him back to his roots and all those years of training in ballet and tap (with a little football experience thrown in). The mega hit film "Dirty Dancing" elevated him into the “superstar” category and earned him a Golden Globe nomination. What began as a low budget, possible straight-to-video film became the first to sell one million copies on video and, as of 2007, earn $300 million worldwide. Patrick co-wrote one of the film’s songs, "She’s Like the Wind," which became a huge hit. Patrick received a second nomination for his portrayal of the ghost, Sam Wheat, in the box office smash, "Ghost." Named as People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1995, he turned convention on its ear by appearing as a beautiful drag queen in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar." Personally, I will remember these quotes when I think of Patrick: “Dancers are the athletes of God” (Albert Einstein) and “For what is it to die, But to stand in the sun and melt into the wind? And, when the earth has claimed our limbs, then we shall truly dance” (Kahlil Gibran). Patrick, we hope you had the time of your life. You certainly added much joy to ours.

Pictured here: Patrick’s star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Pictured here: Patsy holding 6-month-old Patrick in 1951 Pictured here: Patrick Wayne (Lil’ Buddy) Swayze, age 3. Pictured here: When he was a child, Patrick took dance classes at his mother's studio. Pictured here: On the football team as a senior at Waltrip High School. Pictured here: A photo taken earlier this year. Pictured here: Patrick played a conflicted Civil War solider in the 1985 mini-series "North and South." Pictured here: Patrick dancing with wife, Lisa. They married in 1975. Pictured here: In his breakout role in "Dirty Dancing" in 1987. Pictured here: Patrick and Demi Moore in the classic scene from "Ghost." Pictured here: Patrick dancing with his mother, Patsy Swayze for the cover of an instructional dance video

Ann Hodges, Jaclyn Smith, Lisa Niemi, Patrick Swayze, Patsy Swayze

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