Tuesday, September 15, 2009

R.I.P Johnny Castle.......

Though today’s younger generation may have no clue who he is, Patrick Swayze had a big impact on the pop culture for my generation. Yesterday he died after a valiant fight with pancreatic cancer. It makes me sad.

He had several small roles before making his real big break onto the national scene in the epic and classic TV Mini series “North and South”. The young Swayze set many women’s hearts on fire in this role. Shortly after, he really exploded in perhaps his most famous role as “Johnny Castle” in the infamous “Dirty Dancing”. Who from my generation will ever forget “the lift” or “Nobody puts baby in a corner…”??????? Women LOVED him, and he kept this up in Ghost…….but men loved him as well. We were willing to forgive him for Dirty Dancing and Ghost because of things like “Red Dawn”, “The Outsiders” and “Roadhouse”. I mean we men loved Dalton! Remember that throat scene!?!?!?!?!? He even helped make Point Break, a movie full of atrocious acting, a staple for my college years for many a frat house! And for you young hipsters, you DO know who he is….just go watch Donnie Darko again. He even is a fave of my kids, though they don’t know it, as he voiced the character Cash in Fox & the Hound 2.

He had several other really enjoyable films that were less known such as Uncommon Valor (I love this one), Grandview USA, Youngblood (surely you remember the hockey one right???), Next of Kin, and To Wong foo…..”

He was a family man. He was a good actor. He was a big deal for a little while, a long time ago. R.I.P Patrick. We will surely miss you.

Below is one of my personal favorite clips of Mr. Swayze. I love that he was also actually a funny guy and could even poke fun at himself:

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