Still Crazy for Swayze! Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Patrick Swayze was born August 18, 1952, to Jesse and Patsy Swayze. His father was an engineering draftsman who died suddenly of a heart attack in 1982, just when Patrick's career was beginning to take off. Swayze once said that he had coped with his father's death by drinking too much. Interestingly, Jesse's family had migrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s; they changed their name from Swasey to Swayze soon after.

Swayze's mother, Patsy, founded the Houston Jazz Ballet Company, and ran the Swayze School of Dance while he was growing up; she was credited with helping him land the starring role on "Dirty Dancing" (1987), as all of her children, including Patrick, took lessons at her school. She also taught dance at the University of Houston, choreographed movies like "Urban Cowboy" (1980), and even taught ballet to the University of Houston football team to help improve their agility. Patsy passed away in 2013.

You may imagine that Swayze was quite an athlete while growing up, and that apparently was the case. He had hoped to play football in college; however, a knee injury at a young age was something that was difficult to overcome. It made him change his focus to becoming an Olympic gymnast. Actually, Swayze was such an exceptional athlete that some thought that if gymnastics didn't work out, he could compete in archery or high diving on an Olympic level. He was also a very talented pole vaulter in high school. Unfortunately, however, he left after attending school at San Jacinto College for two years; the knee injury continued to be an issue, and he had an interesting job offer.

Swayze was offered a job to tour professionally with a "Disney on Parade" theatrical show where he was featured as Prince Charming. He toured with the group for one year. When his contract was finished, the Harkness Ballet in New York was his next stop. Eliot Field, an American choreographer, planned to feature Swayze and acclaimed ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov in a special project, but it was dropped so that Swayze could have reconstructive surgery on his knee. Once again he had to refocus his attention to another career.

While in New York, Swayze also began to study Buddhism, which he said he hoped would help him find peace and cope with some of the personal struggles he faced. He studied various types of the philosophy, including Zen and Soka Gakkai, along with transcendental meditation and martial arts; some of the roles he took later, like Dalton in "Road House" (1989), definitely tied in with his training and beliefs.

The Toto music video, "Rosanna" (1982), was mentioned because it created a connection with Cynthia Rhodes, a dancer who also appeared in "Dirty Dancing" (1987) as Penny. While she was dancing around a set of a run down street, members of a street gang kind of bopped around in the background and appeared to fight. Look closely! There was a young Patrick Swayze in the group! He's wearing a red jacket most of the time!

Swayze was a member of a stellar cast of actors in "The Outsiders" (1983). He played Darry Curtis, the oldest brother who was left behind to take care of his two younger brothers after their parents died in a car crash; his greatest fear was that if his brothers got into trouble they would be taken away by social services. He also led the Greasers in their triumphant defeat of the Socs in the story's culminating street fight between the rival groups.

The role as Darry led to more offers, and in 1985-86 Swayze played Southerner Orry Main in a television mini series called "North and South". It was a story about two men, Orry and George, who attended West Point together before the Civil War, and then found themselves on opposite sides when the war began. Swayze appeared in "Book 1" and "Book 2" of the story.

"Dirty Dancing" (1987) had to have been one of Swayze's defining roles. He danced, he acted, he sang - he just did it all. What is so interesting about the movie is that it was filmed on a low budget and intended to only play a week in theaters before it was to go to video. As it turned out, it was a huge box office hit! In fact, it was the first film to sell one million copies on video! And really! Is there anyone who has seen the movie who will ever forget Johnny Castle, the hot Kellerman Resort dance instructor, and his struggle to be loved and appreciated for who he was, not what he was? Swayze said that he actually co-wrote "She's Like the Wind" for another movie and that the song was about his wife. Featured in "Dirty Dancing" (1987), the song reached Number One on the "Billboard Adult Contemporary" chart, and became a worldwide hit; this movie role led to his first Golden Globe nomination.

After a second Golden Globe nomination for "Ghost" (1990), Swayze received a third nomination from his role in "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar" (1995). He played an interesting part as a drag queen, who, together with a friend, won a contest which allowed them to participate in a drag queen pageant in Hollywood. On the way to the pageant their car broke down, and they were forced to spend several days in a small town, where they changed everyone's lives forever. While it may be difficult to think of Swayze in this type of role, be assured that his character Vida beat a lot of people up!

Swayze met his wife Lisa when they were both students at his mother's studio; she was fourteen and he was eighteen at the time. The couple married in 1975 after moving to New York. They managed a construction business before his career took off, and frequently worked together later on. Lisa wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted with Swayze in "One Last Dance" (2003), which was about three dancers who had once parted ways coming back together to perform in order to save their mentor's dance company.

The Swayzes owned properties in both California and New Mexico, and would frequently fly their plane between the locations. They had taken flying lessons together and both earned pilot licenses. In both locations they bred and raised Arabian horses; the ranch in New Mexico was also used as a private retreat and working cattle ranch. Lisa sold both properties after Patrick's death.

Having her pilot's license came in handy after Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer because he refused to quit working on his last project, "The Beast" (2009), which was filmed in Chicago. He played an FBI agent who specialized in doing undercover work. Thirteen episodes of the show were aired before it was cancelled due to low ratings, although one reviewer said that he thought that it was the best performance of Swayze's career. He died three months later. An incredibly talented individual, it seems that Patrick Swayze had everything except time.