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RIP – Patrick Swazye

published by bootlegger at 10:44 am The Remembered add responses

Sep 152009

patrickswazye

Actor Patrick Swazye passed away September 14, 2009 at the age of 57. He continues the trend of people dying at a young age. From the first time I saw him in Dirty Dancing he caught my attention as the rude, passionate dance instructor Johnny Castle who didn’t like to be treated as anything less worthy because he was not rich. When he stood up for Baby [Jennifer Grey] because she stood up for him most people wanted to say “Nobody puts Baby in the corner!”

After that film I found The Outsider, a film that had a few other film crushes such as Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, and Tom Cruise. That film had Swazye as the older brother of the Curtis clan whose goal was to keep his little brother Ponyboy out of the gang and out of trouble. The film was told through the eyes of Ponyboy and his struggles to transition from a boy to a man in a gang of boys from the wrong side of the social tracks.

babyincorner Swazye has also been in Ghost with Whoopie Goldberg and Demi Moore; and one of the funnier films for him, to me, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar with John Leguizamo and Wesley Snipes as his co-drag queen stars. Leguizamo was the drag queen in training that Snipes did not want to train but Swazye convinced him to take under their wing. The three went on a road trip to a amjor drag queen event and found adventure along the way.

In his later life, Swazye continued to work and was recently in a television series called The Beast. He is survived by his wife and will be missed by his family, friends and fans.

RIP Partick Swazye

swazyeclan