"One thing I'm not gonna do is chase staying alive,"

The Late Patrick Swayze

I have always envied Patrick Swayze for his talent in dancing. Being the overweight child I was, I had always danced alone in my bedroom watching Dirty Dancing over and over again. Wow, have I not always wanted to dance like him (but that of course, never came true).

Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing

My first movie outing with friends in my high school years was to watch Point Break and again it was Patrick Swayze's movie. In college, we were hooked up laughing and enjoying To Wong Foo where Patrick Swauze acted a cross-dresser and my god, the movie was and still hilarious!

Patrick Swayze in To Wong Foo

Something that I may not have realized, how much I have actually grown up watching and enjoying Patrick Swayze's movies and how much his movies had lived part of my dreams to dance. After a 20 month battle against pancreatic cancer, today we bid farewell to this very talented actor/dancer. Goodbye Patrick. 2009 seems to be a year famous people die.

Patrick Swayze in Ghost

Here's the news from ABC News

Actor Patrick Swayze died today after a 20-month battle with pancreatic cancer his publicist confirmed to ABC News. He was 57. "Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," his publicist, Annett Wolf, said in a statement released Monday evening.

Patrick Swayze in Point Break

Swayze, best known for starring in the blockbuster films "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost," sais he was diagnosed with cancer in January 2008. His last television interview was in December 2008 with ABC News' Barbara Walters. Swayze spoke candidly to Walters about his prognosis and vowed to fight his cancer and "keep my heart and my soul and my spirit open to miracles." "One thing I'm not gonna do is chase staying alive," Swayze said, "You spend so much time chasing staying alive, you won't live" "He fought the bravest battle and sadly lost," Walters said today. "My heart goes out to his wonderful Lisa, his wife and soulmate for 34 years."

Swayze's Rise to Stardom

From the time he could walk, Swayze, whose mother was a dance instructor and choreographer, took dance lessons in his hometown of Houston. Swayze's father, on the other hand, was a great outdoorsman, which is where Swayze got his love for horses. His primary passion growing up was dancing, but eventually Swayze was forced to stop because of injuries and began investing his energy into acting. He moved to New York and had his first big break in the Broadway musical "Grease" in 1978. His popularity on the Great White Way soon led him to Hollywood, where he appeared in a teenage movie called "Skatetown USA." Although he was compared to Rudolph Valentino and John Travolta, Swayze decided not to go the route of being a teenage idol. Instead, he chose to pursue films such as "The Outsiders" and the television miniseries "North and South." Swayze achieved true stardom with the biggest break of his life, starring as the gyrating dance instructor Johnny Castle in 1987's "Dirty Dancing" opposite co-star Jennifer Gray. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role, along with a cult-like following of fans. He received another nomination for his 1990 blockbuster "Ghost," in which he starred alongside Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. He was named by People magazine as the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991. Swayze continued acting in films, including "Point Break," "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar" and "Donnie Darko."