Biografia

His half salute

Chiseled features

Deep gravelly voice

His dancing skills

Known for playing tough guys with a hidden, sensitive side

Began his career as a dancer appearing in Disneyland's parades as Prince Charming from Cenerentola (1950). One of the many Cinderellas he danced with was Michelle Pfeiffer.

Was reportedly offered $6,000,000 to reprise his role of Johnny Castle in a sequel to Dirty Dancing - Balli proibiti (1987), which he turned down.

At age 19, he met his wife Lisa Niemi, then 15 years old, who attended dance lessons with his mother, Patsy Swayze.

Trained in New York as a dancer with the Harkness and Joffrey ballet schools. In 2004, he appeared as the dancing instructor in the "prequel" Dirty Dancing 2 (2004).

In an interview with Barbara Walters in January 2009, Swayze acknowledged that his history as a recovering alcoholic and heavy cigarette smoker may have contributed to his illness. He reportedly once admitted to smoking 60 cigarettes a day.

Good-looking people turn me off. Myself included.

I believe in a higher power. I've studied Eastern philosophies, and I've studied the Koran. We've devalued everything worth believing in. Now we're tearing into religion. A line should be drawn. L'ultima tentazione di Cristo (1988) and Il codice da Vinci (2006) borders on that. I was glued to the book, but afterwards I thought, "Oh my Lord, now we're tearing into God and our faith". Are we going to be turning into a reality show, too? I certainly hope not.

[in 2004, about his drinking] I made a conscious decision to break away from big films when I got alcohol out of my life. I had been sucked into the blockbuster, box-office mentality and it was destroying my sense of purpose in life. The loneliness of fame was messing with my head. Once you've been famous for a while and told your story, it can sound like a lie. You don't know what's true. It sounds like an article someone wrote rather than the essence of who you are.

I have a great deal of faith in faith; if you believe something strongly enough, it becomes true for you. I would like to believe that my father is right here with me in this room and that he's my guardian angel, that there's life after death -- because if there isn't, why are we here? I don't believe that just flesh and bones can contain from the point of view of physics this very real recorded energy inside of us. Whether it's true or not, we need to believe it.

[on having achieved some success with various anti-cancer treatments] I'm a miracle, dude.