Patrick Swayze died

Patrick Swayze died

The news as it first came over the AP wire was "Patrick Swayze at 57": they'd forgotten to put the "died" part in the headline. Given that we all know that Swayze had been battling with pancreatic cancer for a couple of years (when the prognosis is usually less than 6 months) there wasn't that much surprise when the headline in its next incarnation was "Patrick Swayze died at 57". The British newspapers have been giving huge coverage to this news of Patrick Swayze's death from pancreatic cancer. The Telegraph collected quotes from those who knew him:

Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher, tweeted: "RIP P Swayze". (One might want to make a note about Demi Moore's Twitter there. We usually use the past tense about those, like Swayze, who have died, not the present. And, err, that particular sentiment, shouldn't it have been said to Patrick Swayze while he was alive? As for Ashton Kuchner's Twitter: are there really a million people signed up to follow such pearls of wisdom as might come from a bookend?) Days ago it was reported he had left hospital to be at home with his wife, Lisa Niemi, his childhood sweetheart from Houston.

The Times gives him a full obituary: Patrick Swayze was in his mid-thirties when he became an overnight sensation in 1987 with the romantic dance movie Dirty Dancing, in which he played the dance instructor Johnny Castle, and Jennifer Grey was his pupil Baby. The film cost $5 million and was intended primarily for video, but it grossed more than $200 million worldwide and was one of the biggest hits of the year.