Patrick Swayze: Pancreatic Cancer.

Patrick Swayze, former idol to millions of females worldwide for his films in Dirty Dancing and Ghost, has tragically been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a disease that is almost always fatal. It was the same illness that struck down Michael Landon.

While I was rather underwhelmed for Dirty Dancing, I can remember bawling my eyes out the first time I saw Ghost in a movie theater.

People Magazine reported:
Swayze, 55, started his career as a dancer before turning to acting. His breakout role was as a Catskills dance instructor opposite Jennifer Grey in 1987's sleeper hit Dirty Dancing. He also starred opposite Demi Moore in the 1990 blockbuster Ghost.

On Broadway in the '70s he played the lead role of Danny Zucco in Grease – he returned to the New York stage in December 2003, for a brief stint in the revival of Chicago – before making his movie debut in 1979's Skatetown, U.S.A. Among his other screen roles were 2001's Donnie Darko and 1995's To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, which he played in fabulous drag.

And while Swayze has been happily married to the same woman, Lisa Niemi, since 1975, only last month Scarlett Johansson said quite seriously during her Hasty Pudding roast at Harvard that the man to whom she'd most like to be linked with romantically is, "Probably Patrick Swayze. My dream come true."
Here's wishing the best for Patrick and his family.