Patrick Swayze diagnosed with cancer

Published: 12:16PM Thursday March 06, 2008 Source: Reuters

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Patrick Swayze, the dancer and starring actor of such hit films as Dirty Dancing and Ghost, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, published reports said.
   
Swayze, 55, was diagnosed with cancer more than a month ago, the New York Post reported on its website, citing a representative for the actor.
   
"Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far.
   
"All of the reports stating the timeframe of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue," Swayze's physician, Dr George Fisher, said in a statement released to the celebrity Web site TMZ.com by the actor's publicist.
   
Several media reports said the actor was in grave condition with only weeks to live, but the statement on TMZ.com said Swayze was continuing his normal schedule and that he appreciated the "outpouring of concern" from the public.
   
Swayze's spokeswoman declined to comment and no further details were available.
   
Swayze, 55, is best known for his role as dance instructor Johnny Castle opposite Jennifer Grey's character, infatuated teenager Frances 'Baby' Houseman, in the 1987 movie musical Dirty Dancing.
   
The film, which centers on an unlikely romance between the pair at a 1960s resort in the Catskills of New York, defied expectations to become a massive hit, earning both actors Golden Globe Award nominations.
   
Swayze performed the song She's Like the Wind for the movie's soundtrack and his signature line, Nobody puts Baby in the corner, has become a pop culture staple
   
Dirty Dancing, which also featured the Oscar-winning song (I've Had) The Time of My Life - remains widely popular two decades later and is replayed almost constantly on TV in the United States.
   
Swayze went on to star alongside Demi Moore in the 1990 tear-jerker romance Ghost, which also became a huge box office hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture.
   
The Texas-born Swayze, whose dancer-choreographer mother owned a Houston ballet studio, began performing at an early age and got his start in show business as a dancer and on the stage before landing film and TV roles in Hollywood.

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