Patrick Swayze has died from complications due to advanced pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.
According to his publicist Annett Wolf, the actor died at home with his family by his side. Swayze fought his cancer for 20 months, after being diagnosed with the terminal illness in January of 2008.
Swayze courageously continued to work on his final television series “The Beast,” which he filmed while undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
The actor, who starred in movies such as The Outsiders, Red Dawn and Road House, is also a part of Hip-Hop history.
His last name has become synonymous with “leaving” or to “disappear” [IE: “I am Swayze”], in Hip-Hop slang, coined after his starring role in the movie “Ghost.”
After landing a #1 single with his track “She’s Like the Wind” from the hit soundtrack Dirty Dancing, Swayze wanted to return to recording music and was experimenting with “rap rhythms as an emotional undercurrent for ballads.”
Additionally, Swayze made a cameo appearance as an FBI agent in a video for Ja Rule’s single “Murder Reigns” from Ja Rule’s The Last Temptation album.