I was so bummed to hear that he had lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. I suppose it was inevitable, but you always wish you'd hear those miracle stories, especially when it's someone whose work you truly enjoyed.
There are literally thousands of articles, remembrances and thoughts on his fight with cancer, his passing and his extensive body of work, so I feel no need to ramble about that.
More than anything, I just want to say I am quite sad. Not only was he a great actor, he was an active enviromentalist and humanitarian.
Perhaps his most impressive accomplishment, though, was his 34 year marriage to Lisa Niemi, whom he met when he was 19 and she only 15. How many "Hollywood marriages" can say they last that long? That's right, you can probably count them on one hand.
Patrick and Lisa
They had no children, and considered their vast array of horses and dogs their kids.
I was a big fan of his movies - probably seen them all. Naturally, most people would claim Dirty Dancing or Ghost as their faves, but I loved him best as Orry Main in the North and South miniseries back in the mid-eighties.
I remember myself and three of my friends sitting around the tv watching it, in awe of him. Makes me laugh now. But it was really good acting, and I'm proud to say I own the whole damn miniseries (N & S Books 1-3) on DVD. Yeah, baby.
Dirty Dancing (1987) holds a special place in my heart because it was the first movie I saw with my hubby. I should have known right there that any guy who'd see a chick-flick like that was worth keeping ;)
Of course the hubby's favorite will always be Road House (1989). And I'll admit to seeing that one so many times I can't even count. We own it on DVD (of course!) - but every damn time it's on tv (and that's ALOT, people!) my hubby is still glued to the screen.
{"I thought you'd be bigger"... "Yeah? I get that alot."}
Besides Road House, dramatic action movies like Red Dawn, Youngblood, The Outsiders, Point Break, Black Dog, and Next of Kin drew in all the guys, while girls need only watch Dirty Dancing or Ghost to swoon and fall in love.
So goodbye, Patrick. You were loved, and you'll be missed.
(Isn't this just the best photo of him?)
No comments:
Post a Comment