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A real Texas boy
"Is it?" he said as his bright blue eyes searched my face for the answer he already knew. "Is the grass greener on the other side? That is the most interesting thing."
- By Marie-Louise Olson, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:04 October 21, 2007
- The Golden Globe nominated actor and his wife live on their ranch in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and he stresses how happy he is being away from the glitz and game of Hollywood.
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
"Is it?" he said as his bright blue eyes searched my face for the answer he already knew. "Is the grass greener on the other side? That is the most interesting thing about stardom. Hopefully you are smart enough to learn very quickly that it ain't always greener on the other side. Grass is always greener right now — in your reality… what you have in the moment."
Patrick Swayze should know better than anyone what it means to be content with the grass on his side of the fence.
He's been married to his wife Lisa Niemi for 32 years and is still in love. I met the two of them at Dubai's iconic Burj Al Arab for a dinner event promoting a new project in Ajman called the Princess Resort.
Secret
"Love and trust are very hard to find. Why would you want to start over with it? Why would you want to replace it?" And the secret? "Reinvention, rediscovery, learning how to fall in love over and over again... friendship. Rediscovering friendship. Why would you want to take a chance on losing something special you have?"
These words come from a man who, since 1987, when he became famous for his sexually-charged dance moves in the hit movie Dirty Dancing, has made female hearts melt the world over. How can anybody forget the famous "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" quote and the ticklish armpit scene? This was what made Swayze a legend in his own right and even though it's been 20 years, he's still as sexy as ever.
Cult movies
But at the mention of Dirty Dancing, the 55-year-old actor is quick to point out that it's not his only successful movie. To him, it's films such as Roadhouse, Point Break and The Outsiders that have cemented his, in his own words, "stardom".
"The reason why my career has survived for so long is because of the cult following for these movies. Can you entertain the concept of what it was like to live through that movie [Dirty Dancing] and Ghost when you have other movies that were just as history making for guys? Woman screw it all up," he said laughing. So after suffering a spate of being typecast, Swayze decided to radically change his image and play other roles.
"My agent hates me for saying this, but 10 years ago I decided I'm gonna have a great time screwing up my career. I'm gonna play a drag queen; a wild surfer; a messed up doctor in Namibia. I love it. After you've done the movie star thing for a long, long time, you don't care any more. You're like, ‘OK, love me some more'," he said, cocking his wrist while adding a gay twist to his otherwise heavy Texan accent.
Age?
The Golden Globe nominated actor and his wife live on their ranch in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and he stresses how happy he is being away from the glitz and game of Hollywood.
"It's fun to look at," he says, "but the enticement and the temptation is now boring. It's silly. It's stupid. The only thing is what's real right now."
Subtly I suggest it might have something to do with age.
"Are you saying I'm old?" he teased. "I probably would have had a bigger, splashier, entertaining career if I were sleeping with every woman who ever offered herself to me. But it's not my game."
So what is his game? Horses. Dubai has been a holiday destination for Swayze for many years and now he has actually bought a home here in the Princess Resort. His attraction to the Middle East stems from his Texan ways and his love for horses.
Contract
"The reason why I fell in love with the Arab people is because they believe that your word is your bond. I shake your hand. I look in your eyes... that's all the contract you need," the Houston-born actor said, grabbing my hand in a firm handshake and staring intently at me. My heart skipped a beat.
‘I would carry a watermelon anywhere for you', I almost blurted. Hey, it's Patrick Swayze. You would feel the same too.
"You don't really find that in the US at the moment," he carried on, oblivious to the commotion around him. "But I hope they will come back to that belief system again. It might take a while."
Politics
Now we were on the subject of the US, I probed a little deeper.
"I am so not political, and I don't care about politics," he answered. "But let me address [George W.] Bush. Until we change our standards, we can't grow better leaders. And the length of time we keep pointing fingers out there instead of pointing them here," he said, poking his thumb into his chest, "then nothing's gonna change. I'll never go into politics."
He is as disinterested in politics as he is passionate about horses. His Arabian horses in particular.
"From when I was a little kid, I fell in love with these animals and that gravitated me to the Arab people. For centuries Arabian horses have had the nickname ‘drinkers of the wind'. Their lungs are one-and-a-half times larger than any other horse alive because they came from the desert."
Stardom
The "drinkers of the wind", according to the actor, saved him from celebrity insanity.
"The moment stardom and insanity happened in our lives, I'd like to think that we had the wisdom to get out of it. We moved out of the city and we live with our animals. Animals are an amazing emotional barometer. They tell you how you are, they tell you whether you're full of it or not. I need that. I've been dealing with stardom for over 30 years now, and I don't care about it. I don't care.
"Everybody says, ‘what, are you hot this year?' Do you have any idea how many times I've been hot and not hot? Do you have any idea that I don't care?"
Swayze was now on a roll — the Veuve Cliqueot seemed to have loosened up his tongue slightly — and I was the last person to stop him.
Quality
"I care about the quality of what I do, at all costs. I don't care about playing the big game. It's so oversold and such a lie. I'll sacrifice my career at all costs to go with my heart. So whatever is the most obvious I'll go underground. Does anyone know that I'm coming out with two albums this year? Who's gonna know about it? Who cares! I've been writing music for a lot of years. It's important to me to look into someone's eyes and they're looking back at me. If I don't see that, then I don't want to play."
Three movies
Speaking of playing, the actor has certainly been busy. Apart from his recent stints on Broadway and in London, he is coming out with three new movies.
"One is called Jump — it's about pre-Nazi Austria. I play a 1930s Jewish-Austrian lawyer, believe it or not. Hey, I'm an actor, call me crazy!" he said jokingly.
Swayze is also coming out with a Christmas movie conveniently called Christmas In Wonderland. "And then I just finished a movie with Forrest Whitaker called Powder Blue where I play a sleazeball ex-1980s one-hit-wonder rock 'n' roller who runs a stripclub. And I'm a sick man," he laughed, his blue eyes dancing more than ever.
Suddenly his better half appeared next to him. Time was up.
"My wife just hit me and said ‘shut up now'," he said laughing. I watched as he walked away looking as fit as ever in his gleaming, midnight-blue suit and disappeared into a sea of celebrity-hungry photographers. He might be known for his dirty dancing, but in essence he's a Texan cowboy at heart.
Dirty Dancing
Swayze's first roles were in films such as The Outsiders (1983) and Youngblood (1986), but his first major success was in the 1985 television mini-series North and South, which was set during the Civil War. His real breakthrough to stardom came with his performance as the dance instructor in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, where his earlier ballet experience came to good use.
He starred with Jennifer Grey, who had also co-starred in Red Dawn. Dirty Dancing was originally a low-budget project that was intended to only show in theatres for one weekend and then go straight to video but it became a surprise hit and achieved massive international success.
It was the first film to sell one million copies on video, and, as of 2007, has earned over $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) worldwide. Swayze received a Golden Globe Award nomination for the role, and also sang one of the songs on the soundtrack, She's Like The Wind, which he co-wrote. Swayze took dance lessons from John Travolta when making Dirty Dancing. Swayze and Travolta are best friends to this day.
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