Project 289 - Day 182 : Death of Icons : Goodbye Patrick Swayze and Mike Leyland

* Today it was announced that Patrick Swayze had died, sad news for me not so much because of his acting career (although I did enjoy his movies) but more because of his passionate commitment to living and his great and inspiring love for his wife, Lisa Niemi (pictured with Patrick above), to whom he was married for 34 years. The death of anyone is deeply sad, but to lose someone who so enthusiastically lived and loved is a great tragedy. He will be missed.

Here is one announcement of his death:

"Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze has lost his battle with cancer.
His publicist Annett Wolf confirmed it a short time ago.
"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," the statement said.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January 2008, Swayze fought a very public battle with the illness and hoped for a miracle cure.
In an interview with US journalist Barbara Walters earlier this year, Swayze said he was not giving up.
"Am I dying? Am I giving back? Am I on my death bed? No way."
"I want to last until they find a cure."
Born Patrick Wayne Swayze in August 1952, he was always destined for stardom.
His mother was a dance instructor and taught him how to move.
In 1972, he packed his bags for New York to train as a professional dancer and after scoring a few roles on television, Hollywood came knocking.
In 1983, following his film performance in The Outsiders, the roles kept coming.
He starred in the action film Red Dawn and opposite Rob Lowe in Young Blood but then he became an international pin-up boy for his role as Johnny in Dirty Dancing.
His fame continued to rise and he managed to make even the toughest of men shed a tear in the romantic box office hit Ghost, starring alongside Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.
Swayze's star status was confirmed when he played Bodhi in the action blockbuster Point Break and it was following that role when People Magazine dubbed him the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991.
In the late 1990s he featured in smaller movies before making a comeback in 2001 as the motivational speaker and closet paedophile Jim Cunningham in Donnie Darko, featuring the up-and-coming actor, Jake Gyllenhaal.
His most recent on-screen performance was in a US television series, The Beast.
But Swayze's best role of all was that of husband to his wife, Lisa Niemi.
The couple met in 1970 as teenagers and had been married since 1975."

** Word of Mike Leyland's death was also released today. Though no exactly a household name anymore, he is another icon of my childhood as a result of me watching countless episodes of "The Leyland Brothers Show" when they trekked all across Australia. It is now perceived as laughably hokey in delivery, but the scenery captured, and the passion for Australia conveyed, made the show an iconic part of Australian TV in the late 70s and early 80s and very much a part of my childhood. RIP Mike.

Here is the announcement of his death in 'The Herald Sun" newspaper:

"Mike Leyland, one of the two legendary Leyland brothers whose quirky travel show ran for years on Australian television, has died at the age of 68.
His family announced that Mike died of complications of Parkinson's disease this morning.
Mike and Mal Leyland, explorers and documentary filmmakers, were best known for their television show Ask The Leyland Brothers.
The weekly show, which ran from 1976 to 1984, was watched by more than 2.5 million people at its peak.
It featured the brothers in unusual or far-flung places around Australia which viewers had asked them to visit.
Mike was eight and Mal was five when they migrated with their parents in 1950 from England to Newcastle in NSW, where Mike lived for the rest of his life.
Mike Leyland is survived by his wife Margie, his daughters Kerry, Sandy and Dawn, his step-daughters Sarah and Alison, and seven grandchildren."