Nothing wakes you up to the reality of growing older than the passing of celebrities that were part of your formative years.  Sure, some of the greatest of all time have passed in the last 30 years, but I had always viewed them as part of a different generation.  Then those that I have always know begin to pass.  While John Hughes’s passing earlier this year was a shock, this one hurts more.

I remember the summer of my senior year in high school in 1987.  Dirty Dancing came out and became the hit nobody saw coming because they were focused on Beverly Hills Cop II.  While Swayze was in The Outsiders and Red Dawn, Dirty Dancing was his breakout role.  Mom wanted to see it because of the story; Dad was interested because he had liked Swayze’s acting in North and South; and I went along because it was a free movie.  I ended up enjoying the movie like most everyone else.

Jump to 1989.  Next Of Kin comes out with Swayze and Liam Neeson.  Not a great cinematic piece, but just a fun movie to watch with the guys.  Then one of my favorite guilty pleasures in movies, Road House, came out.  Say what you will but I can not change the channel once this pops up on TV.

Point Break hit and further cemented Swayze as an action star, but he wanted more.  He returned to his romantic roots with Ghost, which along with Dirty Dancing, made him the “guy” all women wanted.  After Ghost, his career was up and down and he seemed to lose interest in the “biz”.

A whole new generation got to discover him with his A&E show, The Beast.  It is a shame that it came so late such that we had only one season to enjoy it.

Well, Mejo, I’ll wrap this up now so that you can save Baby from being placed in a corner by an angel…