On his latest movie, "The Beast," which premieres on Thursday, Swayze plays a tough FBI veteran named Charles Barker.

 

Producers said they found out that Swayze had cancer only four hours after hearing that A&E picked up their show to series. His behavior stunned everyone on the set because he only missed one day of work and he managed to shoot 12 episodes after the pilot. People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive of 1991 often made the producers forget about his terrible condition by acting normal and doing a great job.

 

His situation filled the supermarket tabloids through the summer, and the Barbara Walters interview in which he talks about his disease won its time slot, with nearly 13 million watchers.

 

Swayze became famous in the 1987 feature “Dirty Dancing,” much of which was shot in Lake Lure. His performance as a dance teacher named Johnny Castle turned Swayze into a movie star, and helped make the movie a blockbuster. The actor later went on to star in films such as “Ghost” and “Road House.”