Patrick Swayze: A career in clips

Patrick Swayze, who died yesterday at the age of 57, was an agent of 80s virility, a man who combined an almost cartoonish muscularity with balletic grace and high tenderness. These traits were showcased most spectacularly in Dirty Dancing (1987) and Ghost (1990) – both massive box office smashes at the time, whose longterm cultural impact was cemented by their perfect fit for the then-burgeoning home video market.

Swayze got his big break courtesy of Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him as a rebel greaser in The Outsiders (1983).

His first listed credit, though, was in yoof drama Skatetown, USA (1979), alongside an equally fresh-faced Scott Baio.

Some early TV exposure in M*A*S*H and The Comeback Kid led to his first small-screen lead, as Bandit in short-lived action series The Renegades (1982).

Swayze toiled away in some decent films through the 80s, most notably Uncommon Valor, a Vietnam POW drama co-starring Gene Hackman.

Then, in 1987, he was cast as Johnny Castle, the bit-of-rough dance teacher who falls for Jennifer Grey's rich-but-supressed summer school student in Dirty Dancing.

Here's the snaggle-hipped climax to Dancing in which Swayze and Grey twirl up a storm to Time of my Life.

And here's the official video for his tie-in single, She's Like The Wind, much-covered, much-spoofed, and most recently given an airing on the soundtrack to romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer.

A couple more years of duds followed, including "Mad Max with Swords" epic Steel Dawn.

But Swayze proved he was good for another mega-smash with Ghost. Killed by muggers in the first scene, he spends the remainder of the film watching over bereaved wife Demi Moore.

The late-night pottery sequence, in which the pair snuggle up to a bit of clay and the strains of Unchained Melody, became one of cinema's most-loved and most-parodied scene.

This time, Swayze was on a roll, following up the smash with a terrific turn in surfing drama Point Break.

And, more ambitiously, a regular hosting gig on Saturday Night Live and a barnstorming drag role on To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar – "Ready or not, here comes mama...".

A similar bravery led him to take the role of a closet paedophile motivational speaker in Richard Kelly's debut Donnie Darko. Swayze showed us a whole new side ("we're afraid to face our ego reflection") in Donnie Darko – a career-reviving role that lent him the kind of cred Tom Cruise picked up in Magnolia.

Yet the career resurgence didn't quite transform into more iconic roles. The last quarter of Swayze's career was marked by less-than-memorable moments.

He had a cameo in Dirty Dancing sequel flop, Havana Nights (2004), as a twinkle-toed dance instructor.

And as another instructor (golf, this time) in Rowan Atkinson comedy Keeping Mum (2005).

But there were strong signs of another revival. Swayze's last role was as the lead in The Beast, a TV drama about an undercover FBI agent battling his demons while fighting crime. Thirteen episodes were shot, but the career was cancelled this summer in what some took as confirmation Swayze's illness has taken a turn for the worse.

What, for you, are the key Swayze roles? Was he restricted by his involvement in two cult classics? And what parts would you have liked to see him go on to play?