Yesterday the world was remembering actor Patrick Swayze. He did Monday at the age of 57 after his battle with pancreatic cancer.
Journalists, TV news personalities, and talk show hosts mentioned his work in movies such as: Dirty Dancing, Roadhouse, and Red Dawn to name a few. I know my wife would not only mention Dirty Dancing (her all time favorite movie) in her remembrances of Swayze but the film “To Wong Fu” as well.
I'm probably one of the few who remember Patrick Swayze for a role not many people know he played. There’s a bit of sad serendipity in my mentioning this role too because it was on an episode of M*A*S*H. I just wrote an entire post about my all time favorite TV show a couple of days ago because of the death of it's creator, Larry Gelbart.
The episode I am referring to aired during the 1980-81 season, the 9th season of the Korean War based comedy. It was titled “Blood Brothers”. Swayze played the role of Gary Sturgis, a wounded soldier, who ends up in the 4077th along with his buddy, Dan. At first Sturgis only seems to have a broken arm while his buddy’s wounds are life threatening.
When Dan needs a blood transfusion, Swayze’s character, tells the hospital staff that he will provide the blood. He and Dan are the same type: A. When Sturgis’ blood is drawn and checked for the correct type, Dr. Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) discovers that Sturgis is in the initial stages of leukemia; an incurable disease at the time.
Journalists, TV news personalities, and talk show hosts mentioned his work in movies such as: Dirty Dancing, Roadhouse, and Red Dawn to name a few. I know my wife would not only mention Dirty Dancing (her all time favorite movie) in her remembrances of Swayze but the film “To Wong Fu” as well.
I'm probably one of the few who remember Patrick Swayze for a role not many people know he played. There’s a bit of sad serendipity in my mentioning this role too because it was on an episode of M*A*S*H. I just wrote an entire post about my all time favorite TV show a couple of days ago because of the death of it's creator, Larry Gelbart.
The episode I am referring to aired during the 1980-81 season, the 9th season of the Korean War based comedy. It was titled “Blood Brothers”. Swayze played the role of Gary Sturgis, a wounded soldier, who ends up in the 4077th along with his buddy, Dan. At first Sturgis only seems to have a broken arm while his buddy’s wounds are life threatening.
When Dan needs a blood transfusion, Swayze’s character, tells the hospital staff that he will provide the blood. He and Dan are the same type: A. When Sturgis’ blood is drawn and checked for the correct type, Dr. Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) discovers that Sturgis is in the initial stages of leukemia; an incurable disease at the time.
When Dan, the severely wounded soldier, improves and it’s evident that he will recover Captain Pierce points out the fact that the one soldier who came in with the least amount of injury is the one who is going to lose his life. It’s a very emotional episode and Swayze plays the selfless soldier very well.
In 1987 Dirty Dancing made Patrick Swayze a movie star. It was 7 years before that when he played his role on M*A*S*H. In retrospect, given the disease that ultimately took his life, cancer, if seems ironic that he would play a part at the start of his career that would foreshadow the end of his life, some 29 years later.
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