Patrick Swayze Checks Into Hospital

Hospital Cancer Patrick Swayze the "Dirty Dancing" star who is battling pancreatic cancer has been hospitalized with pneumonia a television network executive said on Friday.

by Reuters

Published: Fri, January 09, 2009 - 4:26 pm CST Last Updated: Fri, January 09, 2009 - 4:28 pm CST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Patrick Swayze, the "Dirty Dancing" star who is battling pancreatic cancer, has been hospitalized with pneumonia, a television network executive said on Friday.

Swayze skipped a round of interviews scheduled to promote his new crime drama "The Beast" on the A&E cable TV network because of his hospitalization, network president Robert DeBitetto told reporters at the Television Critics Association meetings in Los Angeles.

A spokeswoman for Swayze confirmed that the actor had been hospitalized in Los Angeles, but declined to provide further details on his condition.

Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and told TV interviewer Barbara Walters this week that he might have only two years to live.

"I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking. Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it," he told Walters.

The American Cancer Society says pancreatic cancer has only a 5 percent, five-year survival rate. The majority of patients die within six months.

Swayze is known around the world for his role as the dance instructor in 1987's coming-of-age movie "Dirty Dancing," which inspired hit stage shows in London, Australia and Canada. He has starred in numerous other movies, including the 1990 hit romance, "Ghost."

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