Friday, September 18, 2009

Swayze Crazy

I don’t usually write about celebrity deaths but Patrick Swayze is a different story. Most people choose Dirty Dancing as their favorite Swayze movie, and I love it as well. Nobody puts Baby in a corner and all that jazz. But when I think of Swayze, I think of Dalton in Roadhouse, but more importantly, Orry in the North and South miniseries. My mom taped North and South off TV, without commercials, and we would watch it over and over again. It was like another version of Gone With the Wind to us because we love Civil War movies. I even named some puppies we had after the main characters: Orry, Madeline, George, and Constance.



What's weird is another actor, who died this year and is well known for his other work, was in North and South, too. David Carradine played Justin Lamotte, who was pretty much Orry's nemesis through the entire story. Justin tricked Madeline into marrying him, and she was in love with Orry. Justin was a mean, mean, man. Carradine played it so well. He'll always be Justin to me, just as Swayze will be forever Orry: a southern gent and war hero. So sad they're both gone but at least I have them on video forever. As long as my VCR doesn't eat the tapes.

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