Patrick Swayze reminded me a lot of Gene Kelly. Patrick had that Everyman quality. Gene made dancing sort of an accessible idea for the regular guy out there.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Patrick Swayze is a fantastic man and an inspiration to work with. He is a fearless cowboy type and a movie icon.
As a dancer, obviously, we are all inspired by Michael Jackson, and I always looked up to Gene Kelly. He was a bigger version of Fred Astaire, and he was amazing as well.
'Dirty Dancing' is one of my favorite movies, and I was in love with Patrick Swayze for years, but I tried to stay out of his way and never to meet him because I knew if I did, he'd want to talk about yogurt or some weird dietary restriction or something.
I wanted to be Gene Kelly. Well really, I just wanted to dance with Cyd Charisse.
Gene Kelly was a little tough, and he used to yell at me on the set.
'Singin' in the Rain' was the one for me. Yeah. I mean, Gene Kelly could just sway and never fall. He'd just sway and sway as he danced.
Gene Kelly was hard on me, but I think he had to be.
I heard recently that I used to date Patrick Swayze.
Whether it is Jimmy Slyde or Lon Chaney or Gregory Hines, their dance shows what they experienced, what they had to go through.
Gene Kelly was one of the greatest dancers of all time and a taskmaster. He sought from you the absolute best - and he got it.