Actor Patrick Swayze, star of Dirty Dancing and Ghost, whose career later included a turn as a drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, died on Monday at the age of 57. He had battled pancreatic cancer since January 2008.

Swayze, who was trained as a ballet dancer, rose to prominence in 1987 for his role as a working-class dance instructor coaching Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing. Superstardom followed with the 1990 film Ghost, in which he played the spirit of a murdered banker opposite his character's fiancée, played by Demi Moore.

A Texas native, Swayze received Golden Globe Award nominations for his roles in Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, the 1995 film in which he played a drag queen named Vida Boheme.

Whoopi Goldberg, who won an Oscar for her role as a psychic in Ghost, released a statement about Swayze reported by E! “Patrick was a really good man, a funny man and one to whom I owe much that I can't ever repay," said Goldberg. "I believe in Ghost's message, so he'll always be near."