The Time of My Life (30 page)

During our time in New York, I played guitar and sang in the clubs of Greenwich Village.

Dancing with Lisa in New York. The training was exhausting and physically demanding—but it was also exhilarating.

Our first “home” in Los Angeles: The Saharan Motor Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. (Photo by Lisa Dickey)

My first movie role, as Ace Johnson in 1979’s
Skatetown USA
, featured a sexy skate-dance that turned critics’ heads. (“SKATETOWN USA” © The Skatetown Company. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Courtesy of Stark Foundation)

Lisa and me with our cats Scooter and Benois, in our apartment on La Jolla Avenue. I’m wearing a T-shirt from my first TV show,
The Renegades
.

My mom stands with Lisa and me outside our apartment on La Jolla. At this time, she and Lisa were working together on
Urban Cowboy
.

When I got the role on
Renegades
, a few weeks after Lisa and I realized we were broke, I celebrated by buying a DeLorean.

My dad, Jesse “Buddy” Swayze, was a strong but gentle cowboy who was loved by all.

Little Buddy and Big Buddy. When my father died in 1982, I swore I’d spend the rest of my life trying to make him proud every day.

The Swayze family. Clockwise from top left: Me, Donny, Sean, Vicky, Bambi, Dad, and Mom.

My first important break came with Francis Ford Coppola’s
The Outsiders
, which featured some of the hottest up-and-coming actors around, including Emilio Estevez, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, and Tom Cruise. (“THE OUTSIDERS” © Pony Boy, Inc. Licensed by: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved)

In
Red Dawn
, I got to ride horses, shoot bazookas, and fight the Communists in the ruggedly beautiful mountains of New Mexico. It was a grueling shoot, but I loved every minute of it.

On Fancy, the horse I rode in
Red Dawn
. We took him back to LA with us after the shoot. (“RED DAWN” © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of MGM Clip + Still)