Swayze: Not Afraid to Laugh at His Own Hunkiness

Dirty Dancing star diagnosed with deadly pancreatic cancer in Jan. 2008

(NEWSER) - Patrick Swayze died today, TMZ reports, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. The actor, whose credits included Dirty Dancing and Ghost, was 57. Named People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1991, he was diagnosed with the deadly form of cancer in January 2008; he continued film and TV work, and was working on a memoir with his wife, Lisa Niemi, the AP adds. More»

Kenneth Turan: She mesmerized us from the get-go

(NEWSER) - For Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, an indelible image of Elizabeth Taylor comes early in her career in A Place in the Sun, filmed when she was just 17. "The actress' face in huge close-up is so exquisitely, so heartbreakingly beautiful you never doubt that (Montgomery) Clift's intoxicated character would do anything to keep her in his life," he writes. For years afterward, those "irresistible violet eyes" would have that effect on men both on screen and off. More»

Lisa Niemi talks of their marriage, his last days

(NEWSER) - Nearly 7 months after Patrick Swayze’s death, “it’s not getting better” for widow Lisa Niemi, she says. She discusses her grief, her husband’s death, and their life together with the Times of London.

• Her emotions: “I have a myriad of feelings. Some are extreme, some are a general malaise, sometimes it’s like someone has poured gasoline on me and set me on fire.”
• His last days: “We told each other we loved each other over and over again. I never left the room without telling him. It still didn’t feel like enough.”

Troubled starlet suffered cardiac arrest

(NEWSER) - Brittany Murphy, who made a splash playing the makeover victim in Clueless and later battled substance abuse, died today in Los Angeles. She was 32. The LA Fire Department was called to a home owned by Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, where she was found in cardiac arrest and could not be revived, TMZ reports and multiple sources are confirming. More»

Lisa Niemi, Elizabeth Smart, Maria Shriver take part in Women's Conference

(NEWSER) - Just six weeks after losing her husband, Lisa Niemi spoke publicly for the first time about Patrick Swayze's death at yesterday's Women's Conference in California. "I am so grateful for what I had and my connection to him, and part of me believes that I will see him again," she said, "and I'm just going to have to go on until then." Niemi will also sit down with Oprah Winfrey on Friday. More from the conference: More»