THE PATRICK ONLY WE KNEW

GONE, BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN! AS PATRICK SWAYZE'S 70TH BIRTHDAY APPROACHES, FRIENDS RECALL WHAT MADE THE DIRTY DANCING STAR ONE OF A KIND.

AS Patrick Swayze battled advanced pancreatic cancer,  the star, who rose to fame with such movies as Dirty Dancing, Roadhouse and Ghost, tried to be positive. "I keep my heart and my soul and my spirit open to miracles," he told Barbara Walters in January 2009. But, the Texas native allowed, he was done with experimental treatments, tired of spending "so much time chasing staying alive."

Nine months later, he was dead at age 57. Now with his 70th birthday approaching Aug. 18, friends and costars remember the self-professed people person who, as he once said, loved "hanging with people and making new friends." Though he left the world too soon, he is far from forgotten. As Whoopi Goldberg, an Oscar winner for her role as a medium communicating with Patrick's dearly departed character, has said, "I believe in Ghost's message, so he'll always be near."