Swayze continuing with TV role despite cancer

Veteran actor to play FBI agent in A&E Network’s ‘The Beast’

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Back to work for Swayze
June 9: After battling pancreatic cancer, Patrick Swayze is set to star in A&E's 'The Beast.'

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By Kimberly Nordyke

Hollywood Reporter

updated 8:52 p.m. ET June 8, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Pancreatic cancer is not slowing Patrick Swayze.

The “Dirty Dancing” veteran stars in the cop drama “The Beast,” which has just been picked up by cable’s A&E Network.

Swayze plays an unorthodox but effective FBI veteran who trains a new partner (Travis Fimmel) in his hard-edged and psychologically clever style of agenting while being pursued by a secret Internal Affairs team.

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“I have searched for quite a long time to find a character that is this multilayered, unpredictable and downright entertaining as well as a project this current and cutting-edged,” Swayze said in a statement.

The statement did not address his health, but network executives confirmed that his doctors have cleared him to resume work. They have ordered 13 hour-long episodes to go into production this summer in Chicago, with a premiere set for early 2009.

Swayze, 55, was diagnosed with cancer in March, and has been receiving treatment at Stanford University Medical Center, near San Francisco.