‘The View’ pays tribute to Patrick Swayze

updated 3:22 p.m. ET Sept. 15, 2009

LOS ANGELES - Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts on “The View” paid tribute to Patrick Swayze on Tuesday, with his “Ghost” co-star choking back tears as she remembered him fondly as a brave fighter and a gracious colleague.

Swayze died Monday evening, surrounded by family at his Los Angeles ranch, after a 20-month fight with pancreatic cancer. He was 57.

“This was a well-fought battle. Patrick fought like the dickens to survive it, or to get through it. He never thought of himself as someone who was dying,” Goldberg said Tuesday on the ABC morning talk show. “He said, ‘You know, we’re all dying.’ And so his attitude was, ‘Until it kills me, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. ...

“He worked, he did his show, he just was a cat that never gave up,” she added. “I would like to be able to be that. I would like to have that bravery.”

Goldberg also showed a clip of herself with Swayze in “Ghost,” the 1990 film that earned her a supporting-actress Oscar. She played daffy psychic Oda Mae Brown, who helps Swayze’s character communicate with his fiancee (Demi Moore) from the great beyond.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Because of Patrick Swayze, I got that movie, ‘Ghost,”’ she said. “Because of Patrick Swayze, I have an Oscar.”

But she also revealed his playful side: “He would do stuff. He would be off to the side — you know, ’cause they’d have a camera on me — he’d moon me, it was the greatest.”

Co-host Barbara Walters shared her own anecdotes of her time with Swayze, whom she interviewed alongside his wife, Lisa, at their ranch in January.

“I had the, I guess the honor — and it makes me very sad — of doing what was, what has become, the last interview with Patrick Swayze,” Walters said.

Patrick Swayze video TODAY   Swayze memoir details final months Sept. 16: Judith Curr of Atria Books, the publisher of Patrick Swayze’s memoir, and NBC’s chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, discuss some details from the book. Swayze wrote the memoir in the final months of his battle with cancer.   Paying tribute to Patrick Swayze   Patrick Swayze loses cancer battle   Swayze’s memorable roles   Why pancreatic cancer is so deadly   Swayze ‘was determined to go down fighting’   Swayze surprises a fan in 2005   Patrick Swayze dies of pancreatic cancer

She recalled that he was working on his memoir with his wife, titled “The Time of My Life,” in honor of the popular song from his film “Dirty Dancing.” Swayze also continued shooting the A&E drama series “The Beast” toward the end of his life.

In a clip she showed from the interview, Walters asked Swayze about whether he talked to his late father, to whom he was very close, which immediately choked up the actor.

“You devil dog,” he said, smiling and looking away. “Yeah, I talk to my dad. I like to believe that I’ve got a lot of guardian warriors sittin’ on my shoulder including my dad. ... I’m trying to shut up and let my angels speak to me and tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

Among the other tributes that are piling up for Swayze:

• Fans were leaving flowers, candles and cards on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is on Hollywood Boulevard outside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
• Larry King planned to do a tribute to Swayze on his CNN program, airing at 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
• ABC planned to re-air Walters’ interview with Swayze, along with new material, at 10 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
• Spike TV was scheduled to show the Swayze action flick “Road House” at 10 p.m. EDT Saturday.

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