Whoopi Goldberg says Patrick Swayze wouldn’t star in Ghost without her
Whoopi Goldberg has revealed Patrick Swayze refused to join ‘Ghost’ without her.
The 61-year-old ‘Sister Act’ star believes she has the late star, who died in 2009, to thank for her getting the role of Oda Mae Brown in the iconic fantasy film in 1990 because he told casting directors they wouldn’t have him unless they took her on too.
Speaking on Britain’s chat show ‘Loose Women’ on Friday (10.02.17), Whoopi explained: "[Patrick] got hired to do ‘Ghost’ and asked them, ‘Why hasn’t Whoopi Goldberg got a part? Have you talked to her?’
"And they were like, ‘No, no. We didn’t go to her.’ He said, ‘No, no I’m not committing to this until I talk to her to see if she wants to do this movie.
"So day comes and I go and he [Patrick] says, ‘Why don’t you want to do this movie?’ And I said, ‘Wait, aren’t you Patrick Swayze? And he says ‘Yes’ and I said, ‘What makes you think I don’t want to do the movie? I’d love to do the movie, they said they didn’t want me.’ And he said, ‘Do you want to do the movie?’ I said, ‘If we can have some fun, yeah!’ So he said, ‘If you’re not going to hire her, I will not going to be in this film’. And then I got the Oscar for it!"
Swayze was first approached by bosses because they thought he would be the best person to portray the role of Sam Wheat, who is a banker who renovates and moves into an apartment in New York City with his girlfriend Molly Jensen (Demi Moore).
The pair get into difficulty when they come across a mugger after a night out and, after succumbing to the mugger’s demands, Sam is killed. His spirit then features in the film as he goes on a journey to learn the truth behind his brutal death.
Whoopi won an Academy Award for Best Actress in the film, a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, while the movie – written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker – won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Swayze, who is famed for his role in ‘Dirty Dancing’, went to star in numerous other films before shooting his last TV series ‘Beast’ in 2009.
He died from pancreatic cancer in September 2009 – just 20 months after he was diagnosed with the disease.
