Whoopi Goldberg reflected on her friendship with the late Patrick Swayze while speaking with Dave Karger for his forthcoming book, 50 Oscar Nights. The View cohost revealed that Swayze pleaded with her to star in Ghost with him.
“I get a phone call from my agent, Ron Meyer, who says, ‘Patrick Swayze has been hired for this movie. Patrick is not going to do this if you don’t do it. Can you make some time for him and the director to come up?'” Goldberg said.
She continued, “So they Zucker and Swayze flew in, I meet Patrick, and out of the blue, we’re old friends. … About 40 minutes go by and Patrick says, ‘Please do this movie with me.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ And that’s how it happened.”
In 1991, The Color Purple actor won the Academy Award for her role as Oda Mae Brown in the film. “It wasn’t until we all saw the film that we realized what we had,” she said.
Further remembering the Dirty Dancing actor, Goldberg added, “He was sexy and sweet and just a terrific human being to me.” Swayze passed away at the age of 57 in 2009 due to cancer.