Patrick Swayze | ‘To Wong Foo’

VIVA LA VIDA | For many, Patrick Swayze, will be best known for playing Johnny Castle in “Dirty Dancing.” For me, he’ll be remembered as the impecable, poised, always buttoned up, Vida, in the (dare I say) seminal film “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.” Growing up in a Christian home meant that even by 1995, I had never seen a drag queen before — and it would be years before I’d actually see the film, probably on syndication, probably late at night. I admired Swayze’s grace — his ability to be America’s sexiest man alive and America’s biggest queen all at once.

“It was an opportunity to create a character who was truly an angel,” Swayze once said about playing Vida Boheme.

“But I thought playing a drag queen was a big ol’ lark, and I’d play a big old queen. But in rehearsal when I play-acted it, it didn’t work. I realized her job was to be the heart of this movie. {Miss Vilda} stands for every drag queen on the planet or for anyone who has been misunderstood. It turned out to be the most emotional thing in my entire career and I’m pretty proud of it.”

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