Patrick Swayze loved Rowan Atkinson so much he wanted to go on tour with him: “It really inspired me”
Perhaps it’s a little excessively patriotic, and lord knows there’s not much to shout about in terms of the UK at the moment, but I always feel a strange sense of pride whenever a big Hollywood celeb says they like our tiny, flawed island. Ryan Gosling, Madonna, Tom Cruise, they’ve all moved here at some point, and it seems the late Patrick Swayze was something of a ‘tea and crumpets and complaining’ convert too.
Despite the fact you’d think he would have been as U-S-A as they come, what with his ass-kickin’ role in the mighty Road House and all, Swayze was in fact far more cultured than we give his mullet credit for, taking on roles in foreign climes on films that, while not particularly successful, at least meant experiencing other countries.
An example of that, and the film on which he discovered his love of all things British, came late in his career, 2005 in fact, and the comedy Keeping Mum. By that point, Swayze was in his 50s and had come a long way since the high points of his career when he was one of the most in-demand and highly-paid actors in the world, coming off the back of massive hits like Dirty Dancing and Ghost.
He had also battled desperately with alcoholism, which forced him out of making films for years at a time and genuinely almost killed him, once crashing a private plane while inebriated. But by the early 2000s, things had begun to pick up for the Texan, and he was cast in Keeping Mum alongside some staples of British acting: Kristin Scott-Thomas, Maggie Smith, and Blackadder himself, Rowan Atkinson.
No doubt enticed by our constant rain and ability to apologise for stuff that is in no way our fault, Swayze duly headed over from Americaland and fell in love with the place, immediately getting the humour and wanting to spend more time with Atkinson, his new co-star. In the classically British farce, Swayze played a golf instructor trying to have it away with the wife of Atkinson’s long-suffering Vicar, and spoke a few years later about how much fun he had.
Asked if he was a fan of English humour, he said: “I am attracted to the wit. Games of wit seem like they’ve been an English way for forever. So I’ve definitely met my match with you cocky little suckers that think you can rule the world!”
While the film itself wasn’t any great shakes and only made a small amount at the box office, it was enough for Swayze to return to these shores and even take up a role on stage in the West End the following year. As for working with Mr Bean himself, Swayze said: “I loved him… it was so much fun, so easy and so effortless that I felt like Swayze & Atkinson should take it on the road. It inspired me, I really hope I get to work with him more.”
Swayze was also impressed by Atkinson’s collection of high-powered sports cars, including his famous McLaren F1, calling them ‘penis extension cars’ and saying, “He has got some amazing vehicles, that boy’s made some money off Mr Bean.”
Sadly, the actor’s dream of working with Atkinson again never transpired as Swayze died just a couple of years later in 2008.
