Left The Biz
Before landing the role of Penny in Dirty Dancing, Rhodes starred in Flashdance and Staying Alive. After Dirty Dancing, Cynthia Rhodes continued to do a little acting and appeared in various music videos. She married the singer-songwriter Richard Marx in 1989 and after their three sons were born, Rhodes left Hollywood. She retired from performing so she could focus on her family.
Left The Biz
Courage
When Jerry Orbach (an accomplish actor and Broadway star), AKA Dr. Jake Houseman, passed away in 2004, Patrick Swayze had a few words to say. “Jerry Orbach has been one of the most successful actors who ever lived to make that transition from musical theatre into real, organic, break-your-heart kinds of reality in his work as a film actor, but transition back and forth seamlessly… it was a very interesting time for me, when I was shooting Dirty Dancing, I think probably the eyes I trusted if I was real, and it worked, and I had nailed it, [were] Jerry Orbach’s eyes. I would go over to him and under my breath ‘What did you think?’ and he goes ‘No, go there further, I think there’s more you can get.’ He would say little things like ‘courage’, and it gives me goosebumps to say that. I really, really respected that man. I watched his career from the time I was little. I think it was a great loss when he passed.”
Courage
