Patrick Swayze’s Dirty Dancing co-star Jennifer Grey led tributes to the actor who died last night, describing the former dancer as a “real cowboy with a tender heart”.

Grey, 49, played the naive teenager who falls in love with Swayze’s sultry dance instructor in the hit movie which became a cult classic after its release in 1987. The pair’s on-screen chemistry – best highlighted in their sizzling dance moves and the famous lift scene in a lake – helped turn both actors into Hollywood stars.

"When I think of him, I think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing, practising the lift in the freezing lake, having a blast doing this tiny little movie we thought no one would ever see," Grey, who played Frances 'Baby' Houseman, told People magazine.

Grey said that Swayze, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer after a long fight, was so fearless in his acting that "it was not surprising to me that the war he waged on his cancer was so courageous and dignified".

She added: "Patrick was a rare and beautiful combination of raw masculinity and amazing grace. My heart goes out to his wife and childhood sweetheart, Lisa Niemi, to his mom, Patsy, and to the rest of their family."

News of the actor's death spread so fast that some of Swayze’s friends and co-stars were caught off guard while facing the media on the red carpet at the Toronto Film Festival.

At the premiere of Partir, the British actress Kristin Scott Thomas – who starred with Swayze in the 2005 British movie Keeping Mum – put her hands to her mouth and appeared close to tears after hearing the news.

She excused herself from the red carpet to compose herself before returning. She reappeared, but her representatives said that she did not wish to comment on the news.

Annett Wolf, Swayze’s publicist, said that the 57-year-old star was at home in Los Angeles with his family when he died after almost two years battling the disease.

“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” she said in a statement.

The actor had announced last spring that he was suffering from the illness, and continued working while undergoing treatment. He finally stopped work in June this year when his TV show The Beast was cancelled because of his deteriorating health.

Two weeks ago he left the Cedars Sinai Medical Centre to return home after it became clear nothing could be done to stave off the inevitable.

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