NATCHEZ — In 1985 Patrick Swayze came to Natchez to film scenes for the television miniseries “North and South.”

But while he was here for work, it was Swayze’s laid back personality and outgoing nature that locals remember.

Swayze played Orry Main, a southerner who struggled to maintain a friendship with a northern friend from Pennsylvania as the Civil War approached.

Swayze filmed in Natchez on two different occasions for about three months each time.

Sally Durkin, media liaison for the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau, worked with production crews doing set dressing while telelvsion crews were in town.

“I was around the principal actors a good bit in that role,” Durkin said. “And most of them knew I was local so they tapped into that to ideas on entertainment and places to eat.”

Swayze was one of the actors that sought Durkin’s advice and from that a friendship was born.

“He was a very laid-back and easy-going person,” Durkin said. “But he took his work very seriously. There wasn’t any funning around on the set while he was working like there was his social life.”

As would be expected, The “Dirty Dancing” star enjoyed dancing while he was in Natchez, and Durkin said he had a favorite spot.

“He really enjoyed going to the Sheraton, which is now the Isle of Capri (hotel), because they had a great dance floor, and he loved to dance,” she said.

Natchezian Charlie Vess said what stood out about Swayze to him was his willingness to interact with the public.

“He was friendly to all the cast and the local people that he worked with,” Vess said. “He was kind of a fixture in town while he was here. He didn’t meet a stranger and didn’t mind signing autographs and shaking hands.”

Swayze’s affable personality was apparent when Durkin had to make a stop at her sister’s bachelorette party before an evening out with Swayze.

“I asked him if he would mind if we stopped by really quickly,” she said. “He was very congenial and said it was fine as long as we only stayed about 15 minutes.

“We didn’t leave for two and a half hours.”

While at the party, Swayze socialized with all the girls in attendance and even took the time to pose for pictures with each person.

But the normally affable Swayze did get a little heated when one of the party attendees challenged his southern background.

“He actually got into an argument with my little sister about whether or not he was a Southerner since he was from Texas,” Durkin said jokingly. “She won, but he didn’t back down easily.”

Durkin said as much of a gentleman as he was while he was in Natchez, he did leave town with one debt left unpaid.

“He owed me $56,” Durkin said. “He had to go back to his ranch during one of the breaks and asked me to return a VCR he had rented. When I took it back, the clerk said “That’ll be $56,” so I paid it for him.

“He called me on my birthday of that year and I told him that his VCR cost me $56.”

Vess had a few day roles as an extra during the filming and at one point was able to interact fairly closely with Swayze.

“I actually rode a horse in the calvary in one of the battle scenes,” he said. “At that time he was young and had really long hair for the part and was very, very athletic.

“There was one scene where he was in a knife fight with a Union soldier and he threw the guy over his shoulder. He really was an athlete.”

Swayze died Monday of pancreatic cancer after battling the disease for 20 months. He was 57. The aggressive form of cancer took its toll on Swayze’s muscular frame.

“It is very sad,” Vess said. “He fought the good fight and I’d read some reports recently that he was doing better, but the cancer got the best of him.”

Durkin said cancer may have claimed Swayze’s life but she knows he fought the disease until the end.

“The news just took my breath away because I thought he was doing well,” she said.

“But that is just the type of person he was. He would never let anything get him down. He fought until he got the best of something or it got the best of him. Unfortunately in this case, the latter happened.”