Lesley-Anne Down Addresses Patrick Swayze Romance Rumors Amid ‘North and South’

Michelle Stein September 22, 2026, 10:58 am

NORTH AND SOUTH, Patrick Swayze, Lesley-Anne Down — Warner Bros. Television/courtesy Everett Collection

What To Know

Lesley-Anne Down clarified her relationship with Patrick Swayze while filming the 1985 mini-series North and South.
Down described her relationship with Swayze as very close and friendly, but emphasized that any speculation about romance was unfounded.
She recounted Swayze’s unpredictable behavior on set and noted the involvement of other notable cast members in the acclaimed series.

Lesley-Anne Down recently addressed rumors that she and Patrick Swayze struck up a romance while filming the 1985 TV miniseries North and South.

In an interview with People published on Tuesday, September 22, Down, 72, set the record straight about her relationship with the Dirty Dancing star. Swayze played Orry Main, a Confederate soldier, while Down played his wife, Madeline Fabray LaMotte Main.

“I’m not sure that everybody is exactly what they appear or purport to be,” Down said of Swayze. “But for a year of my life, I worked with him in very close surroundings, not just on the set but off the set consistently.”

Although Down said she and Swayze were “very, very friendly and close,” she set the record straight about being involved romantically.

“No, because he used to come spend the night or the day, and he’d disappear,” she explained. “He’d go off with Kirstie [Alley], I remember, and he’d come back and the film crew would be going, ‘Where’s Patrick?’ And who knew?”

Greg Evigan Reveals Real Reason He Turned Down 'Knight Rider' Lead

Down continued, “He used to stop being Patrick for a few days, and then there’d been knock on my door at dawn, and I opened the door and, ‘Hello, Patrick.’ “‘Hide me.’ ‘Okay, come.’ And then, ‘I’m so tired.’ ‘Okay, get some breakfast, go to bed,’ whatever.”

Swayze died at 57 in 2005 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Meanwhile, Alley died at 71 in 2022 after a battle with colon cancer.

Aside from Down, Swayze, Carradine, and Alley, North and South starred Elizabeth Taylor, Georg Stanford Brown, Philip Casnoff, Genie Francis, Terri Garber, Wendy Kilbourne, Jim Metzler, James Read, Lewis Smith, Johnny Cash, Morgan Fairchild, Olivia Cole, John Stockwell, Robert Guillaume, and Hal Holbrook, among others.

In 1986, Down was nominated for a Golden Globe for her supporting role, while David Carradine snagged a nomination for his. North and South was based on the Civil War book trilogy of the same name by John Jakes. Two more seasons, Love and War and Heaven and Hell, were released in 1996 and 1994, respectively.