PATRICK SWAYZE - CANCER-STRICKEN SWAYZE RETURNING TO WORK

Despite dire reports about his health -- he has been receiving treatments for pancreatic cancer -- and tabloid photos of him looking gaunt and haggard, Patrick Swayze plans to return to work on the A&E series Beast, published reports said Friday. In the series, Swayze plays an FBI agent whose methods are so unorthodox that he is hounded by the bureau's internal-affairs department. "I have searched for quite a long time to find a character that is this multilayered, unpredictable and downright entertaining," Swayze said in a statement Friday. Meanwhile, the TVNewser website reported on Sunday that Nightline correspondent Martin Bashir will return to work after doctors discovered a "small growth" on his pituitary gland. The website cited an ABC News spokesperson as saying that doctors plan to monitor the situation from month to month.  

09/06/2008