Patrick Swayze’s publicist has acted swiftly to deny rumours the actor, who is suffering from cancer, died on Tuesday morning.

Annett Wolf told People the false reports, which stemmed from a radio station in Florida, were “severely reckless”.

"Patrick Swayze is alive, well and is enjoying his life and he continues to respond to treatment,” Wolf added.

The Dirty Dancing actor was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January 2008.

Patrick has continued to act despite his illness, most recently appearing in the TV series The Beast.

False reports of his death soon spread across the internet via the micro-blogging website Twitter.