Tearful Mandy Patinkin Shares Emotional ‘Princess Bride’ Story With Grieving Fan
Screen icon Mandy Patinkin shared an emotional memory of “The Princess Bride” with a fan who is grieving the recent loss of her father due to cancer.
TikToker Amanda Webb, who uses the handle @alaska_webb, said the film was one of her father’s favorites and asked about one of the movie’s most raw and emotional moments. It turns out Patinkin’s performance as Inigo Montoya in that scene was inspired by the death of his own father to the same disease.
In a clip now going viral, Patinkin and his wife, actor/writer Kathryn Grody, react to Webb’s video. Then, Patinkin shares the behind-the-scenes story as well as a few words on connecting with loved ones we’ve lost:
To Alaska (aka Amanda - we figured it out!) Thread - Thank you for sharing this with us. My dad died of cancer when I was 18. Kathryn's parents died within a year of each other when she was 25, her dad of a heart attack while her mom was sick with cancer.... pic.twitter.com/xbjC7pVI3p
— Mandy Patinkin (@PatinkinMandy) August 25, 2021
In follow-up tweets, Patinkin said shared grief “has been a huge part of our lives and a huge part of what forged our bond together” and suggested The Dinner Party as a place 20- and 30-somethings who’ve experienced loss can connect.
“It can be such a lonely kind of pain, but know there are so many others out there going through it,” Patinkin wrote, adding:
One of my favorite quotes is from the book written by Oscar Hammerstein from the Musical Carousel it's "As long as there's one person on earth who remembers you, it isn't over." That's part of why I like saying peoples names in my prayers and why I'll add your dad's name.
— Mandy Patinkin (@PatinkinMandy) August 25, 2021
Webb posted a tearful follow-up on TikTok:
@alaska_webb Is this real life?! #mandypatinktok#princessbride#lgbtq#grief#millenial#imissmydad
♬ original sound - Amanda Webb
“I am so overwhelmed right now,” she said, then imagined how her father, Dan, would’ve reacted to Patinkin’s response.
“If he knew right now what was happening he would go, ’Oh shit, girlie, that’s pretty cool,” she said.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.