The Princess Bride remains an iconic movie and one that holds a special place in the hearts of many, including yours truly. It’s been a strong vessel for parents and their children to connect over a shared love of the film, and it means so much to so many people.
When one fan made a heartfelt plea to see if a rumor regarding actor Mandy Patinkin’s performance in the movie was true, the last thing she expected was for the actor to actually answer.
A few days ago, Amanda Webb, who goes by @alaska_webb on TikTok, uploaded an emotional video.
In it, she explains that her father passed away earlier this year due to cancer. She says The Princess Bride was one of his favorite movies, and Inigo Montoya specifically was his favorite character.
She was reaching out to the actor who played Inigo, Mandy Patinkin, as she’d heard a rumor regarding one of his scenes.
All she wanted to know was if said rumor was true.
The rumor being that during Inigo’s pivotal scene in the movie, wherein he pleads for his father’s life back before killing the man who murdered him, Patinkin’s performance was fueled by the memory of his own father, who also passed away due to cancer.
The comments were filled with people tagging Patinkin’s own TikTok account, hoping he would see it.
And see it he did. In a video uploaded to Twitter, he and his wife, Kathryn Grody, watch the original TikTok and react to it.
Both become emotional while watching the video, and Patinkin’s voice even cracks as he begins speaking. “[…] First of all, your dad is taking care of you. Secondly, it is true. One hundred percent true.”
He tells the story of how he grieved his father during the filming of the movie, and how that scene helped him cope.
He explained how he used to wander through the hedge mazes that were in the castle grounds on which they were filming and ‘speak’ to his father.
“[…] From the minute I read the script, I knew, […] I said, ‘I’m gonna do this part because in my mind, if I get this six-fingered guy, that means I killed the cancer that killed my dad […]’.”
The ‘six-fingered guy’ referring to Count Rugen, the man who killed Inigo’s father in the film.
Grody then speaks up and says how glad she is that Webb and her father got to share that movie.
She’s grateful that they had a mutual love of the film, something to bond over and cherish even after he passed.
She also shared a resource called The Dinner Party , an organization that creates support groups and networks for young people who’ve experienced loss.
Patinkin wrote a whole thread following the video about loss and the importance of reaching out.
He lists The Dinner Party again then writes, “If that avenue is not for you we just wish those struggling to reach out like you did, and find the comforts and the tools that might work and help. It can be such a lonely kind of pain, but know there are so many others out there going through it.”
He then brings up a quote from the musical Carousel by Oscar Hammerstein: “As long as there’s one person on earth who remembers you, it isn’t over.”
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Webb did see his response, and is seen in tears over it in her most recent TikTok video.
She’s in awe that he saw it and responded, having to take a few moments to collect herself before she starts speaking about her father.
“If he knew right now what was happening, he’d would go, ‘Oh [expletive] girlie, that’s pretty cool’.”
She goes on to thank everyone involved in getting Patinkin to see her video and Patinkin himself. A heartfelt ending to a beautiful, heartwarming exchange.
