'Princess Bride' star Mandy Patinkin shared a moving detail about the film with a grieving woman
Two souls connecting over the loss of their fathers. (Phew, grab a tissue for this one, folks.)
This story originally appeared on 08.25.21
There was an emotional exchange on TikTok between two people who lost their fathers to cancer. One was actor Mandy Patinkin, the other was TikTok user Amanda Webb.
Patinkin currently stars on "The Good Fight" but one of his most famous roles is Inigo Montoya in the 1987 classic "The Princess Bride." In the film, Montoya is a swordsman who is obsessed with confronting a six-fingered man who killed his father.
Webb recently lost her father Dan to mantle cell lymphoma. She had heard a rumor that Patinkin used his father's death from cancer as motivation in a pivotal scene where he confronts the six-fingered Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) in a duel.
Rugen tells Montoya he will give him anything he wants after being bested by Montoya who passionately replies, "I want my father back, you son of a bitch."
Webb's father was a big fan of Montoya's performance in the film so she reached out to TikTok to learn if the rumor was true.
"I saw on the internet the rumor that when Mandy Patinkin said that line, he was thinking of his own father who had passed away from cancer," Webb said while crying. "And it was a very raw emotion. Ever since then, it's kind of really stuck with me."
Patinkin, who is a TikTok user, heard that the woman had reached out to him and he gave a heartfelt response.
@mandypatinktok @alaska_webb thank you for finding us and sharing this! ✨ Sending big love and light to you and yours. More in comments. #grieving #cancer #dads
"First of all, your dad is taking care of you," he said. "Secondly, it is true, 100% true. I went outside in this castle and walked around and I kept talking to my dad."
"The minute I read the script, I knew, I said to [his wife], I said, 'I'm going to do this part because in my mind, if I get the six-fingered guy, that means I killed the cancer that killed my dad and I'll get to visit my dad," he said.
"That moment was coming, and I went and I played that scene with Chris [Guest], and then I went back out there and talked to my dad," Patinkin said.
He then told Webb that she has the power to talk to her father, too.
"And so, you can talk to your dad anytime you want, anywhere you want," he said. "If you could somehow let me know your dad's name because I say prayers for anyone I've ever known. Now I feel like I know you, and therefore I know your dad, and I will list his name in my prayers every day, and they make me feel like they're with me, wherever I go, and I'd like your dad to hang out with me."
Webb responded with a video where she's so emotional she can hardly speak.
@alaska_webb Is this real life?! #mandypatinktok #princessbride #lgbtq #grief #millenial #imissmydad