The making of Mandy Patinkin
MANDY Patinkin came to Broadway's attention in his Tony Award-winning performance in Evita and became a household name on Chicago Hope. He talks about his career and strong Jewish identity.
LEXI LANDSMAN
“HELLO. My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” These are some of the most memorable lines in film, and yet 22 years after Mandy Patinkin uttered them as the hero’s sidekick in Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride, he’s still regularly asked to recite them.
In a career that’s spanned three decades, it’s one of the Jewish Broadway and film star’s favourite roles, so he has no problem slipping with ease into the Mexican accent and performing the famous lines during our interview.
“I get asked to say it probably three, four, five times a day,” he laughs. “You’re not the first [to ask], not today even,” he says from New York.
Now 56, Patinkin jokes that he doesn’t mind being stopped on the street by curious onlookers and asked to recite the lines because he’s “so grateful that they still recognise me”.
The Chicago-born singer and actor, who now lives in New York City, speaks animatedly and quickly with a slight New York twang. He is a consummate storyteller; it’s no surprise his stage roles have made him such a musical theatre icon.
Yet, it’s his love of the concert arena that has brought him to Australia for the first time since 2006 for this month’s concert tour where he performed alongside acclaimed musical theatre and television star Patti LuPone.
They sang a collection of the greatest songs written for the stage, including masterpieces by Stephen Sondheim and Richard Rodgers.
It was the first time Patinkin has appeared alongside LuPone since starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway production of Evita in 1979, for which they both won Tony Awards. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama, the show also marked Patinkin’s big career break.
Patinkin’s father took him to see his first Broadway show as a bar mitzvah present. They flew to New York and Patinkin still vividly recalls that first taste of Broadway, which ignited his passion for musical theatre.
“I just loved it,” he says. “Then I ended up going into theatre group at the Young Men’s Jewish Council Youth Centre and it changed my life. I just loved it.”
The theatre group was in his hometown on the south side of Chicago.
Then 14, Patinkin remembers sitting in class listening to his acting teacher explain what Carousel was about and thinking, “if this is what this stuff is like, I like this and I want to hang around here”.
“I loved doing it and it really hasn’t changed to this day. It’s the thing I love doing the most and I keep doing it.”
It wasn’t long before Patinkin’s love of performance led his film career to take off, with roles in movies including Yentl and The Princess Bride.
His success grew on the small screen, notably for his Emmy-winning role in Chicago Hope and his role for two seasons as FBI profiler Jason Gideon on Criminal Minds.
So where is he most at home -— on stage or on screen?
“I like them all. I think the place I love and live the most happy is in the concert venue ‚Ķ It’s the actor’s medium, you’re with the audience. There is nothing more vibrant.”
To get into the psychology of his audience, Patinkin says he never leaves for the theatre until he has watched the news that night. “If something’s happened in the world, we all walk into the theatre with that and I need to know what page we’re on,” he explains.
Constantly abreast of world affairs, Patinkin champions human rights, and is particularly vocal on his views of the Middle East region. He is involved with a number of organisations, including Peace Now and Israel’s Arava Institute of Environmental Studies.
“I long and live for the day when we have a two-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living side-by-side. I think we all need to work tirelessly to make that happen,” he says passionately.
Championing for human rights “drives his life”, he says.
His life has also been defined by his survival of prostate cancer. In 2004, he celebrated his first year of recovery by doing a 280-mile charity bike ride with his son Isaac -— the Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride: Cycling for Peace, Partnership & Environmental Protection.
Born Mandel Patinkin, his involvement with Jewish causes and cultural activities is widespread. He sings in Yiddish, often in concert. In 1998, he released his most personal project Mamaloshen, a collection of traditional, classic and contemporary songs sung entirely in Yiddish. He also wrote ­introductions for two books on Jewish culture.
“My Jewish identity is defined by rachmones [compassion], passion, forgiveness. It defines my very nature.”
Listen to a podcast with Mandy Patinkin, who talks about life on stage, screen and behind the scenes