Mandy Patinkin’s touching quotes about Rob and Michele Reiner’s legacy

Mandy Patinkin my heart aches for the loss The Princess Bride director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.

Patinkin opened up after the murders of Rob and Michele, telling People in December 2025, “How do we process this unimaginable tragedy? Loss after loss after loss! What is happening to our world? What is happening to our humanity?”

“I can’t breathe, but I’m breathing,” he added, as one of Rob’s colleagues spoke bitterly about the director’s death.

Rob and Michele were found dead at their home in Brentwood, California, on December 14, 2025, with the cause of death listed as “multiple blunt force trauma” and the manner determined to be murder. Their son Nick Reiner he was arrested and held without bail before being charged with two counts of murder. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty. His trial has been postponed to January 7, 2026.

Patinkin portrays Spanish henchman Inigo Montoya in Rob’s 1987 fantasy The Princess Bride aside Cary Elwes, Chris Sarandon, Robin Wright, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant again Fred Savage. The film gave him an abundance of memories to last a lifetime and friendships with his actors decades after the film’s release.

“I can’t get over, even now, that I should be in that,” Patinkin said The New Yorker in October 2020 on how Rob’s film changed his life. “That I’m the guy you talk about, that I ended up in what was the ‘Wizard of Oz’ of my generation. … I cringe every time I get to be that guy. I loved it more than I can say.”

Scroll below for all of Patinkin’s quotes paying tribute to Rob and Michele as well The Princess Bride.

Mandy Patinkin Calls Rob Reiner’s Death a ‘Tsunami of Tragedy’

“I cry to god all the time,” Mandy Patinkin said People one day after the death of Rob and Michele Reiner. “Then I talk to a friend or myself and keep quiet and realize that the gods are not to blame, the tsunami of disaster is the responsibility of mankind.”

Mandy Patinkin Hears Rob Reiner’s Voice

Mandy Patinkin recalled a particular incident The Princess Bride that came flooding back to his memory after the tragedy.

“When we were filming the scene The Princess Bridewhen Inigo kills the six-fingered man and says: ‘I want the father to bring back your son,’ take after take after take Rob [Reiner] he kept asking me to do less, do less, do less,” Patinkin said People. “In my sleepless nights, I realized that he wanted a little anger from me to allow my broken heart to be revealed.”

“Now I hear his voice telling us to all do more, do more, do more to fix the human soul, fix our hearts, fix our country, fix our world,” he added. “In order to never give up, to continue to fight, to continue to live for all the souls taken from this Earth, who no longer have the life and spirit to raise their voices in a better world, we must raise our voices.”

Mandy Patinkin Says Rob Reiner Set a Good Example

Mandy Patinkin urged grieving Rob Reiner fans to “follow Rob’s example.”

“Let Rob Reiner’s actions guide you. I don’t believe we will ever recover from such a great loss, but I am sure it teaches us to live with a greater purpose to always appreciate that we live to be useful in all aspects of our lives so we never lose hope,” His country alum told People. “When we feel lost, say to ourselves, ‘What would Rob have done?’ then do it, do it for Rob, do it for all of us.”

Mandy Patinkin’s Memoir of ‘The Princess Bride’

Days after Rob and Michele Reiner’s death, Mandy Patinkin joined Patti LuPone to Watching discussing their friendship with the late actor. I Criminal Minds star shared one of her favorite memories since The Princess Bride set up.

“There are endless stories, and what I remember most at the moment, I mean, I remember a lot, but we were on a bus going up to the English countryside near Sheffield where we shot a castle and other things, and we were on the bus, Rob and Billy [Crystal] they were in front of me in the seats, too Chris Guest it was right next to me, and all three of them remembered everything that happened in baseball when they were 4, 5, 6, 7 years old, and they went through every game, every inning, every game,” said Patinkin. My jaw dropped; just the friendship was extraordinary, and it was so beautiful I never forgot that. I couldn’t let them remember that, but it was an important part of their lives.”

How Rob Reiner Made Mandy Patinkin’s Dream Come True

Mandy Patinkin appeared on a CBS News special Rob Reiner – Scenes From Life December 2025, we remember the first test of The Princess Bride in LA

“We’re sitting there in this showroom, and the movie is over, and I said, ‘I never dreamed I’d be in something like this.’ I didn’t have time to dream, he made that dream for me,” he said with tears in his eyes.

During the episode, Patinkin also revealed how he found out about the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner.

“I heard the news about 11-something Sunday night. I was in bed. I was scared. I didn’t sleep. I just cried and cried. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to process. I still don’t know how to process and I’m not looking to process,” Patinkin said.

“Rob has worked hard to try to make me the best person I can be,” he continued. “One time he said to me, ‘I wish you would get out of your way,’ and I have not been able to achieve that to this day, but I will not stop trying, he cared about my nature, he showed it to me over and over again.”

Patinkin said he knows Rob and Michele are with him in spirit. “I believe we can connect with Rob and Michele, and every time we think about this or talk about it or someone else tells a story, he’s there. He won’t be forgotten.”

A Lesson Mandy Patinkin Learned From Rob Reiner

“He taught us to use our voice, our speech. Please use it, use it, use it,” said Mandy Patinkin. Watching.

Mandy Patinkin on the ‘Unbearable’ Feeling of Losing Rob Reiner

“He was one of the most generous, kindest people I’ve ever known,” Mandy Patinkin said in the December 2025 episode. CBS Mornings. “Once I faced a difficult time, he called Kathryn [Grody]my wife, and me and Michele [Singer Reiner]he took us out to dinner, he didn’t say anything [difficulties]. He didn’t talk about anything. He just wanted us both to know they were there when we needed them.”

“I go to the gym, and people who have never met Rob say, ‘You know, we can’t stop thinking about it,'” Patinkin added. “This is not the only time in people’s lives where a situation like this happens, it is intolerable.”