Where are 'Princess Bride' stars today?
Has it really been a quarter-century since "The Princess Bride" premiered? Inconceivable! In honor of the movie's 25th anniversary, join us for a look at where its stars are today.
Has it really been a quarter-century since "The Princess Bride" won over the hearts of audiences? Inconceivable! As the 1987 movie celebrates 25 years, join us for a look at where its stars are today.
Has it really been a quarter-century since "The Princess Bride" won over the hearts of audiences? Inconceivable! As the 1987 movie celebrates 25 years, join us for a look at where its stars are today.
After starting his career in a handful of British films, Cary Elwes got his breakthrough in "The Princess Bride" playing the farm boy Westley, who, after being captured by pirates, becomes the Dread Pirate Roberts himself.
Elwes hit perhaps the height of his career after "The Princess Bride," appearing in movies such as "Glory," "Dracula," "Hot Shots!" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." He also appeared in the first "Saw" film, reprising his role for "Saw 3D" in 2010. His recent credits include guest roles on "Psych" (pictured) and a part in the 2011 romantic-comedy "No Strings Attached."
Robin Wright played Buttercup, who reluctantly agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck after assuming pirates killed Westley. However, she is abducted by outlaws hired by Humperdinck in an attempt to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder.
"The Princess Bride" was the first major movie role for Wright, who at the time was in the midst of a four-year run on the soap opera "Santa Barbara." Wright, now 46, went on to star in such movies as "Forrest Gump," "State of Play," "Beowulf," "Unbreakable" and "The Conspirator." Her most recent credits include starring opposite Brad Pitt in "Moneyball" and appearing in the Hollywood remake of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
Mandy Patinkin played Inigo Montoya, a Spanish fencing master seeking revenge on the six-fingered man who killed his father. He's also one of Buttercup's reluctant abductors, defeated by Westley in a sword fight before later joining up with him to defeat Humperdinck.
Patinkin, now 59, has found success both as a singer and an actor. The Tony and Emmy-award winning actor's resume includes movies such as "Yentl," "Alien Nation" and "Dick Tracy" and TV shows like "Chicago Hope," "Dead Like Me" and "Criminal Minds." He currently appears in the Showtime dramatic series "Homeland" (pictured).
Pro wrestler Andre the Giant played the hulking Fezzik, a wrestler from Greenland and another one of Buttercup's abductors turned cohort of Westley. Andre, whose real name was André René Roussimoff, died in his sleep due to congestive heart failure on the night of Jan. 27, 1993.
Chris Sarandon, whose previous credits included "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Fright Night," played the scheming Prince Humperdinck.
Sarandon, now 70, went on to star in such movies as "Child's Play," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Bordello of Blood." His resume also includes appearances in such TV shows as "The Practice," "Felicity," "Judging Amy" and "The Good Wife" (pictured).
Christopher Guest, best known for being one-third of the fictional rock group "Spinal Tap," played the villainous Count Tyrone Rugen, Prince Humperdinck's right-hand man who also happens to be the six-fingered man sought by Inigo.
Guest, now 64 and seen here with his wife Jamie Lee Curtis, is most known as the writer-director-star of such movies as "Waiting for Guffman," "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind." His most recent film credit is the 2009 comedy "The Invention of Lying."
Wallace Shawn played an extremely short Sicilian boss named Vizzini, the "brains" of the group of outlaws who kidnapped Buttercup.
Shawn, who made his acting debut in Woody Allen's "Manhattan" in 1979 also starred in "My Dinner with Andre," which he wrote with co-star Andre Gregory. Since "Princess Bride," he has appeared in movies such as "Clueless," "Vegas Vacation," "The Haunted Mansion" and "Kit Kittredge." He's also an accomplished voice actor, providing voiceovers for "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore;" "Family Guy," playing Stewie's evil twin Bertram; "The Incredibles" and the "Toy Story" movies, in which he voices Rex the toy dinosaur. Shawn, now 68, also currently has a recurring role on the TV drama "Gossip Girl" (pictured).
Billy Crystal, already a star from "Soap" and "Saturday Night Live," had a cameo in the movie as Miracle Max, a miracle worker who helps revive a "mostly dead" Westley.
Crystal, now 64, has gone on to star in such movies as "Throw Momma from the Train," "City Slickers," "When Harry Met Sally," "Analyze This" and "Monsters, Inc."
Carol Kane played Miracle Max's wife, Valerie, in another cameo.
Kane, now 60, has starred in the TV series "Taxi" and such movies as "Annie Hall," "When a Stranger Calls," "Scrooged" and "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen." Among her most recent screen credits include the Jennifer Anniston-Gerard Butler romantic-comedy "The Bounty Hunter" and the indie films "The Key Man" and "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" (pictured).
A pre-"The Wonder Years" Fred Savage played a sick boy whose grandfather is reading the story "The Princess Bride."
Savage found success after the six-season run of "The Wonder Years" as a television producer and director, working on shows such as "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "Party Down," "Modern Family," "Franklin & Bash" and "Hannah Montana."
Peter Falk, best known as the TV detective Columbo, played the grandfather reading the book. Falk died on June 23, 2011, at the age of 83, from cardiorespiratory arrest, with pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease as underlying causes.
British comedian Peter Cook, known for movies such as "Bedazzled" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles," had a cameo as "The Impressive Clergyman." Cook died on Jan. 9, 1995, from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage, a direct result of severe liver damage.
Besides "The Princess Bride," Rob Reiner has directed 14 other movies in his career, including "This is Spinal Tap," "When Harry Met Sally," "Misery," "A Few Good Men" and "The Bucket List." His next directing project is the 2012 comedy-drama "Summer at Dog Dave's," starring Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen.
Mark Knopfler, the front man for Dire Straits at the time, wrote the score for "The Princess Bride." Now 63, he recently released his seventh solo album, "Privateering," since Dire Straits broke up in 1995. He's also scored several other films, including "Wag the Dog," "Metroland" and "Last Exit to Brooklyn."
Willy DeVille, who once was part of Mink DeVille, the house band at the legendary New York City punk club CBGB in the late 1970s, wrote the movie's theme song "Storybook Love," which earned an Oscar nomination in 1988. DeVille, who had a 35-year career in music, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 58 on Aug. 6, 2009.
William Goldman wrote both the script for "The Princess Bride" and the novel it was based on. Now 81, Goldman has written 16 novels in his career, including "The Marathon Man" and "Magic." He also adapted those two novels into screenplays as well as writing the scripts for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All the President's Men," winning Oscars for both, and other movies such as "The Stepford Wives," "Misery," "Chaplin," "Maverick," "The Chamber" and "Dreamcatcher." He most recently did uncredited rewrites on the script for 2009's "Zombieland."
