Mandy Patinkin 'back to the living' in 'Death and Other Details'

After almost 50 years in Hollywood, Mandy Patinkin is still considered a “hired hand.”

“That's the way I like it,” the actor says over the phone from his home in upstate New York, as he invites Becky, his Great Pyrenees yellow lab mix, to sit with him.

That's the career advice a friend, a celebrity he doesn't want to name, gave him over dinner in 1978. All he wanted was to be an actor and maybe, just maybe, one day sing some songs. “That was my whole wish,” Patinkin says in a warm, gruff tone. He hasn't looked back since.

Over time, Patinkin, 71, built a formidable resume with original roles in Broadway's “Evita” and “Sunday in the Park With George,” as well as career-defining roles in Barbra Streisand Oscar-winning classic “Yentl” and Rob Reiner's clever fairy tale “The princess Bride.” Along the way, he has also been praised for his long musical career.

On TV, he's been a resident scene-stealer in a garden variety of sages, but prickly surrogate parents meet advisors on TV: Grim Reaper's foreman Rube Sofer in “Dead like me,” Carrie's mentor and veteran CIA officer, Saul Berenson, in “Homeland” and now, the curmudgeon Rufus Cotesworth, the so-called best detective in the world who reunites with his protégé Imogene (Violett Beane) on a cruise among the elite, in the Hulu crime novel series. “Death and other details” premiere on Tuesday.

“It was a real mystery what they built and a lot of red herrings and a lot to follow,” he says. “So there were several times when I got so lost and even I knew the answers but couldn't remember them, that I felt like I was really in the mystery.”

Patinkin was approached by the Hulu series during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when he was unsure about returning to work. “We were sitting, isolated, wearing masks, you know, all that crap. And he asked me when we would ever have the chance to work again or when the world would be full of life again,” he says.

When he initially received the pilot script in 2021, he says he thought, “This sounds like fun to me.” He loved that the show was an ensemble piece and that he could exercise one of his favorite acting skills: putting on an accent (British, at that). He also found himself back in his comfort zone, playing a detective, a role he knew thanks to “Criminal minds” and “Homeland”, “to a certain extent”.

Violett Beane is Imogene Scott and Mandy Patinkin is Rufus Cotesworth, the world's greatest detective, in Hulu's “Death and Other Details.”

(Hulu)

It is true that research is not something that translates into your daily life. You won't find him on Reddit solving mysteries (“I've heard of that, but honestly, I don't know what it is”) and he doesn't like “Clue.” “I do Wordle and I do a lot of crossword puzzles. That’s the biggest mystery I can handle,” he says.

Before making hasty decisions, he sought advice from his family. “I don't trust myself, so I gave it to [my wife] kathryn [Grody], who is 10 times smarter than me, much more than 10 times, a lifetime smarter than me,” says Patinkin. “And she said, 'This is good. This is good.' “

He then gave it to his son, Gideon Grody-Patinkin, and Gideon's writing partner, Ewen Wright, who also liked it. Eventually, Patinkin was sold. “It became a nice, comfortable way to come back to life,” he says of the project.

During the throes of the pandemic, Patinkin found a way to connect with the public that was unique to him. With the help of Grody-Patinkin, Patinkin and Grody became social media stars. However, they had a rule for their son. They first needed to review the content before publishing it. “For the most part, he delivers,” he says and laughs.

Their son recorded wildly entertaining videos of his parents answering questions about his secrets for a long marriage and pop culture terms, doing a “vote dance” Encourage people to elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election and capture their intimate moments eat buttered matzah and demonstrate the “flossing” dance move.

Those videos have evolved into what Patinkin calls the “family show”: a series of live performances featuring Patinkin, Grody and Grody-Patinkin, who is usually behind the camera, on stage, asking their parents questions. “People must have nothing to do because they come to see us,” he says in a self-deprecating tone. “I feel very sorry for these people.”

Recently, Patinkin livened up his social media presence with a Instagram Reel He is shown wearing a Ricky Martin tank top, shorts, and a pink backwards Barbie baseball cap, an outfit he borrowed from his daughter-in-law's brother, who is a yoga instructor, to make his family laugh when I was on a break. from the filming of “Death and Other Details” two years ago. He doesn't want to brag, but he is “pretty pleased with how beautiful my legs looked.”

“My father had great legs and few people know that I inherited my father's legs,” he says. “And I think that, if nothing else, that photograph did justice to the genetic chain of 'legdom' between my father and me.”

Since sharing the clip, to his own surprise, he has been nicknamed a fashion icon by Internet. Your answer? “I believe without a doubt, as you can see in that photo, that I am probably the greatest fashion influencer that has ever existed,” she says. The rest of his wardrobe, she insists, is filled with REI hiking shirts and the same pair of pants. “I love my uniform. My children make fun of it. It is like camping, comfortable and cozy.”

You could say that the family business has become their main objective. Patinkin and Grody were set to star in “Seasoned,” a scripted series inspired by their real-life marriage directed by their son and Wright until was dropped by Showtime in June. Patinkin says he was “overwhelmed” by the pilot: a 30-minute “poetic, funny, sincere, enjoyable and entertaining record” of his and Grody's life together. He is now trying to find him a new home.

“That's my number one dream in terms of the industry,” he says. Patinkin even has one of the key selling points on hand: they made his production “enjoyable and affordable.” “I love a good budget,” he says. “I don't like spending a lot of money. It breaks my heart.”

Beyond “experienced,” Patinkin's perspective is that of a self-described “Bu-Jew” or Jewish Buddhist. He will accept whatever comes, but accept that life is out of our control. So he's not worried about whether “Death and Other Details” will have a second season. “I've been in the business long enough to know, if you need to know something, you'll know it,” Patinkin says.

While he may not care about the job, there's only one thing he's mulling over: whether he and Grody should try psilocybin mushrooms. Patinkin's kids want them to do it, but he's not entirely sure if he'll ever take the risk.

“Kathryn is a little more interested,” he says. “I'm too terrified right now.” He's not so sure he needs to expand her mind. “My mind is open to too many things right now,” he says, laughing. “I need to reduce it.”