Cary Elwes Thanks Bill Cosby for ‘The Princess Bride’ Role

Cary Elwes’ spot-on impersonation of Bill Cosby’s iconic Fat Albert cartoon character helped him land his breakthrough role in The Princess Bride.

The British actor played hero Westley in the beloved 1987 film that has since defined his career, but it was his love for American television that ultimately helped him nab the lead role.

In an interview with Queen Latifah on her talk show on Thursday, he recalled, “I had visited America when I was a kid with my stepfather and seen a lot of American shows. So I was already familiar with All in the Family and The Jeffersons and all kinds of shows. In England we only had two shows (sic), and when I got to America, I couldn’t believe how many channels there were.

“So I was shooting an independent film in Berlin and my agent called me and said ‘(Director) Rob Reiner and his producing partner Andrew Scheinman are flying to Berlin to talk to you about playing Westley in The Princess Bride‘…

“We started chatting and somehow Fat Albert came up and I ended up doing an impression. For some reason that made Rob laugh. He told me later, ‘You know, I knew you were right for the part when you did the Fat Albert thing’. So I have Bill Cosby to thank.”

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