Can anyone help Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin find their lost boys?
Mandy Patinkin & Kathryn Grody By Getty Images
For 15 years, Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin have been searching for their sons. Apparently, during an apartment-move in 2006, they lost the two boys, ages 5 and 2.
Well, not the real-life boys, but a painting of them that used to hang chez Grody and Patinkin.
“I noticed the frame seemed slightly warped, so I took it to a very reputable and trusted framer I had worked with for years — and he lost it!!!” recalled Grody, a two-time Obie Award-winning actress, whose work for the stage includes the autobiographical “A Mom’s Life.”
“He searched and we supported that search to no avail. He gave us insurance but nothing could replace that loved painting,” she explained. “If anyone ever comes across a slightly rougher version of those two young boys in a foreign land, please let us know.”
Grody and Patinkin, who appeared most recently on the Paramount series “The Good Fight,” were among scores of readers who responded to a recent callout inviting them to share their favorite artworks and the stories behind them.
And they are not the only ones who have asked us for help — Maxine Vazquez, for example, sent us this drawing of a Jewish clockmaker working in his studio.
“We cherish the picture,” Vazquez wrote. “If anyone recognizes the picture and can identify the artist I would very much like to know his or her name.”
It worked: “The artist is Itzhak Holtz,” wrote one of our readers, who identified themselves as “snapskosher.” “An incredible painter. He died in 2018 at the age of 93.”
Now, Grody and Patinkin have taken time off from their illustrious career of tweeting and making extremely entertaining pandemic videos to present our readers with the challenge of tracking down a prized possession.
“When you not only have a friend that you’ve known since fifth grade, but when that friend is a favorite artist as well, it is a double gift,” Grody and Patinkin wrote, explaining why the painting is so important to them. “Kathryn Jacobi has been inspiring my family from almost the beginning. And she gifted us a portrait of our two sons.”
Prized Possession: This painting by Kathryn Jacobi captures the youthful spirits of Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin’s sons in their early years. Courtesy of Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin
Jacobi is a California-based artist whose hallmark is the sort of eerie and jarring realism that informs the portrait of Grody and Patinkin’s sons.
“It was our most valuable possession, because Kathryn captured our elder son’s sober curiosity and our younger’s impish look perfectly,” Grody and Patinkin wrote. “And then, on Valentine’s Day, Kathryn surprised us with another version of our treasured portrait. In the almost 30 years between paintings, Kathryn became an even more accomplished artist, and the second version is probably a bit finer technically and we adore it. We love having this version of our boys living with us on an ongoing basis. No matter how grown they have become, we love being able to say hello to those perfectly captured younger versions!”
Even so, the portrait Jacobi painted can’t quite replace the one that was lost. So, has anyone out there seen this missing painting? Can anyone help Kathryn and Mandy?
If so, please email us. And, as always, we want to hear the stories behind your art. Tell us about them at [email protected]. And if that art is lost, who knows — maybe we can help you find it.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
