“As You Wish”: Cary Elwes, Direct Descendant of Sir Robert Belknap, Stars in Movie Classics

Notable Descendant of Sir Robert Belknap (abt 1330-1401): Cary Elwes is an English actor known world-wide for his leading roles in two cult movie classics: as Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts/The Man in Black in “The Princess Bride” and as Robin Hood in “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” He has also performed in a number of other movie and television roles, including in BYUtv’s “Granite Flats” and the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” “The Princess Bride,” which was released in 1987, tells the story of Westley, a swashbuckling farmhand, who, accompanied by companions whom he befriends along the way, rescues his one true love, Princess Buttercup, from evil Prince Humperdinck. Today, it is regarded as one of the best films of the 1980s and one of movie producer Rob Reiner’s best works. The film is ranked number 50 on Bravo’s “100 Funniest Movies” list. In 2016, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States’ National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” released in 1993, is an adventure comedy that parodies the Robin Hood story. The film was produced and directed by American filmmaker and comedian Mel Brooks and is Brooks’ fifth-highest-grossing film. Born Ivan Simon Cary Elwes on 26 October 1962 in Westminster, London, England, Elwes is a direct descendant of Sir Robert Belknap through numerous lines of descent. His famous line from “The Princess Bride,” “as you wish,” has entered the world’s cultural lexicon as a symbolic verbal metaphor for “wuv, twu wuv.”

Categorised in: Sir Robert Belknap Descendants

This post was written by Brent J. Belnap