Why did Mandy Patinkin quit 'CI?" Five years later, he speaks...

Mandy Patinkin (photo) - a brilliant, querelous, and occassionally unpredictable dude who happens to be one of the finest actors of our time - quit "Criminal Minds," a major hit for CBS, five years ago, without so much as an explanation. 

  Oh, that's good old Mandy, everyone said. That's what Mandy does! Well, not really. No one just up and quits a major series without a reason.

Finally . . . we have one. He was a featured speaker at the 92nd Street Y last week, and during his de-briefing by Thane Rosenbaum - a writer, law professor at Fordham University and its director of the Forum on Law, Culture & Society - he was asked point-blank  why he quit. 

  Here's the answer, and it's remarkable indeed. It was, he says "destroying my heart and soul."