Rob Reiner, who went from being the star of “All in the Family” to directing films including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” and “When Harry Met Sally,” was discovered dead on Sunday afternoon at his Brentwood home with his wife, Michele Singer. He was seventy-eight.
According to the LAPD, the fatalities are being looked into as homicides. According to reports, the couple was fatally stabbed.
“We regret to inform you of Michele and Rob Reiner’s untimely deaths. In a statement, his family said, “We are devastated by this unexpected loss and we ask for privacy during this incredibly difficult time.”
“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” the follow-up to the 1984 classic “This Is Spinal Tap,” was Reiner’s most recent motion picture.
He originally gained notoriety as Michael “Meathead” Stivic, the hippie son-in-law of Carroll O’Connor’s racist, blustery blue-collar worker Archie Bunker, in nine seasons of CBS’s topical sitcom. He is the son of renowned writer, director, and comedian Carl Reiner. In 1974 and 1978, he won two Emmys for best supporting actor in a comedy.
With writing credits on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” “Happy Days,” and “All in the Family,” as well as two TV films, Reiner transitioned into the big screen as a director, writer, and co-star in the beloved, improvised mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap,” which is about a stubborn heavy metal band, in 1984.
Over the course of the following ten years, that project was followed by a string of box office successes and well-liked films that showed his extraordinary confidence in working across a range of genres. These included the fantasy “The Princess Bride” (1987), the romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally…” (1989), another Stephen King adaptation, the thriller “Misery” (1990), the Tom Cruise-Jack Nicholson court martial drama “A Few Good Men” (1992), and the coming-of-age drama “Stand By Me” (1986), which starred a young cast.
From 1987 onward, Reiner produced the majority of his films. In that same year, he co-founded Castle Rock Entertainment, a production firm that released a number of his films and popular movies like “In the Line of Fire,” “Needful Things,” and “Malice.” In 1993, Turner Broadcasting purchased the business.
With the exception of the occasional hit, such as the melancholy 2007 comedy-drama “The Bucket List” starring Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, Reiner’s most recent directing endeavors, such as the autobiographical family drama “Being Charlie,” were as varied as ever but rarely achieved economic success.
In 2008, he told the Guardian, “I’m making the movies I want to make.” “A small film won’t bring in the hundreds of millions of dollars the studios are hoping for. However, I entered this industry not just to produce goods but also to express myself and share stories.
Reiner was involved in a number of ballot measures in California and was a well-known progressive advocate in the Hollywood world. He was an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump and a fervent supporter of Democratic candidates. He considered running against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, but ultimately decided against it.
He was born in the Bronx borough of New York on March 6, 1947. Acting and writing on Sid Caesar’s highly regarded “Your Show of Shows,” his father rose to prominence as one of the most well-known comedy writers and stars of the so-called “Golden Age of Television.” He also created “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and directed several popular comedy films.
The fruit fell close to the tree. Growing up in Hollywood, the younger Reiner went to UCLA Film School and started doing little parts in TV series including “That Girl,” “Batman,” “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and “The Partridge Family.” Additionally, he made an appearance in his father’s 1967 autobiographical film “Enter Laughing.”
In 1971, Reiner was selected over actors like Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss to portray the put-upon son-in-law of Archie Bunker, opposite Sally Struthers as his wife Gloria in Norman Lear’s Americanized adaptation of the British sitcom “Til Death Do Us Part,” “All in the Family.” The cast, which included Jean Stapleton as Bunker’s wife Edith, had a strong chemistry, and the show’s honest examination of topics previously deemed too hot for TV made it a significant series in small-screen history.
After parting ways with “All in the Family” in 1978, it took Reiner a few years to regain his footing. However, in 1984, he made his first major motion picture, which became an iconic musical comedy. “This is Spinal Tap” introduced Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer as the dimwitted members of the titular band, while Reiner played sincere documentary director Marty DiBergi. The film was based on a roughly sketched idea and mainly improvised in front of the camera.
Reiner demonstrated his flexibility in a number of films with excellent performances between 1986 and 1992. He was nominated for a DGA Award, Independent Spirit, and Golden Globe for his work with the teenage cast of “Stand By Me.” The quirky “The Princess Bride” gained a strong cult following.
“When Harry Met Sally…” may have been his most confident directing effort. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were expertly paired as close friends who eventually start dating. The popular comedy, which was written by Nora Ephron, included a memorable scene in which Ryan loudly gives Crystal a false orgasm in a packed restaurant. The director’s mother Estelle supplied the scene’s memorable punchline, “I’ll have what she’s having.”
In the late 1990s, Reiner’s box office record started to decline as the writer-director focused more on political and less commercial subjects, such as the civil rights movement of the 1960s (“Ghosts of Mississippi,” 1996), Lyndon Johnson’s political career (“LBJ,” 2016), and the Gulf War of 2003 (“Shock and Awe,” 2017).
He directed the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” in 2023.
One of the most vocal political campaigners in Hollywood, Reiner avoided running for government in favor of working for causes he supported, such as LGBT rights and a long-running conflict with the tobacco industry.
He declared, “No, I don’t want to be an elected official.” “I want to finish things.”
Jake, Nick, and Romy are the children of Reiner and his wife. Actress Tracy Reiner, the daughter of his first wife, the late actress and director Penny Marshall, was adopted by him.
