{"id":95056,"date":"2025-12-15T08:18:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/95056\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T08:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:18:14","slug":"rob-reiner-dead-when-harry-met-sally-director-killed-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/95056\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Reiner dead: ‘When Harry Met Sally’ director killed at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rob Reiner, a writer, director, producer, actor and political activist whose career in Hollywood spanned more than six decades and included some of the most iconic titles in movie history, was found dead<\/a> Sunday with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, at the home they shared in Brentwood. He was 78.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,\u201d a spokesperson for the family said in a statement Sunday. \u201cWe are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiner will be remembered as the director of the seminal 1980s rom-com \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally…,\u201d the actor whose character \u201cMeathead\u201d faced off regularly against Archie Bunker, and the political activist who backed early childhood programs in California and railed loudly for years against President Trump.<\/p>\n

The oldest child of comedian Carl Reiner and singer Estelle Reiner, Robert Reiner was born March 6, 1947, in the Bronx, N.Y. Raised by a father who won 11 Primetime Emmys and a Grammy in addition to the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Rob Reiner attended Beverly Hills High School and studied film at UCLA. He then went to work in Hollywood as an actor and writer before moving on to directing and producing. <\/p>\n

Reiner\u2019s writing credits in the 1960s included \u201cThe Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,\u201d \u201cThe Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour\u201d and the TV movie \u201cWhere the Girls Are.\u201d In the 1970s, he wrote several episodes of \u201cAll in the Family\u201d as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast in 1978 and episodes of \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiner married Penny Marshall, star of TV\u2019s \u201cLaverne & Shirley,\u201d in 1971 and adopted Tracy, the daughter Marshall had from a previous marriage. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981. <\/p>\n

He wrote for the first \u201cComic Relief,\u201d hosted by Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg. That and the dozen \u201cComic Relief\u201d telethons that followed raised awareness and money to fight poverty in the U.S. and elsewhere. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis Is Spinal Tap\u201d in 1984 further established Reiner\u2019s comedic sensibilities in the American milieu. His work took a dramatic turn when he directed the 1986 adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s novella \u201cStand by Me,\u201d which starred Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O\u2019Connell, but he returned to comedy with 1987\u2019s \u201cThe Princess Bride\u201d starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright and Mandy Patinkin. Also in 1987, he co-founded production company Castle Rock Entertainment. <\/p>\n

Then he directed what would emerge as one of the most beloved rom-coms ever \u2014 \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally…,\u201d starring Crystal and Meg Ryan. <\/p>\n

On the set of the movie he met photographer Michele Singer and the two married in 1989, the year the film came out. They went on to have three children, Jake, Nick and Romy, born in 1991, 1993 and 1997, respectively. <\/p>\n

Reiner was finally nominated for a best picture Academy Award in 1994 for \u201cA Few Good Men,\u201d starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise, though the movie lost out that year to Clint Eastwood\u2019s Western \u201cUnforgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reiner\u2019s work had sweeping cultural impacts. Three of his movies, \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally…,\u201d \u201cThe Princess Bride\u201d and \u201cThis is Spinal Tap,\u201d are on the National Film Registry. The phrase \u201cup to eleven,<\/a>\u201d coined in \u201cThis Is Spinal Tap\u201d during an improvised sequence between Reiner and Christopher Guest, is in the Oxford English Dictionary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s weird that something that we just threw off like that suddenly becomes part of the lexicon of our lives,\u201d Reiner said on NPR\u2019s \u201cFresh Air\u201d<\/a> in September. \u201cIt\u2019s very strange how these things have taken root.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, Reiner was the producer on \u201cBeing Charlie<\/a>,\u201d a drama based on his family\u2019s struggles while son Nick was addicted to hard drugs and rotating in and out of rehabs and homelessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very, very hard going through it the first time, with these painful and difficult highs and lows,\u201d Reiner told The Times in 2015. \u201cAnd then making the movie dredged it all up again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, Reiner balanced conflicting feelings about his relationship with his own father, who was someone he strongly admired. But he also felt as though his father didn\u2019t fully know him. That dichotomy inspired a scene in \u201cStand by Me\u201d when Gordie declares his father hates him. <\/p>\n

\u201cLoving your father and looking up to your father doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you\u2019re feeling that back,\u201d Reiner said on \u201cFresh Air\u201d<\/a> in September, recalling how writing that scene made him cry. Reiner, added, however, that he had two \u201cgreat guides\u201d in his life, his father, who died in 2020, and \u201cAll in the Family\u201d creator Norman Lear.<\/p>\n

Reiner was a writer on \u201cThe 40th Kennedy Center Honors\u201d in 2017, capping a career that included myriad variety show writing credits. \u201cSpinal Tap II: The End Continues<\/a>,\u201d which he directed, was his final project as a scribe. \u201cSpinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale,\u201d due out in 2026, was his final directing credit. <\/p>\n

Reiner was nominated five times for supporting actor Emmys for his \u201cAll in the Family\u201d work, winning in 1974 and 1978. He was up for two Emmys in 2024 for the documentary \u201cAlbert Brooks: Defending My Life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A staunch liberal, Reiner also emerged as a force in California politics and child welfare and education issues, and campaigned for presidential candidates including former Vice President Al Gore, endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president and spoke up for President Biden\u2019s reelection. Reiner was also an unapologetic critic of President Trump.<\/p>\n

He campaigned in California against tobacco use and in 1998 saw the passage of Proposition 10, which called for a tax on tobacco products to be spent on early childhood programs. Reiner became chairman of the First 5 California Children and Families Commission in January 1999. He resigned in March 2006 amid accusations that the commission had used tax money to boost his campaign for the ultimately unsuccessful Proposition 82, which would have raised income taxes on wealthy Californians to pay for preschool for 4-year-olds. An audit later concluded that he and the commission had not violated state law.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob Reiner has always put California\u2019s kids first, and I thank him for the great work he has done over the last seven years,\u201d then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement at the time. \u201cBecause of Rob\u2019s efforts, California has become a national leader in providing early childhood health and education services for our youngest children and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Times editor Brittany Levine Beckman contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rob Reiner, a writer, director, producer, actor and political activist whose career in Hollywood spanned more than six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1872,7,1758,52236,52237,1431,52234,48,52,51,47,50,49,52233,52235,52238,3020,52134,52232,18672,72],"class_list":["post-95056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-actor","tag-california","tag-director","tag-early-childhood-program","tag-families-commission","tag-family","tag-harry-met-sally","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-movie-history","tag-penny-marshall","tag-political-activist","tag-president-trump","tag-rob-reiner","tag-spinal-tap","tag-writer","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}