Rob Reiner

Robert Reiner was born on 6 March 1947 in the Bronx, New York City, into a Jewish family. His parents were the comedian, writer and director Carl Reiner and the actress and singer Estelle Reiner. His younger siblings are the poet, playwright and author Annie Reiner and the painter, actor and director Lucas Reiner. The family lived on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx and later moved to New Rochelle, New York. Reiner had no middle name, explaining that neither of his parents had one either.

His father, a devoted baseball fan, took him to his first Major League game in 1951, a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium in Mickey Mantle's first season and Joe DiMaggio's last. Reiner said he stayed through both games at the age of four and was hooked for life; he later held Los Angeles Dodgers season tickets from the 1960s onward. The family moved to Los Angeles, where Carl Reiner's work on The Dick Van Dyke Show put his son close to the centre of American television comedy. Rob made his television acting debut at 14 on the series Manhunt.

Reiner attended Beverly Hills High School, where he met Albert Brooks, who became a lifelong friend. In the early 1960s he trained as an apprentice at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania. He studied at the UCLA Film School for two years, from 1964 to 1966, but left without taking a degree to pursue work as a performer and writer.

Early work (1966 to 1970). Reiner played bit parts on Batman, That Girl, The Andy Griffith Show, Room 222, Gomer Pyle, USMC and The Beverly Hillbillies. At 19 he and Larry Bishop performed improvised comedy as the opening act for Carmen McRae at the hungry i in San Francisco. He wrote for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968 and 1969 alongside Steve Martin and Carl Gottlieb, appeared in his father's film Where's Poppa? (1970) and began a long writing partnership with Philip Mishkin.

All in the Family (1971 to 1979). As Michael Stivic, the liberal son-in-law of Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker on Norman Lear's All in the Family, Reiner became a household name. The show was the most watched programme in the United States for five straight seasons, and the nickname "Meathead" stayed with him for life. He won two Primetime Emmy Awards, received three further Emmy nominations and earned five Golden Globe nominations for the role.

Director (1984 to 1996). Reiner's first feature, This Is Spinal Tap (1984), which he directed, co-wrote and appeared in as Marty Di Bergi, popularised the mockumentary. It was followed by The Sure Thing (1985), Stand by Me (1986), adapted from Stephen King's novella The Body, The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), written by Nora Ephron, Misery (1990), also from Stephen King, and A Few Good Men (1992), written by Aaron Sorkin and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Critics regularly cite those first seven films as one of the great directing runs in Hollywood. North (1994) was a critical and commercial failure, and Reiner rebounded with The American President (1995) and Ghosts of Mississippi (1996).

Castle Rock Entertainment. In 1987 Reiner co-founded Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced many of his films and also Seinfeld, The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Green Mile (1999).

Later work (1997 to 2025). Reiner directed The Story of Us (1999), Alex and Emma (2003), Rumor Has It (2005), The Bucket List (2007), whose title became an everyday phrase, Flipped (2010), The Magic of Belle Isle (2012), And So It Goes (2014), Being Charlie (2015), co-written by his son Nick, LBJ (2016), Shock and Awe (2017), the documentary Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (2023) and Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025). As an actor he appeared in Throw Momma from the Train, Sleepless in Seattle, Bullets Over Broadway, The First Wives Club, Primary Colors, EDtv and The Wolf of Wall Street, where he played Jordan Belfort's father. On television he played Jess's father Bob Day on New Girl, took politically themed roles on The Good Fight, When We Rise and Hollywood, and in 2025 played a business consultant on The Bear. In 2023 he and Soledad O'Brien launched the podcast series Who Killed JFK?. In August 2025 he filmed Spinal Tap at Stonehenge for a concert film, Stonehenge: The Final Finale, whose release was put on hold after his death.

Reiner married the actress and director Penny Marshall in 1971 and adopted her daughter, the actress Tracy Reiner, from Marshall's earlier marriage to Michael Henry. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981. While directing When Harry Met Sally... he was introduced to the photographer Michele Singer; the meeting influenced his decision to change the film's ending, and they married in 1989. They had three children: Jake, who has worked in film and as a news reporter in Houston and shared his father's love of the Dodgers; Nick, whose long struggle with addiction Rob spoke about publicly and which inspired the film Being Charlie; and Romy, a filmmaker who was very close to both parents.

Reiner was raised in a home that was not observantly Jewish, though he had a bar mitzvah. He described himself as an atheist in 2012 and later said that, while he rejected organised religion, he was sympathetic to the ideas of Buddhism.

Reiner was a progressive activist on a wide range of issues. In 1998 he chaired the campaign for California Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, funded by a tobacco tax, and he served as its first chairman from 1999 to 2006. He and Michele founded the I Am Your Child Foundation in 1997 and Parents' Action for Children in 2004. He was active in environmental causes, leading the effort to preserve Ahmanson Ranch as a state park and wildlife refuge, and in 2009 he co-founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which brought the federal court challenge to Proposition 8.

He campaigned for Al Gore in 2000 and Howard Dean in 2004, was mentioned as a possible candidate for governor of California in 2006 but declined, endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2008 and Joe Biden in 2020, and after 2016 was one of Donald Trump's most outspoken critics in Hollywood. In 2017 he and David Frum launched the Committee to Investigate Russia.

This Is Spinal Tap made the mockumentary a mainstream form and its improvised style influenced a generation of film and television comedy. When Harry Met Sally... helped redefine the modern romantic comedy, The Princess Bride gave everyday English a string of catchphrases, and The Bucket List gave its name to a common phrase. Three of his films are preserved in the National Film Registry. Through Castle Rock Entertainment he helped bring Seinfeld, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile to audiences. In public life, First 5 California and the Proposition 8 case stand as lasting results of his activism. The Associated Press called him the son of a comedy giant who became one himself, as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation.

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for All in the Family (1974). Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for All in the Family (1978). Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation for The Princess Bride. Academy Award nomination for Best Picture as a producer of A Few Good Men. A BAFTA Award nomination and nine Golden Globe nominations, including four for Best Director. Three Directors Guild of America Award nominations. Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1999). Chaplin Award from the Film Society of Lincoln Center (2014). Posthumous Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for The Bear (September 2026), his third Emmy. The 48-year span since his previous win broke a record for the longest gap between Emmy wins that had been held by his father, Carl Reiner.

Reiner's films have supplied lines that are still quoted daily, including "I'll have what she's having", delivered in When Harry Met Sally... by his mother, Estelle, and the many catchphrases of The Princess Bride. His anti-smoking campaigning led South Park to satirise him in the 2003 episode "Butt Out". He was the subject of Television Academy oral history interviews and a 60 Minutes profile, and after his death ABC News, CNN and CBS News aired television specials on his life. He opened the 2023 CBS special Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic and honoured Billy Crystal at the 2023 Kennedy Center Honors.

In 2006 Reiner was criticised for campaigning for Proposition 82, a preschool funding measure, while chairing the California First 5 Commission. He resigned as chair on 29 March 2006. A state audit later found the commission had not broken the law and had authority to run public advertising campaigns, though it reported that more than 77 million dollars in media contracts had been awarded without cost review. The measure failed. His outspoken criticism of Donald Trump also drew strong reactions, and after Reiner's death Trump posted remarks mocking him that were widely condemned by members of both parties.

On 14 December 2025, Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Their daughter Romy discovered her father after the couple missed an appointment, and the Los Angeles Fire Department responded at 3:38 p.m. local time. On 17 December the Los Angeles County medical examiner said both had died of multiple sharp force injuries and ruled the deaths homicides.

Their son Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested that night near the University of Southern California and on 16 December was charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders. He pleaded not guilty in February 2026. A grand jury indictment was returned in July 2026 and unsealed in August, when he again pleaded not guilty. In September 2026 prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty. The case is ongoing.

Jake and Romy Reiner called their parents their "best friends". Friends including Albert Brooks, Billy Crystal, Larry David, Martin Short, Barry Levinson, Marc Shaiman and Alan Zweibel issued a joint statement, and former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden paid tribute. The couple were cremated at Mount Sinai Memorial Park and their remains were given to their son Jake. The family said a public memorial would be announced later; as of October 2026 none has been held. Billy Crystal led a tribute to the Reiners at the 98th Academy Awards on 15 March 2026.