Rob Reiner was a genre-spanning actor and director whose body of work included everything from cult comedies like “The Princess Bride” to the Oscar-nominated legal drama “A Few Good Men” and “When Harry Met Sally.”
Reiner told Chris Wallace last year that he met his future wife, Michele, a photographer, while making the beloved romantic comedy, which starred Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. That encounter prompted him to revise the film’s ending to something more hopeful than he had originally planned. Reiner had previously been married to Penny Marshall, herself a notable actor and director.
His breakout role as an actor was as the son-in-law of Archie and Edith Bunker on TV’s “All in the Family,” for which he earned two Emmy Awards in the 1970s. His character, Mike Stivic, would often be seen getting into arguments with his conservative father-in-law on the groundbreaking show, which often explored political and social issues through comedy.
Though he continued to act – he had a part on season 4 of FX’s “The Bear” this year – Reiner transitioned behind the camera in the 1980s, making his directorial debut with “This Is Spinal Tap,” a musical comedy that more or less invented the mockumentary. He released a sequel in September.
Reiner also directed “The Story of Us,” a 1999 drama starring Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Reiner was born in 1947 in The Bronx, New York. His parents were Estelle and Carl Reiner, the writer, actor, director and producer whose many decades’ worth of credits included “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The 2000 Year Old Man.”
