Director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were murdered by their 32-year-old son Nick at their Los Angeles home, according to multiple reports. Per TMZ, the couple were discovered Sunday afternoon (Dec. 14) and appeared to have “suffered lacerations consistent with a knife.
Nick Reiner is now in Los Angeles Police Department custody. He reportedly struggled for years with drug addiction and homelessness.
Rob Reiner, 78, was the son of legendary writer/actor/director Carl Reiner. He starred from 1971-1978 as the lovable Michael “Meathead” Stivic on All in the Family, and went on to direct such beloved films as Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men and When Harry Met Sally. But it was his stewardship of the pioneering 1984 rock’n’roll mockumetary This Is Spinal Tap that cemented his place in the hearts of music fans.
Reiner directed, co-wrote and starred as the film’s fictional director, Mary DiBergi, who chronicled a disastrous album launch and U.S. tour by fading U.K. rockers Spinal Tap (Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer). The film’s spot-on portrayal of rock’n’roll behavior and clichés became the stuff of legend — memorized on tour buses by bands all over the world and its dialog recited like Bible verse for decades ever since.
“We’re the first generation that grew up on rock’n’roll — we love rock’n’roll! So to find that crease between paying homage and loving rock n’roll and at the same time making fun of it, that was a tricky line to walk,” Reiner told People earlier this year. “Virtually everything that happens is taken from something that we either experienced with people, because in the late ’60s, the rock’n’roll world and the improv world, which is where I come from, there was kind of a cross-pollination there, so I was very much aware of what goes on tour and what happens, [and] we got stories from people that we knew.”
A sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, was released in September and reunited Reiner with McKean, Guest and Shearer, plus real-life musicians such as Paul McCartney and Elton John.
“Rob was a friend and collaborator through much of my life,” Shearer said. “He was funny, he was smart, he was a mensch. When he came to see the comedy act I was in, and, later, the musical comedy I had co-written, his laugh was uproarious and audible around the block. He was a great collaborator, and when the four of us proposed ideas for the films, he was the one who wrote them on 3×5 cards, and organized them into a movie. And Michele was a very good friend to my wife Judith. This is unspeakable, the stuff of Greek tragedy.”
In a shared statement from Guest and his wife, Jamie Lee Curtis, the couple said they “are numb and sad and shocked about the violent, tragic deaths of our dear friends Rob and Michele Singer Reiner. Our ONLY focus and care right now is for their children and immediate families and we will offer all support possible to help them. There will be plenty of time later to discuss the creative lives we shared and the great political and social impact they both had on the entertainment industry, early childhood development, the fight for gay marriage and their global care for a world in crisis. We have lost great friends. Please give us time to grieve.”
This is a developing story.
