“I like to think of myself as a very young old person. But you start thinking, “How many years am I going to have to be productive?” Especially in our business, youth is so stressed. You start thinking, “How many more movies am I going to get to make?” Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll make five more.” Rob Reiner
| Net Worth: | $185 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | March 6, 1947 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.87 m |
About Rob Reiner
Carl Reiner’s father, Carl Reiner, was an inspiration to him growing up because he was the brains behind and star of The Dick Van Dyke Show. His mother, Estelle Reiner, an actress and jazz vocalist, also influenced him to pursue a career in filmmaking by teaching him about the importance of scoring a scene with the right kind of music. Rob felt immense pressure to live up to the legacy his father had established by winning twelve Emmys and other important prizes.
After spending his early years in the Bronx and New Rochelle, New York, Reiner and his family migrated to Los Angeles in 1959. There, he met future co-stars Albert Brooks and Richard Dreyfuss, both of whom had graduated from Beverly Hills High. He spent his summers performing in summer stock.
Rob’s parents encouraged him to join Summer Theatre before he graduated from high school. After moving to Pennsylvania, Reiner found work as an apprentice at the Bucks County Playhouse. The next stop on his educational journey was the UCLA Film School. Even though Reiner had a recurring role on All in the Family, one of the most popular sitcoms in the country, he still didn’t feel like he had made it.
On his All in the Family, he said “He couldn’t have been more different from Archie Bunker. He cared about the little guy. He shone a light on bigotry and ignorance and hope. Arguably, he created the single most indelible character in the history of American television.”
He directed Dreyfuss in a production of No Exit by John-Paul Sartre when he was only 19 years old. When Reiner enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (from 1966 to 1968), he became involved in the formation of an improv troupe called The Session. He quickly left to become a member of The Committee, a San Francisco-based improv troupe with a more political bent.
When Reiner was a young man, he had an internship at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania. This was in the early 1960s. In the late ’60s, Reiner had guest-starring parts on episodes like Batman, That Girl, The Andy Griffith Show, Room 222, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and The Beverly Hillbillies. During this time, he also made cameo appearances in a number of movies, including his dad’s works like “Where’s Poppa?” (1970).
As one of the two youngest writers on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (together with Steve Martin), he got his start in the business in 1968 and ’69. The role of Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the comedy All in the Family was Reiner’s first major break (1971–79). On the show, he played a hippie with a free spirit, while Carroll O’Connor played his father-in-law, a crude racist boor. The popular show made light of their antagonism while also delving into hot-button themes like the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Reiner won Emmys in 1974 and 1978 for best supporting actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of the character.
In 1971, Rob Reiner tied the knot with fellow filmmaker and actress Penny Marshall. After Marshall’s divorce with Michael Henry, he adopted the couple’s daughter, Tracy Reiner (A League of Their Own). Season 2 and Episode 3 of The Partridge Family aired that year. For the episode “A Man Called Snake,” which aired on October 8th, 1971, he portrayed the title role. The Super was an ABC situation comedy developed by Reiner, Phil Mishkin, and Gerry Isenberg in 1972. The summer of 1972 saw the airing of 10 episodes of the Richard S. Castellano–led series about the harried Italian American super of a New York City apartment building. In the pilot’s case, Reiner and Mishkin worked together to develop the script.
After his time on the show, Reiner moved on to directing, and he got his start with the TV movie Sonny Boy in 1974. His breakthrough work was the parody rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984). Also, the 1987 comedy-fantasy film The Princess Bride, which was adapted on a novel by William Goldman. The film, which starred Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, and Billy Crystal, was a sardonic fantasy that poked fun at many of the conventions it used. Then there was the coming-of-age film Stand by Me, set in the 1960s (1986). Film editor Robert Leighton is a frequent collaborator of his and fellow director-actor Christopher Guest’s.
There was a divorce between Reiner and Marshall in 1981. When Harry Met Sally was the occasion for Reiner to meet his future wife, Michele Singer, a photographer. Both his choice to alter the film’s ending and his marriage to Singer in 1989 can be traced back to that fateful encounter. In total, they’re parents to Jake, Nick, and Romy. Through his adopted daughter, Tracy, Reiner also has five grandchildren.
Along with Martin Shafer, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick, and Alan Horn, Reiner started his own production business in 1987 called Castle Rock Entertainment. When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men were all directed by him while he was working for Castle Rock Entertainment, and they were all nominated for Academy Awards. Former co-star Carroll O’Connor is recognized by Reiner for mentoring him as he made the transition from actor to director.
Crystal and Meg Ryan’s friendship-turned-love story in When Harry Met Sally… (1989), directed by Rob Reiner, is widely considered to be the benchmark for romantic comedies. His most commercially successful film, the military trial drama A Few Good Men (1992), was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and featured darker subject matter, with Kathy Bates winning the Oscar for Best Actress in the lead role of Misery (1990).
First 5 California is a program that provides assistance for young children’s development and is supported by revenue from a tax on tobacco products. It was established in 1998 after Reiner led the effort to pass Prop 10, the California Children and Families Initiative. From 1999 through 2006, he presided over First 5 California as its chairman.
However, critics panned North (1994), in which Reiner also participated, calling it “insipid” and “offensive.” The film followed a young man (Elijah Wood) as he sets out to find a new family. The American President (1995), starring Michael Douglas as a widowed president who falls in love with a lobbyist played by Annette Bening; Ghosts of Mississippi (1996); New Girl (2012-2018); and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013-present) are all notable exceptions.
He has also appeared as a parody of himself in movies and television shows like 30 Rock and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003).
For more of Reiner’s work, check out the political romance The American President (1995), the courtroom drama Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), and the feel-good comedy The Bucket List (2007). On producing The Bucket List (2007) he said, “This is kind of a little minefield here. You want to get the tone right for it. This is a subject that you have to deal with comically. It’s still got to be funny. You want sentiment, not sentimentality. These are all the sidewalls you want to not fracture the picture on. Not that I don’t like an easy job.
Reiner is well-known for his political activism; he co-founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, an organization that advised on the legalization of same-sex marriage. As a social change activist, he has spoken at rallies on themes like domestic violence and cigarette use. In the 2008 presidential election, he supported Hillary Clinton. He gave Correct the Record, a PAC that backed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, ten thousand dollars in 2015. For the 2020 election, Reiner is supporting Joe Biden.
He has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame It shares space with the one for his dad. “I love the idea of making movies that kids and adults can go to together and both get something out of it, and not just, “Oh, I’ve got to take my kid to the movie because they want to see the next, you know, Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) or whatever.” Rob Reiner
