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Rob Reiner, the son of a comedy giant who became one himself as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation with movies such as "The Princess Bride," "When Harry Met Sally ..." and "This Is Spinal Tap," has died. He was 78.
Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found fatally stabbed Sunday at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday arrested the Reiners' 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, and booked him on suspicion of killing his parents.
It was a tragic, shocking end to a life and career that began with a complicated father-son relationship. Reiner grew up thinking his father, the legendary funnyman Carl Reiner, didn't understand him or find him funny. But the younger Reiner would in many ways follow in his father's footsteps, working both in front and behind the camera, in comedies that stretched from broad sketch work to accomplished dramedies.
"My father thought, 'Oh, my God, this poor kid is worried about being in the shadow of a famous father,'" Reiner told "60 Minutes" in October, recalling the temptation to change his name. "And he says, 'What do you want to change your name to?' And I said, 'Carl.' I just wanted to be like him."
After starting out as a writer for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," Reiner's breakthrough came when he was, at age 23, cast in Norman Lear's "All in the Family" as Archie Bunker's liberal son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic. But by the 1980s, Reiner began as a feature film director, churning out some of the most beloved films of that, or any, era. His first film, the largely improvised 1984 cult classic "This Is Spinal Tap," remains the quintessential mockumentary.
After the 1985 John Cusack summer comedy, "The Sure Thing," Reiner made "Stand By Me" (1986), "The Princess Bride" (1987) and "When Harry Met Sally ..." (1989), a four-year stretch that resulted in a trio of American classics, all of them among the most often quoted movies of the 20th century.
For the next four decades, Reiner, a warm and gregarious presence on screen and an outspoken liberal advocate off it, remained a constant fixture in Hollywood. The production company he co-founded, Castle Rock Entertainment, launched an enviable string of hits, including "Seinfeld" and "The Shawshank Redemption." By the turn of the century, its success rate had fallen considerably, but Reiner revived it, and this fall released the long-in-coming sequel "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues."
"Beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people -- and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action," former President Barack Obama said in a statement.