Six classic movies from the ‘big-hearted genius’ director

Rob Reiner, son of legendary comedian Carl Reiner, was one of Hollywood's most famous directors.

As an actor, he became a household name on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family and later appeared as the father of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in The Wolf of Wall Street.

But he will be best remembered as a director. He has directed a number of classic films in a variety of genres, including the cult mockumentary This Is Spinal Tub, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men, as well as The Princess Bride, Stand By Me and Misery.

Here's a look at his life through the lens of some of his most beloved films.

After his work on All in the Family, where he twice won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Michael “Meathead” Stivic, a 1960s hippie, Reiner, a Bronx native, turned his attention to directing the 1974 TV movie Sonny Boy.

But his first big success came with the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, which chronicled the misadventures of a fictional British heavy metal band.

Co-created by comic actors Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean, Reiner himself played documentary filmmaker Marty DiBerga.

Much of the deadpan dialogue was improvised, and the film became a cult classic, featuring lines such as “turn it up to eleven.”

Rayner told the BFI in 2022 that DiBergi was based on Martin Scorsese's work on the concert film The Last Waltz.

“A lot of it,” he said. “He put himself into The Last Waltz and I thought, 'I'm going to do it this way.' When he first saw it he was a little upset that I made fun of him, but now over the years he likes it. He loved it.”

Reiner once said that Sting told him he had watched Spinal Tap 50 times, with the English singer adding: “Every time I watch it, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.”

Just a couple of months ago, Rainer reprized his role as DiBergi In the film “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues”, which he also directed.

Next came the 1986 coming-of-age classic Stand By Me.

Adapted from a Stephen King story, it tells the story of a group of young friends from Oregon in 1959 who embark on a two-day journey to find the body of a missing boy.

Dealing with the bittersweet transition from childhood innocence to adulthood, the film helped establish the likes of River Phoenix and Kiefer Sutherland as stars.

Reiner told Armchair Expert magazine with the Dax Shepard podcast: “That episode meant the most to me because it was the first time I did something that was so far from what my father would have done.”

He added: “It was the first time it really reflected my personality – there was humor in it, but there was also some melancholy and nostalgia, and so I thought this is really what I want to do.”

His next hit was the 1987 fantasy fairy tale The Princess Bride, based on the novel by William Goldman.

He threw actors Robin Wright, Cary Elwes and Billy Crystal into a world of adventure, romance and satire.

One day, a woman told Reiner how the movie saved her life, recounting how when she and several other skiers were caught in an avalanche, she recited every line from the movie to keep herself and the others awake.

“That was the best line I've ever heard.” Reiner told Variety. “The Princess Bride saved my life.”

In 1989, Reiner essentially set the standard for the rom-com genre with When Harry Met Sally.

It stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as two friends who fall in love, culminating in one of Hollywood's most iconic restaurant scenes.

After Ryan's Sally fakes an orgasm to prove her point, it prompts another customer, played by Rainer's mother Estelle, to declare, “I'll get what she gets!”

Sidney Sweeney recently uttered the line in a Hellman Super Bowl commercial that served as a nostalgic parody of the film.

While directing, Reiner met photographer Michelle Singer. The meet-cute influenced his decision to change the ending of the film.

He said Ted Danson Podcast “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”: “We started seeing each other during [the making of] this movie, and one thing led to another, and, you know, I changed the ending of the movie. I couldn't imagine ever being with anyone, I couldn't figure out how to be with anyone, and I had this thing about Harry and Sally not getting together. They run into each other in New York, talk for a bit, and then walk in opposite directions.

“But I met Michelle and said, 'Well, I understand how this works,' and I changed it. I re-shot the ending where you see Billy running and seeing Meg at the New Year's party.”

Rainer and Singer soon married and had three children.

He was previously married to actress and director Penny Marshall in 1971 and adopted her daughter, actress Tracy Reiner.

The director's work took a darker turn in 1990 with Misery, another adaptation of King's novel.

It stars Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes, a crazy woman who imprisons her favorite writer, played by James Caan.

Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her chillingly humane performance.

During an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, Reiner recalled that he had a feeling at the time that Misery might be the only thriller he'd ever make.

“But I studied Hitchcock,” he said. “I studied every thriller I could to understand what the grammar of film thrillers was. “Proceed to insert key.” “The foot touches the ground.”

Bates, then a stage actress, feared she had failed her big-screen audition. But her director had no such doubts.

“I think she read two lines, two or three, and I said, 'That's enough, you can do this,'” Reiner said. according to Entertainment Weekly. “She said, 'What do you mean?' I cut it off. I was like, “No, no, you can do it, I know you can do it.”

“And she said, 'Really?' – he continued. “And as she left the room, she asked, 'Can I call my mom?'”

The 1992 courtroom drama A Few Good Men was about the court-martial of two Marines for the death of a fellow soldier.

Reiner has managed Hollywood stars Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon, as well as Jack Nicholson.

Nicholson played a colonel who, while testifying, uttered the immortal phrase: “You can’t handle the truth!”

The actor enjoyed saying this line so much that he continued to do it with gusto, even during each take behind the scenes when Reiner filmed Cruise's character's reaction.

“Every time we shot a scene, Jack did it perfectly.” Reiner laughed. “After a couple of takes, I said, 'Jack, you might want to save a little money when we get the camera.' And he said, “Rob, you don’t understand, I love acting.”

The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Away from the big screen, Reiner was also known for his political and social activism, often speaking out on issues ranging from climate change to gun control.

Speaking live on BBC Radio 5 on Monday, Los Angeles journalist KJ Matthews called him “the big-hearted genius behind so many of the classic stories we love.”

“So many people were touched by him and his generosity,” she noted.

“He was really known for advocating for members of the LGBT community. [and] trying to help low-income people in various areas of Los Angeles.”

She added: “So he wasn't just a figure in front of the camera, a producer and known for giving us great films over the years… He truly was a humanitarian.”

Reiner advocated for early childhood education and health care, as well as gay rights.

His other films include 1994's “North,” starring Elijah Wood, and 1995's “The American President,” starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening; and the 1996 film “Ghosts of Mississippi,” about the trial of Byron De La Beckwith, who killed civil rights activist Medgar Evers.

The director returned to form after several commercial flops with 2007's The Bucket List, which starred Nicholson alongside Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men who set out to fulfill their life's ambitions before dying. This helped popularize the now widespread titular term.

In 2015, the semi-autobiographical novel Being Charlie, co-written with Reiner's son Nick, explored the painful relationship between a young man suffering from addiction and his father.

Two years later, Reiner directed and starred in the 2017 film Shock and Awe, about a group of reporters covering the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

He also played the father of Zooey Deschanel's character in New Girl and a version of his grander self in TV shows such as Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, 30 Rock and Happyish.

Reiner, who also appeared as a studio executive in the 2020 miniseries Hollywood, once said, “If you're a creative person, you try to create things that are an extension of yourself.”