Acclaimed actor-director Rob Reiner, maker of such timeless classics like Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, was reportedly found dead in his Brentwood home at age of 78. Police are investigating it as a possible homicide.
TMZ broke the initial report that Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead in his Brentwood mansion with wounds that were consistent with a knife. Per TMZ:
Two dead bodies were found in Rob and Michele’s Brentwood home Sunday afternoon — and law enforcement sources tell us it is the Reiners.
Our sources say the two suffered lacerations consistent with a knife. The LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division is still investigating.
This is developing story. Check back for further updates.
Director and actor Rob Reiner found dead at home with wife Michele Singer Reiner
Authorities investigating ‘apparent homicide’ after 78-year-old director of Stand By Me and The Princess Bride was discovered dead at LA home with wife
Rob Reiner, the director of beloved films including When Harry Met Sally, Misery, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap, has died aged 78 in an apparent homicide, along with his 68-year-old wife Michele Singer Reiner.
Reports first began to emerge on Sunday afternoon that the bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman had been found by authorities inside a home owned by Reiner in Brentwood, Los Angeles, after a medical aid request was made to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Los Angeles Police Department later confirmed detectives from the robbery homicide division were investigating the deaths as an “apparent homicide”. Both TMZ and People reported that the two had suffered wounds consistent with a knife attack.
A spokesperson for the Reiner family confirmed their deaths on Sunday evening.
“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” the family spokesperson said in a statement to media. “We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”
At a press conference on Sunday night, LAPD chief detective Alan Hamilton said the investigation was ongoing.
“At this time, the LAPD is not seeking anyone as a suspect or as a person of interest … and we will not be doing that until we conduct our investigation and we move forward,” Hamilton said.
The Reiners’ family members would be interviewed but that “no one has been detained. No one is being questioned as a suspect,” he added.
Reiner had been married to photographer Singer Reiner since 1989. The couple met while he was directing When Harry Met Sally, which he’d made with his friend Nora Ephron after 10 years of being single; inspired by their new romance, Reiner changed the film’s original downbeat ending so that Harry and Sally ended up together.
The son of the renowned comic actor Carl Reiner and the singer Estelle Rebost, Reiner was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1947. He initially went into acting in the 1960s, landing his first big role as the countercultural Michael “Meathead” Stivic in all nine seasons of the sitcom All in the Family. He won two of five Emmy nominations for his performance, and was also nominated for five Golden Globes in the role.
Reiner made his directorial film debut in 1984 with much loved mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, which follows a dopey British heavy metal band. He followed it with a rapid run of hits including Stand by Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989), which is often ranked among the best romantic comedies of all time, Misery (1990), and A Few Good Men (1992), which was nominated for an Oscar for best picture.
Reiner was particularly proud of Stand By Me, as he felt it was the first thing he made outside of his father’s shadow. “Spinal Tap was satire, and I love satire, but that was something my father had done. And The Sure Thing was romantic comedy and he had done those. So Stand By Me was the first thing I did that was purely an extension of myself, and that meant a lot to me,” he told the Guardian in 2018.
Later films that Reiner directed included The American President (1995), The Bucket List (2007), and his final film, the 2025 sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Over his career he was nominated for four Golden Globes for best director and three Directors Guild of America awards.
He also continued to act in small parts, including in Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle as Tom Hanks’ friend, Postcards From the Edge, The First Wives Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, New Girl and The Bear. He also frequently played himself in comedies including 30 Rock, The Simpsons, Hannah Montana, The Larry Sanders Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Reiner also cofounded Castle Rock Entertainment, the production company behind hits including The Shawshank Redemption, Seinfeld, In the Line of Fire, City Slickers, Lone Star and Miss Congeniality. He would later say that it became harder to get funding for smaller films in the 2000s. “I mean, I’m making the movies I want to make, but it’s not with the same kind of support system that I had, and so it’s much more difficult,” he told the Guardian in 2018.
“Studios are looking for hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in profit and you’re not going to get it with a little movie … I came into this business to express myself and tell stories, not just churn out a product.”
Reiner was a prominent political activist and critic of US president Donald Trump. He cofounded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which initiated the court challenge that lifted the ban on same-sex marriage in California. He also spearheaded campaigns against smoking, and considered running against the then-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, but decided not to for personal reasons.
ABC Los Angeles reported Reiner’s friends and peers Billy Crystal and Larry David were seen at the scene after the reports emerged.
The Reiners had three children: Jake, Nick and Romy. Rob Reiner was also the adoptive father of actor Tracy Reiner, the daughter of his first wife, the actor and director Penny Marshall who died in 2018.
Messages to Reiner’s representatives were not immediately returned.
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer have been found dead in their home in what police are investigating as a double homicide.
Police confirmed on Sunday night that the bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman discovered inside the couple’s $13.5million Brentwood mansion in Los Angeles belonged to Reiner and his wife.
According to law enforcement sources, the couple’s bodies were discovered with what appeared to be knife wounds.
Sources told People their daughter, Romy, allegedly made the grim discovery inside the sprawling six-bedroom estate.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives reportedly told ABC7 the deaths were being investigated as homicides, and a large number of officers were at the home on Sunday evening.
A spokesperson for Reiner’s family subsequently confirmed their deaths.
‘It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,’ they said. ‘We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.’
A neighbor told ABC7 that Larry David and Billy Crystal — who starred in Reiner’s rom-com classic When Harry Met Sally — visited the crime scene separately, and Crystal allegedly ‘looked like he was about to cry’ before he left.
Reiner and his wife reportedly lived in the home, and property records obtained by the Daily Mail indicate that they are the owners.
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer have been found dead in their home in what police are investigating as a homicide. Police confirmed that the bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman belonged to Reiner and his wife; pictured in 2023 in Washington, DC
According to law enforcement sources, the couple’s bodies were discovered with what appeared to be ‘knife wounds’; The home is pictured Sunday night with a large number of police present
A neighbor told ABC7 that Larry David and Billy Crystal — who starred in Reiner’s rom-com classic When Harry Met Sally — visited the crime scene separately, and Crystal ‘looked like he was about to cry’ as he left; Reiner and Crystal are pictured in 2019 in Hollywood
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Reiner and the LAPD for comment.
In a press conference, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said a suspect in the murders had not yet been identified. He added that no one had yet been interviewed as a suspect and that no one was in custody.
‘We’re going to try to speak to every family member that we can to get to the facts of this investigation,’ Hamilton continued.
He noted that the bodies were still in the home, as police were waiting on a warrant to reenter the home and begin their investigation after determining that there was no further threat.
Hamilton added that the home was in the exact same state that he had been after police first arrived to find the bodies.
The LAPD declined to identify the bodies, as that information will be officially announced by the LA County Coroner.
LAFD paramedics were dispatched to the mansion on Chadbourne Avenue at 3:38 p.m.
Just minutes after arriving, LAFD members on the scene reportedly called LAPD officers to the scene in an ‘ambulance death investigation.’
Firefighters reportedly called police to the scene just minutes after they arrived; police are seen outside the home on Sunday night
‘Senior leadership’ of the LAPD is now said to be on the scene of the apparent murders; police are pictured outside the home on Sunday night
LAFD responded to a call just after 3:30 p.m., and first responders then called the LAPD to the scene, which is now investigating the deaths as homicides; Reiner and Singer pictured in March in LA
In September, Reiner (R) released Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, the sequel to his iconic 1984 Mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, which he co-wrote, directed and appeared in; pictured with star and co-writer Christopher Guest (L)
Reiner’s daughter Romy reportedly lives in a home across the street from him with her children.
In a statement, LA Mayor Karen Bass said she was ‘heartbroken’ by the Reiners’ deaths, calling them ‘a devastating loss for our city and our country.’
‘Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,’ Bass said
In September, Reiner released Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, the sequel to his iconic 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, which he co-wrote, directed and appeared in.
Reiner followed his father, the comic actor and filmmaker Carl Reiner — who died in 2020 at 98 — into Hollywood, where he became known as an actor, director and a tireless champion of liberal politics.
Rob Reiner first emerged as an actor and is best known for his role as Michael ‘Meathead’ Stivic on All In The Family.
He won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for five Golden Globes during his stint on the series from 1971 to 1978.
Reiner helped reinvent his career in the 1980s with his forward-looking comedy This Is Spinal Tap, which would go on to inspire countless mockumentaries.
Reiner followed his father, the comic actor and filmmaker Carl Reiner, into Hollywood. Reiner died in 2020 at 98; pictured together in 1999
Reiner first emerged as an actor and is best known for his role as Michael ‘Meathead’ Stivic on All In The Family. He won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for five Golden Globes during his stint on the series from 1971 to 1978; Sally Struerhs, Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton and Reiner pictured on the series
Renier and his wife met on the set of 1989’s When Harry Met Sally and wed that year. They shared three children: (L–R) Jake, Romy and Nick; the family is pictured in 2014 in NYC
Romy (second to left) reportedly lives with her children in a house across the street from her parents; Jake, Romy, Rob and Michele are together in January 2024 in LA
He became one of Hollywood’s most in-demand directors for the next two decades due to classics and box office hits, including Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), Misery (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), The American President (1995) and The Bucket List (2007).
Despite focusing his efforts on directing, Reiner continued to act in his later years, including a role as the father of Leonardo DiCaprio’s lead character in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013), as well as later roles in his own film And So It Goes (2014), the Adam Sandler–starring comedy Sandy Wexler (2017) and, most recently, his Spinal Tap sequel.
Reiner’s 1989 film When Harry Met Sally is widely considered one of the greatest romantic comedies ever made.
It was on the set of that film that Reiner met his future wife, the photographer Michele Singer. The two were married in 1989 and went on to welcome three children: Jake, Nick and Romy.
Reiner was previously married to the late actress and filmmaker Penny Marshall, and he adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Marshall died in 2018 at 75.
Reiner’s son Nick Reiner, 32, has previously spoken about his struggles with drug addiction and bouts of homelessness.
In 2016, Rob directed the film Being Charlie, a semi-autobiographical drama written by Nick that he said was inspired by his numerous rehab visits, the first of which was around when he turned 15.
‘I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas,’ Nick recalled while speaking about the film in a 2016 interview with People. ‘I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun.’
Reiner’s son Nick has previously spoken about his struggles with drug addiction and bouts of homelessness. He first went to rehab around his 15th birthday; pictured together in 2016 in NYC
Nick co-wrote the semi-autobiographical film Being Charlie (2016), which his dad directed. He told People that he had been to rehab 18 times as of 2016, and he lived on the streets after refusing to go back and allegedly having nowhere else to go; Nick (R) is pictured with Michel and Rob in 2013 in LA
Nick, who said he had gone to rehab 17 more times as of 2016, also claimed to have lived on the streets after he refused to go back to a rehab program.
In 2016, when he was 22, he said that his last rehab stint had been three years earlier.
He said at the time of Being Charlie’s release that he hoped to stay off drugs so that he would never be homeless again.
‘When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. You roll the dice and you hope you make it,’ he told People.
In an interview with the BUILD series while promoting Being Charlie in 2016, Nick said that he ‘didn’t bond’ well with his father, who sat by his side during the interview, when he was younger.
‘It really clicked for me because we didn’t bond a lot as a kid,’ Nick said. ‘He really liked baseball, I liked basketball, and he could watch that with my brother — baseball — but I just, when I saw [Rob Reiner direct Being Charlie], it was something that I’m interested in.
‘I was like, “Wow, he really knows a lot,” and it made me feel closer to him,’ Nick said at the time.
This is a developing story…
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