Carl Reiner Hollywood comedy legend star dies at 98
Carl Reiner Hollywood comedy legend star dies at 98. Carl Reiner, the veteran comics and film-maker renowned for his double act with Mel Brooks as well as directing a string of hit comedies including The Jerk and The Man With Two Brains, has died 98.Variety confirmed the news, reporting that his publicist said he died of natural causes on Monday night at his home in Beverly Hills.
His son, filmmaker Rob Rainer, posted on social media: My dad passed away last night. My heart is hurting as I write. He was my guide light.
Along with Brooks, Rainer became the epitome of Jewish-American comedy for the pair's sketch routine, most famously The 2000 Year Old Man which first appeared on record in 1960, and Sid Caesar's hit TV comedy as writers on his Your show got out of work.
Rainer also became a major TV hit by producing and co-writing The Dick Van Dyke Show, starring popular entertainer, before acquiring Enough as director of Steve Martin's best known films. Rainer's son Rob also became an acclaimed filmmaker when hits such as Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me and This Is Spence Tap.
Rainer was inducted into the Emmy Hall of Fame in 1999, and had previously taken home several Emmys for her work primarily on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Caesar Hour".His last win was in 1995 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a comedy on NBC's "Mad About You".
"As I write this my heart is hurting. He was my guiding light."Reiner died of natural causes his home in Beverly Hills, California, his assistant Judy Nagy said.Dick Van Dyke posted a recent photo of him and his old friend on Instagram , calling Reiner a "100% pure mensch."
Was quick to pay tribute to the film and TV industry. Alan Alda tweeted: His talent will live long, but the loss of his kindness and decency leaves a hole in our hearts; While William Shatner wrote: To recreate those days for the Dick Van Dyke Show from Sid Caesars Writers Room, Carl was a master at his craft.
Josh Gad said: Goodbye to one of the greatest comic minds of all time. Thank you for always making us laugh and always making us happy. Mia Farrow wrote: We lost a person who gave us great times - countless laughter. He was talented. And kind… He was with us through good times and hard times. Thanks Karl Rainer.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also tweeted his condolences, tweeting, Carl Rainer, a Bronx born and bred, created the TV comedy that ends to this day. He made America laugh - a true gift. New York to his family. And extends our condolences to many friends.
Born in New York in 1922, Reiner was the son of Jewish immigrants to the US, and served in the US air force during the second world war. Reining entered the showbiz after enmity ended, joining the service's performance unit, landing a spot on the Your Show in 1950, where he would collaborate with the likes of Brooks and Neil Simon. Rainer remained with Caesar until the 1950s, until he developed his own show about a comedy writer given to Van Dyke as a vehicle with Mary Tyler Moore.
As a result of his success, Rainer moved into feature-film-making: his directorial debut was Enter Laughing in 1967, adapted from his autobiography about a Jewish child trying to break into a showcase. Later films included George Burns' comedy Oh God! And the Henry Winkler wrestling comedy The One and Only.
In what would become a momentous collaboration, Reiner was asked by then-white-hot stage and TV comic Steve Martin to direct his debut film, and the 1979 film The Jerk was the result. After its impressive box office figures, the pair made three more films in a row – Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983) and All of Me (1984) – all of which were substantial successes.
In subsequent decades, his status as a comedy legend secure he completed numerous guest shots in TV shows such as Frasier, King of the Hill, The Larry Sanders Show and Ally McBeal, while latter days film roles included Steven Soderbergh Ocean’s Eleven remake as con artist Saul Bloom and “Carl Reinforcers” in Toy Story 4.
Reiner was a committed Democrat, and a fervent opponent of President Trump. he remained active on social media, and one of his final posts castigated Trump as “a bankrupted and corrupt businessman who had no qualifications to be the leader of any country in the civilized world”.
Two old friends - Brooks and Rainer - had dinner together almost every night. In 2012, he did an episode of Jerry Seinfeld's web series Comedian in Car Getting Coffee. As Seinfeld walked out the front door of Reiner's house, he had just one more joke to tell."Hey Jerry," Rainer said. "You know the difference between a Jew and a Frenchman. A Frenchman leaves without saying goodbye. A Jew says goodbye and never eats."
