Carl Reiner (; March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. His awards and honors include 11 Primetime Emmy Awards,[
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During the early years of television comedy from 1950 to 1957, he appeared in and contributed sketch material for Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour (both of which starred Sid Caesar), writing alongside Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen. Reiner teamed up with Brooks and together they released several iconic comedy albums, beginning with 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1960). Reiner was also the creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961 to 1966 and which Reiner also produced, frequently wrote, and appeared in.[Van Dyke, Dick (2012), My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir, Three Rivers Press][Waldron, Vince (1994). The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book, Hyperion]
Reiner formed a Double act with Brooks in "The 2000 Year Old Man" and acted in such films as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), and the Ocean's film series (2001–2007). Reiner directed such comedies as Enter Laughing (1966), Where's Poppa? (1970), and Oh, God! (1977). Reiner had a successful collaboration with Steve Martin, directing some of his most successful films, including The Jerk (1979), Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984).
Reiner wrote more than two dozen books, mostly in his later years. He was the father of the actor-director Rob Reiner, author Annie Reiner, and artist Lucas Reiner, and the adoptive grandfather of Tracy Reiner.
Early life
Reiner was born in The Bronx, New York, on March 20, 1922, to Jewish parents Irving () and Bessie Reiner (née Mathias; ).
His father was a watchmaker[ St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press (2000)]
When Reiner was 16, working as a machinist repairing sewing machines, Charles read about a free drama workshop sponsored by the Works Progress Administration and told him about it. Reiner later credited Charles with influencing his decision to change careers.
His uncle Harry Mathias was the first entertainer in his family. Prior to his military service, Reiner worked as a sketch comedian in the Catskill Mountains.
Military service
Reiner was drafted into the United States Army Air Forces on October 27, 1942,[ He initially trained to be a radio operator, but after spending three months in the hospital recovering from pneumonia, he was sent to Georgetown University for ten months of training as a French interpreter. There, he had his first experience as a director, putting on a Molière play entirely in French. After completing language training in 1944, he was sent to Hawaii to work as a teleprinter operator. The night before he was scheduled to ship out to Iwo Jima, Reiner attended a production of Hamlet by the Special Services entertainment unit. Following an audition before actor Major Maurice Evans and Captain Allen Ludden, he was transferred to Special Services.]
Career
1948–1959: Early career and Collaborations with Sid Caesar
Reiner performed in several Broadway theatre (including Inside U.S.A. and Alive and Kicking) and had the lead role in Call Me Mister.[ He did not receive credit for his sketch material, but won Emmy Awards in 1955 and 1956 as a supporting actor.][ Reiner also wrote for Caesar's Hour with Brooks, Simon, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, Mel Tolkin, Mike Stewart, Aaron Ruben, Sheldon Keller, and Gary Belkin.]
In November 1958, Reiner hosted a CBS prime-time game show called Keep Talking, when he succeeded original host Monty Hall. He left the show in July 1959 and was succeeded by Vincent Price.[Schwartz, David; Ryan, Steve; Wostbrock, Fred. The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, New York City: Checkmark, 1999 (third ed.), p. 119]
1960–1969: The Dick Van Dyke Show and acclaim
Starting in 1960, Reiner teamed with Brooks as a Double act on The Steve Allen Show. Their performances on television and stage included Reiner playing the straight man in The 2000 Year Old Man.[This album was originally released in 1960 as World-Pacific #1401. It was reissued as Capitol #1529 in 1961. See, Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks The Complete 2000 Year Old Man (Los Angeles, CA: Rhino Records), 1994, p. 32.][Nachman, Gerald. Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s, Knopf Doubleday (2003), p. 474] Brooks's biographer William Holtzman called their 12-minute act "an ingenious jazz improvisation..."[ while Gerald Nachman described Reiner's part in guiding the act:
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Despite being best friends, the "2000 Year Old Man" routine could also at times create "nervous tension" for Reiner and Brooks, with a New York Times article noting that they had in fact not performed the sketch on albums in over a decade by the time of its 1973 revival album and how by this point in time that "both say the need to perform is gone."
In 1958, he wrote the initial 13 episodes of a television series titled Head of the Family, based on his own personal and professional life.[ After an initial attempt to sell the show failed, Sheldon Leonard took a look at it and disliked Reiner in the autobiographical lead role.]["Sheldon Leonard on Talking Carl Reiner Out of the Lead Role on the Dick Van Dyke Show,"
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/ref> In 1961, the series was recast and re-titled The Dick Van Dyke Show and became a popular series, making stars of his lead actors Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. In addition to writing many of the episodes, Reiner occasionally appeared as show host Alan Brady.[ The series ran from 1961 to 1966 and thereafter entered a long run of syndication.][ In 1966, Reiner co-starred in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.]
From April 5, 1964, to September 9, 1965, Reiner hosted The Celebrity Game, a CBS prime-time game show that was a precursor to the long-running Hollywood Squares.[Schwartz, David; Ryan, Steve; Wostbrock, Fred. The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, New York City: Checkmark Books, 1999 (third ed.), pp. 37–38] His first film directorial effort was an adaptation of Joseph Stein's play Enter Laughing (1967), which, in turn, was based on his semi-autobiographical 1958 novel of the same name.
1970–1989: Transition to directing
Balancing directing, producing, writing, and acting, he worked on a wide range of films and television programs. Films from his early directing career include Where's Poppa? (1970), Oh, God! (1977), and The Jerk (1979).
In 1977, Reiner directed and appeared in Oh, God! starring George Burns, John Denver, and Teri Garr. The film was a financial success making it the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1977. The film was also a critical success. Roger Ebert gave it a positive review, writing: "Carl Reiner's Oh, God! is a treasure of a movie: A sly, civilized, quietly funny speculation on what might happen if God endeavored to present himself in the flesh yet once again to forgetful Man."
His follow-up film The One and Only (1978) was not as successful, receiving a mixed reception from film critics. The film starred Henry Winkler, Kim Darby, and Gene Saks. Throughout the 1970s Reiner made appearances on multiple television shows, including Night Gallery in the segment "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture" in 1971, and as various characters in the variety sketch show The Carol Burnett Show (1974). He also returned to writing television by creating The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971–1974), which ran for three seasons and, like its predecessor, starred Dick Van Dyke.
Reiner played a large role in the early career of Steve Martin by directing his first film The Jerk (1979) and directing and co-writing with the comedian in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984).
1990–2020: Voice work and final roles
In 2000, Reiner was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center.
From 1967 to 2000, Reiner appeared in dozens of television specials. He also guest starred in several television series from the 1950s until his death in 2020. In May 2009, he guest starred as a clinic patient in "Both Sides Now", the season five finale of House.[Crump (2013), p. 11.] In season 7 (December 2009) of Two and a Half Men, he guest-starred as television producer Marty Pepper.[ In 2010, he guest-starred in three of the first-season episodes of Hot in Cleveland as Elka Ostrovsky's (Betty White) date and reprised his role in February 2011.]
Reiner lent his voice to numerous films and animated films. He narrated the Bernard Rogers children's piece "The Musicians of Bremen" on a Delos compact disc release. He also read for books on tape, among them Aesop's Fables and Jack and the Beanstalk (Running Press, 1994), as well as Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Prince and the Pauper, and Letters from the Earth (New Millenium, 2001).
In 2012, he appeared as a guest on Jerry Seinfeld's series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. They talked at a diner about his comedy career and Reiner invited Seinfeld to come and have dinner with Mel Brooks and himself. Reiner reported that every night, Brooks headed to his house to eat, watch Jeopardy! (he taped it), and watch movies. He went on to offer the one rule for movies was that it had to be one where "somebody says, 'Secure the perimeter!' or 'Get some rest.'" Reiner stated that Brooks "falls asleep with his mouth open" every time.
Reiner's final role was in , a project that Jason Reitman had envisioned to engage his celebrity friends to help raise money for charity during the COVID-19 pandemic, with actors filming their own takes on scenes from The Princess Bride at their own homes. Reiner appeared along with Rob Reiner (who directed the original film) in the final scene as the Grandfather and Grandson, which Rob said had been shot three days before Reiner's death. His final line on camera is, "As you wish," which in the film it is based on means, "I love you." After hearing of his death, Reitman asked the Reiner family if they should swap out the scene, but the family gave him their blessing to use the scene.
Author and novelist
Reiner was the author of more than two dozen books.
Comedy style
Reiner expressed his philosophy on writing comedy in an interview in the December 1981 issue of American Film:
You have to imagine yourself as not somebody very special, but somebody very ordinary. If you imagine yourself as somebody really normal and if it makes you laugh, it's going to make everybody laugh. If you think of yourself as something very special, you'll end up a pedant and a bore. If you start thinking about what's funny, you won't be funny, actually. It's like walking. How do you walk? If you start thinking about it, you'll trip.
Personal life
Marriage and family
On December 24, 1943, Reiner married singer Estelle Reiner. They were married for almost 65 years until her death in October 2008.[ They were also the parents of poet, playwright, and author Annie Reiner, and painter,]["Art Reviews"; David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, Oct 12, (1995) p. 4.] actor, and director Lucas Reiner.['Musicals, Concerts, Children's Shows, and More Highlight Annenberg's 2014–2015 Season', The Beverly Hills Courier, September 12, 2014, p. 10 [1] ]
Charity and interests
From 1974 to 2001, he sponsored the Carl Reiner Charity Celebrity Tennis Tournament in La Costa, California, directed by international tennis player Mike Franks, which was played yearly over 3 days and included 400 players, of which 100 were professionals.
In July 2012, Reiner joined Twitter, tweeting that he was doing so to keep up with his grandson Jake. He felt obliged to post at least once per day, and so posted 6,520 tweets and accumulated 367,000 followers. His favorite topics were movies and Donald Trump, but his final tweet was a reminiscence about Noël Coward performing in Las Vegas.
His final interview was a webisode of Dispatches From Quarantine, which was posted on YouTube by the Jewish arts organization Reboot and Temple Beth Am.
Political views
On October 31, 2018, Reiner, then 96, who was a liberal Democrat, publicly denounced Donald Trump's administration and stated his goal (which he ultimately did not achieve) to live past November 3, 2020, and see Trump voted out of office.
Death
On June 29, 2020, Reiner died from natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 98.
Upon news of his death, fellow comedians and other figures in the entertainment industry gave tributes and remembrance, including Brooks, Alan Alda, Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett, George Clooney, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and Sarah Silverman.
Acting credits and accolades
Over Reiner's long television and film career, he earned numerous awards. From his stand-up comedy albums with Mel Brooks to writing on Your Show of Shows, Caesar's Hour, and The Dick Van Dyke Show, he earned 11 Primetime Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award. In 1960, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6421 Hollywood Boulevard.
Discography
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2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (World Pacific Records, 1960)
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2001 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (Capitol Records, 1961)
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Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks at the Cannes Film Festival (Capitol Records, 1962)
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2000 and Thirteen with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (Warner Bros. Records, 1973)
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Excerpts from The Complete 2000 Year Old Man (Rhino Records, 1994)
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The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 (Rhino Records, 1997)
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How Paul Robeson Saved My Life and Other Mostly Happy Stories (1999)
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Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain (2001)
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Tell Me a Scary Story (2003)
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The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History (2009 Shout! Factory LLC)
Published works
Non-fiction
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How to Live Forever. Clear Productions. 2017.
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Fiction
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(with Mel Brooks)
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(illustrated by James Bennett)
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(with Mel Brooks)
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(illustrated by James Bennett)
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(illustrated by James Bennett)
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Further reading
External links
