Reiner wrote more than two dozen books, mostly in his later years. He was the father of the actor-directorRob Reiner, authorAnnie Reiner, and artistLucas Reiner, and the adoptive grandfather ofTracy Reiner.
Reiner was born inThe Bronx, New York, on March 20, 1922, to Jewish parents Irving (Yiddish:ירווינג ריינער) and Bessie Reiner (née Mathias;Yiddish:בעססי מאטיאס ריינער).[6]
When Reiner was 16, working as a machinist repairing sewing machines, Charles read about a free drama workshop sponsored by theWorks Progress Administration and told him about it. Reiner later credited Charles with influencing his decision to change careers.[12]
His uncle Harry Mathias was the first entertainer in his family. Prior to his military service, Reiner worked as asketch comedian in theCatskill Mountains.[13]
Reiner was drafted into theUnited States Army Air Forces on October 27, 1942,[14] and served during World War II, achieving the rank ofcorporal by the end of the war.[15] He initially trained to be a radio operator, but after spending three months in the hospital recovering frompneumonia, he was sent toGeorgetown University for ten months of training as a French interpreter. There, he had his first experience as a director, putting on aMolière play entirely in French. After completing language training in 1944, he was sent toHawaii to work as ateleprinter operator. The night before he was scheduled to ship out toIwo Jima, Reiner attended a production ofHamlet by theSpecial Services entertainment unit. Following an audition before actor MajorMaurice Evans and CaptainAllen Ludden, he was transferred to Special Services.[16] Over the next two years, Reiner performed around thePacific theater, entertaining troops in Hawaii,Guam,Saipan,Tinian, and Iwo Jima, until he was honorably discharged in 1946.[15]
In November 1958, Reiner hosted aCBS prime-time game show calledKeep Talking, when he succeeded original hostMonty Hall. He left the show in July 1959 and was succeeded byVincent Price.[19]
Starting in 1960, Reiner teamed with Brooks as acomedy duo onThe Steve Allen Show. Their performances on television and stage included Reiner playing the straight man inThe 2000 Year Old Man.[20] In 1973, it was reported that Brooks and Reiner initially performed the routine atNorman Lear'sFire Island, New York home in the 1950s, with some of these earlier recordings also serving as the basis for one side of the2000 and Thirteen with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks album which was released that year.[21] Eventually, the routine expanded into a series of five comedy albums, three of which were released from 1960 to 1962,[22][23][24][25] and a 1975 animated television special, with the last album in the series, which was released in 1997,[23][26] winning aGrammy Award for Best Spoken Word Comedy Album.[20][27] The act gave Brooks "an identity as a comic performer for the first time", said Reiner.[28] Brooks's biographer William Holtzman called their 12-minute act "an ingenious jazz improvisation..."[28] whileGerald Nachman described Reiner's part in guiding the act:
The routine relies totally on the team's mental agility and chemistry. It's almost heresy to imagine Brooks performing it with any other straight man. Reiner was a solid straight man to Caesar, but with Brooks he is the second-banana supreme... guiding his partner's churning comic mind.[28][29]
Reiner in 1964, one of the few photos taken of him in the 1960s without histoupée
Despite being best friends, the "2000 Year Old Man" routine could also at times create "nervous tension" for Reiner and Brooks, with aNew 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."[30]
In 1958, he wrote the initial 13 episodes of a television series titledHead of the Family, based on his own personal and professional life.[17] After an initial attempt to sell the show failed,Sheldon Leonard took a look at it and disliked Reiner in the autobiographical lead role.[31] In 1961, the series was recast and re-titledThe Dick Van Dyke Show and became a popular series, making stars of his lead actorsDick Van Dyke andMary Tyler Moore. In addition to writing many of the episodes, Reiner occasionally appeared as show host Alan Brady.[17] The series ran from 1961 to 1966 and thereafter entered a long run of syndication.[17] In 1966, Reiner co-starred inThe Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.[32]
From April 5, 1964, to September 9, 1965, Reiner hostedThe Celebrity Game, a CBS prime-time game show that was a precursor to the long-runningHollywood Squares.[33] His first film directorial effort was an adaptation ofJoseph Stein's playEnter Laughing (1967), which, in turn, was based on his semi-autobiographical 1958 novel of the same name.[3]
Balancing directing, producing, writing, and acting, he worked on a wide range of films and television programs. Films from his early directing career includeWhere's Poppa? (1970),Oh, God! (1977), andThe Jerk (1979).[34][35][36] InMy Anecdotal Life: A Memoir (2003), he wrote, "Of all the films I have directed, onlyWhere's Poppa? is universally acknowledged as a cult classic. A cult classic, as you may know, is a film that was seen by a small minority of the world's film goers, who insist it is one of the greatest, most daring, and innovative moving pictures ever made. Whenever two or more cult members meet, they will quote dialogue from the classic and agree that "the film was ahead of its time". To be designated a genuine cult classic, it is of primary importance that the film fail to earn back the cost of making, marketing, and distributing it.Where's Poppa? was made in 1969 for a little over $1 million. According to the last distribution statements I saw, it will not break even until it earns another $650,000."[37]
In 1977, Reiner directed and appeared inOh, God! starringGeorge Burns,John Denver, andTeri Garr. The film was a financial success making it thesixth-highest-grossing film of 1977. The film was also a critical success.Roger Ebert gave it a positive review, writing: "Carl Reiner'sOh, 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."[38]
His follow-up filmThe One and Only (1978) was not as successful, receiving a mixed reception from film critics. The film starredHenry Winkler,Kim Darby, andGene Saks. Throughout the 1970s Reiner made appearances on multiple television shows, includingNight Gallery in the segment "Professor Peabody's Last Lecture" in 1971, and as various characters in the variety sketch showThe Carol Burnett Show (1974). He also returned to writing television by creatingThe New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971–1974), which ran for three seasons and, like its predecessor, starred Dick Van Dyke.
In 2000, Reiner was honored with theMark Twain Prize for American Humor at theKennedy Center.[3] Family, friends, and comedians honored him, including the following: Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Steve Martin,Rob Reiner,Jerry Seinfeld,Ray Romano, andJoy Behar. A year later, he portrayed Saul Bloom inOcean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh's remake of 1960'sOcean's 11)[41] and reprised his role inOcean's Twelve (2004) andOcean's Thirteen (2007).[42][43] From 2004 to 2005, Reiner voiced Sarmoti inFather of the Pride.[44] He claimed he knew how to play the role; in a teleconference, he said, "I spent my youth, from the time I was 6 to 18, living next to the Bronx Zoo. I knew the lions intimately. I watched them pace. They talked to me and I talked back to them. I learned that they have the worst breath of any animal in the world. I got my roar from the lions in person." He continued, "The writing on this show is extraordinarily good. It's a pleasure to come to work because you know you're going to say something funny." Of his character of Sarmoti, Reiner stated that "curmudgeons always get the good lines".[45]
From 1967 to 2000, Reiner appeared in dozens of television specials.[citation needed] He also guest starred in several television series from the 1950s until his death in 2020.[citation needed] In May 2009, he guest starred as a clinic patient in "Both Sides Now", the season five finale ofHouse.[46] He also voicedSanta inMerry Madagascar (2009)[47] and reprised his role in the 2010Penguins of Madagascar episode "The All Nighter Before Christmas".[48] In season 7 (December 2009) ofTwo and a Half Men, he guest-starred as television producer Marty Pepper.[49] In 2010, he guest-starred in three of the first-season episodes ofHot in Cleveland as Elka Ostrovsky's (Betty White) date and reprised his role in February 2011.[50] He also made appearances inThe Cleveland Show as Murray[51] and wrote the story for the episode "Your Show of Shows", named after the program that started his career. Reiner reprised his role onTwo and a Half Men in seasons 8 (October 2013) and 11 (January 2014).[49]
In 2012, he appeared as a guest onJerry Seinfeld's seriesComedians in Cars Getting Coffee. They talked at a diner about his comedy career and Reiner invited Seinfeld to come and have dinner withMel Brooks and himself. Reiner reported that every night, Brooks headed to his house to eat, watchJeopardy! (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.[52]
Reiner's final role was inHome Movie: The Princess Bride, a project thatJason Reitman had envisioned to engage his celebrity friends to help raise money for charity during theCOVID-19 pandemic, with actors filming their own takes on scenes fromThe 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.[53]
Reiner was the author of more than two dozen books.[54] His first autobiographical novelEnter Laughing (1958) led to a 1995 sequelContinue Laughing. He published a memoirMy Anecdotal Life: A Memoir in 2003.[55] He also wrote a humorous series of memoirs under the titlesI Remember Me (2012),I Just Remembered (2014), andWhat I Forgot to Remember (2015), along with books about film and art. He began to write children's books based on the stories he used to tell a certain grandson who would request, "Tell me a scary story, Grandpa, but not too scary."[56]
Reiner expressed his philosophy on writing comedy in an interview in the December 1981 issue ofAmerican 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.[citation needed]
On December 24, 1943, Reiner married singerEstelle Lebost. They were married for almost 65 years until her death in October 2008.[57][58] Estelle delivered the iconic line, "I'll have what she's having" in the deli scene of the 1989 filmWhen Harry Met Sally..., which was directed by Carl and Estelle's sonRob Reiner.[8] They were also the parents of poet, playwright, and authorAnnie Reiner, and painter,[59] actor, and directorLucas Reiner.[8] Reiner described himself as anatheist.[10] He said, "I have a very different take on who God is. Man invented God because he needed him. God is us."[60][61] In 2013, he said he developed an atheistic viewpoint asthe Holocaust progressed, stating it would not have continued if God existed.[62] His residence was inBeverly Hills, California.[63]
From 1974 to 2001, he sponsored the Carl Reiner Charity Celebrity Tennis Tournament inLa 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.[citation needed]
In July 2012, Reiner joined Twitter, tweeting that he was doing so to keep up with his grandson Jake.[64] He felt obliged to post at least once per day, and so posted 6,520 tweets and accumulated 367,000 followers.[64] His favorite topics were movies andDonald Trump, but his final tweet was a reminiscence aboutNoël Coward performing inLas Vegas.[64] At the age of 98, Reiner was the oldest celebrity to actively use Twitter.[citation needed]
His final interview was awebisode ofDispatches From Quarantine, which was posted on YouTube by the Jewish arts organization Reboot andTemple Beth Am.[65][66] In this, he reminisced about his wife and family, "We met, fell in love, and I was 20 at the time and she was 28, and people said this is not a match ... It only worked for 65 years, and if she didn't pass on we'd still be working on it."[65]
On June 29, 2020, Reiner died from natural causes at his home inBeverly Hills, California, at the age of 98.[68][69] According to his nephewGeorge Shapiro, Reiner had been in good spirits all day, and had spent the evening watching television with Mel Brooks; afterward, at around 10 p.m., he became unsteady and fell while walking with the assistance of his housekeeper. He lost consciousness within a few minutes and died shortly thereafter.[70]
^High Fidelity Incorporating Musical America. Volume 24 United States: Billboard Pub., 1974.
^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.
^"Sheldon Leonard on Talking Carl Reiner Out of the Lead Role on the Dick Van Dyke Show," Archive of American Television (EmmyTVLegends.org),https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQOJziAQZxA
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