AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Hollywood is mourning the loss of actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner. The two died on Sunday in what police are calling a homicide. As we learn more about this horrible tragedy, we also wanted to look at Reiner's legacy, both as a filmmaker and actor whose career spanned more than six decades. NPR's Bob Mondello is here to help us remember him. Hi, Bob.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.
CHANG: So Reiner, of course, was a child of Hollywood - right? - from a very famous family. He was the son of Carl Reiner, the pioneering TV comedian who created "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
MONDELLO: That's right. Carl Reiner moved his family to California in the 1950s, with Rob just a boy. And in addition to naming the main character in "The Dick Van Dyke Show" Rob - Rob Petrie - he used family stories in the plots of the show. The real Rob was about Ritchie's age then. I identified him 'cause I was about that age, too. And he started acting in high school and then started an improv group before landing a part on a new Norman Lear comedy on TV that was a real world-changer.
CHANG: That's right. That show was "All In The Family." Remind us about how we met him on that show.
MONDELLO: Well, Archie Bunker's daughter, Gloria, brought him home and introduced him to her folks as her boyfriend, Michael. He was liberal, and Archie was conservative. That was the dynamic. He showed up not in a tie but in a T-shirt that was tie-dyed...
CHANG: (Laughter).
MONDELLO: ...And in no time he was arguing with Archie.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ALL IN THE FAMILY")
ROB REINER: (As Michael Stivic) With or without protesters, this country would still have the same problems.
CARROLL O'CONNOR: (As Archie Bunker) What problems?
R REINER: (As Michael Stivic) Well, the war, the racial problem, the economic problem, the pollution problem.
O'CONNOR: (As Archie Bunker) Oh, come on, if you want to nitpick.
(LAUGHTER)
R REINER: (As Michael Stivic) Nitpick?
CHANG: (Laughter).
MONDELLO: Now, all of those causes that Reiner mentions were ones he championed in real life. He was very into social causes off-screen. He went on to play dozens of roles on TV and film, from "The First Wives Club" to "Bullets Over Broadway." This year, he was in four episodes of TV's "The Bear," helping the sandwich shop guy keep the place solvent.
CHANG: That's right.
MONDELLO: So he's acted all the way along.
CHANG: Absolutely. You know, my dad loved Archie Bunker. I remember watching that show...
MONDELLO: Sure.
CHANG: ..."All In The Family" through the years. It ended in the late 1970s, right?
MONDELLO: That's right.
CHANG: And it wasn't long before we came to know Reiner as a director. Can we just run through some of those early movies he directed?
MONDELLO: Sure. He started with "This Is Spinal Tap" in 1984, and then a couple of comedies you'll remember, "The Princess Bride" and "When Harry Met Sally..." And in those first 10 years, also a couple of movies based on Stephen King books, "Stand By Me" and "Misery." And then there was an adaptation of a Broadway hit about a military court martial called "A Few Good Men." So...
CHANG: Yeah.
MONDELLO: ...Impressive pictures.
CHANG: So much range in that list that you just specified right there. We're talking about, like, major comedies but also major dramas.
MONDELLO: And even within the genres they're very different pictures, starting with "This Is Spinal Tap" in 1984, a mockumentary about a heavy metal band.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THIS IS SPINAL TAP")
CHRISTOPHER GUEST: (As Nigel Tufnel) What we do is if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
R REINER: (As Marty DiBergi) Put it up to 11.
GUEST: (As Nigel Tufnel) Eleven, exactly. One louder.
R REINER: (As Marty DiBergi) Why don't you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little louder?
MONDELLO: He gets a blank stare (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THIS IS SPINAL TAP")
GUEST: (As Nigel Tufnel) These go to 11.
(LAUGHTER)
MONDELLO: And then that one is a different style from "The Princess Bride," which is a fairy tale by way of Monty Python-like adventure of a farm boy turned pirate.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")
WALLACE SHAWN: (As Vizzini) He didn't fall? Inconceivable.
MANDY PATINKIN: (As Inigo Montoya) You keep using the word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
MONDELLO: And a completely different kind of realistic rom-com with Billy Crystal's Harry and Meg Ryan's Sally - "When Harry Met Sally..." Harry thinks he knows exactly what effect he's having on women. Sally is pretty sure he's deluding himself, and when talk turns to the idea of faking it during lovemaking, she makes an unforgettable case for her side of the argument in a crowded restaurant.
CHANG: Oh, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WHEN HARRY MET SALLY...")
MEG RYAN: (As Sally Albright) It's just that all men are sure it never happened to them, and most women at one time or another have done it. So you do the math.
BILLY CRYSTAL: (As Harry Burns) You don't think that I can tell the difference?
RYAN: (As Sally Albright) No.
CRYSTAL: (As Harry Burns) Get out of here.
MONDELLO: So she demonstrates...
CHANG: (Laughter).
MONDELLO: ...But here is the reaction that she gets, ultimately.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WHEN HARRY MET SALLY...")
ESTELLE REINER: (As Older Woman Customer) I'll have what she's having.
(LAUGHTER)
MONDELLO: That is arguably the most famous rom-com scene ever.
CHANG: I mean, yeah. The word gets so overused, but that scene was truly iconic.
MONDELLO: Yeah.
CHANG: And you mentioned the Stephen King adaptations, but the two movies that Reiner directed were based on really different novels, right?
MONDELLO: Right. "Stand By Me," about four boys on a camping trip who discover a dead body. Now, the dead body sounds Stephen King-ish, but it's basically a very sweet coming-of-age film about these kids.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "STAND BY ME")
RIVER PHOENIX: (As Chris Chambers) He must have started walking on the train tracks and just followed them the whole way.
COREY FELDMAN: (As Teddy Duchamp) Yeah. Yeah, right. And then after dark, train must have come along, and el smacko.
PHOENIX: (As Chris Chambers) Yeah.
MONDELLO: Now, the tone is really different in "Misery," a flat-out horror film in which a famous writer, played by James Caan, is rescued from a car crash by a woman who describes herself as his biggest fan, played by Kathy Bates. But the care she gives him seems less and less likely to make him better.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MISERY")
JAMES CAAN: (As Paul Sheldon) What's the matter?
KATHY BATES: (As Annie Wilkes) What's the matter? I'll tell you what's the matter? I go out of my way for you. I do everything to try and make you happy. I feed you, I clean you, I dress you, and what thanks do I get? Oh, you bought the wrong paper, Annie. I can't write on this paper, Annie.
CHANG: Oh, creepy (laughter).
MONDELLO: Exactly. Reiner directed Kathy Bates to a best actress Oscar.
CHANG: That's right.
MONDELLO: Still the only acting Oscar won for a King adaptation. And it gets grimmer and grimmer as it goes on, more or less the opposite of "Stand By Me," and it - that was made just a few years later.
CHANG: Yeah. Well, based on this list, Bob, I wouldn't have necessarily pegged Reiner as the guy to direct a Broadway adaptation, but he did with "A Few Good Men."
MONDELLO: Right. He was becoming sort of a jack-of-all-trades in Hollywood. I - but I remember being surprised at the time - even more surprised when I saw the film - because no one expected it to be quite as explosive as it was. Tom Cruise was the defense attorney in a court martial confronting Jack Nicholson's Marine Colonel Jessep.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A FEW FOOD MEN")
TOM CRUISE: (As Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee) Colonel Jessep, did you order the code red?
JAMES ALLEN PRESTON: (As Judge Julius Alexander Randolph) You don't have to answer that question.
JACK NICHOLSON: (As Colonel Nathan Jessep) I'll answer the question. You want answers?
CRUISE: (As Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee) I think I'm entitled to them.
NICHOLSON: (As Colonel Nathan Jessep) You want answers?
CRUISE: (As Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee) I want the truth.
NICHOLSON: (As Colonel Nathan Jessep) You can't handle the truth.
CHANG: Another iconic scene.
MONDELLO: It's true. Nicholson's tirade that followed that is legendary. I saw "A Few Good Men" on stage, and it was electric, but this was shattering.
CHANG: Right.
MONDELLO: This was amazing.
CHANG: Next level. Well, I have heard that Reiner incorporated a lot of his own life into his movies, right?
MONDELLO: Yeah.
CHANG: Like, some of the most famous moments from his movies were drawn from his own story.
MONDELLO: Right, the woman who said, I'll have what she's having in "When Harry Met Sally..." that was his mom...
CHANG: (Laughter).
MONDELLO: ...Estelle Reiner. And on that same movie, that's where he met his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, who also died yesterday. He later said he'd originally had Harry and Sally separate at the end, but falling in love with Michele convinced him that they should be together. He also, about 10 years ago, he made a film called "Being Charlie" that was based on his troubled relationship with his own son, Nick, who struggled with addiction. He was in and out of rehab back then. And we should say that Nick Reiner, his son, has been arrested in this case. Los Angeles police say he was booked for murder.
CHANG: So, Bob, when you think about what made Rob Reiner so distinct, what comes to mind? Like, what made all of his work work so well?
MONDELLO: Well, there's a humanity to it. The people feel real, the emotions are grounded, the causes tend to be liberal and humane. And he had a sure hand with actors. I think you can argue that Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, Tom Cruise, Kathy Bates never did better work than they did on his watch.
CHANG: A real loss. That is NPR's Bob Mondello. Thank you so much, Bob, for helping us remember Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
MONDELLO: Thank you, Ailsa.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE SECRET PIANIST'S "STAND BY ME (PIANO INSTRUMENTAL)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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