Police were conducting a homicide investigation Monday after Hollywood giant Rob Reiner — director of a string of hits including “When Harry Met Sally” — and his wife, Michele Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home.
As tributes poured in for Reiner, 78, Los Angeles deputy police chief Alan Hamilton said they were seeking to interview “every family member” of the actor-director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
The bodies were discovered Sunday, and police said they were treating the case as an “apparent homicide.”
Several US news media cited police sources as saying the couple were stabbed, while celebrity news website TMZ, which first broke the story, reported Monday that their throats had been cut by a family member during an argument.
The Los Angeles Times reported that a source with knowledge of the investigation said there was no sign of forced entry into the home.
Hamilton said no arrests have been made and did not publicly identify any potential suspect or even person of interest.
“I’m not going to confirm whether someone’s being interviewed at this time or not. We’re going to try to speak to every family member that we can to get to the facts of this investigation,” he added.
Reiner, 78, directed classic films including 1984’s rock music mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap,” fantasy gem “The Princess Bride” from 1987, and the 1992 courtroom drama “A Few Good Men.”
His films spanned everything from laugh-out-loud comedy to searing drama and earned him a global following.
Former US vice president Kamala Harris was friends with the couple and said on X she was “devastated to learn of their passing,” while former president Barack Obama said he and his wife Michelle were “heartbroken” by the tragedy.
Reiner gave television and movie viewers “some of our most cherished stories on screen. But beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people,” Obama said on X.
Movie heavyweight John Cusack said he was “at a loss for any words that make sense” about the deaths.
Horror and thriller writer Stephen King, whose novella “The Body” was the basis for Reiner’s 1986 coming-of-age classic “Stand By Me,” lauded a “wonderful friend.”
“You always stood by me,” he wrote on X.
“Rob will be remembered for his remarkable filmography and for his extraordinary contribution to humanity,” California Gavin Newsom posted.
‘I’ll have what she’s having’
Reiner rose to acting fame as the oafish son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic on groundbreaking 1970s sitcom “All in the Family,” before transitioning to directing. Even as a force behind the camera, he often appeared in cameo roles in his own films.
He directed the 1989 romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally,” starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, and famously cast his real-life mother Estelle Reiner to utter the line “I’ll have what she’s having” after Ryan’s classic fake orgasm scene in Katz’s Delicatessen.
His 1992 thriller “A Few Good Men,” starring Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Reiner was also an outspoken supporter of progressive causes, backing efforts to secure equal marriage rights for LGBTQ people and create California’s First 5 program, which provides child development programs funded by taxes on tobacco products.
He also helped fundraise for Democratic presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton.
He was the son of legendary comedian Carl Reiner, who won 11 Emmy Awards for his television performances and wrote screenplays with movie greats Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.
AFP
