Remembering the Career of ALL IN THE FAMILY Star and THE BUCKET LIST Director Rob Reiner

A Look at the Career of Rob Reiner Who Has Just Died at 78

Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, have died through a probable homicide as Reiner leaves behind a career of wonderful work that will never be forgotten.

Funnyman Rob Reiner was much more than just Meathead on TV’s All in the Family, he was also a legendary filmmaker. Reiner directed masterpieces such as A Few Good Men, The American President and When Harry Met Sally and also made the humorous drama, The Bucket List. He directed Kathy Bates to her Academy Award for Best Actress in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery. In the late 1980’s throughout the 1990’s and beyond, Reiner excelled in almost every major project he made except for maybe a movie he did with Elijah Wood called North. Everyone is entitled to one or two let-downs along the way, right?

In 1986, Reiner’s movie from Stephen King’s short story, The Body, was released. It was called Stand by Me, the title being based on the Ben E. King song of the same name. It is one of the most impressive King adaptations of all time.

In 1999’s The Muse, Reiner made a cameo as a director who was influenced by a “real-life muse” played by Sharon Stone. She is helping Albert Brooks’ character, Steven, in the movie who witnesses Reiner (playing himself) at an aquarium giving Stone’s character, Sarah, a beautiful and expensive present for supposedly inspiring the Michael Douglas/Annette Bening starrer, The American President from 1995. If that wasn’t a flattering enough role for Reiner to play, I don’t know what is. The muse in the movie also inspired the likes of James Cameron and Marty Scorsese so all the directors the movie showcased were filmmakers at the very top of their crafts.

The Bucket List was released in 2007 to mixed reviews, but audiences loved it. The movie featured the John Mayer song, “Say” and dealt with two older gentlemen (played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who were dying of cancer and found in each other a great friendship that gave them some of the best times of their late lives. This movie was named one of the 10 best films of the year by the National Board of Review, alongside the likes of Juno and No Country for Old Men.

Reiner had worked with Nicholson previously in a splendid 1992 film called A Few Good Men which starred Tom Cruise as well. Reiner managed to get one of Nicholson’s best performances ever as the actor belted out, “You can’t handle the truth” in one of the most memorable line deliveries in a dramatic film…ever.

When Harry Met Sally was, arguably, Reiner’s first really huge box-office hit. It starred Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan and is noteworthy for its famous scene where Ryan fakes an orgasm in a restaurant in front of a crowd. Misery featured another memorable Reiner scene when Kathy Bates’ character did something horrible to James Caan’s legs which we won’t mention in this short space.

Reiner had the great charisma of a television star as evidenced by his role on All in the Family where he constantly argued with possibly the most difficult dad of a television decade (the 1970’s), Archie Bunker. Reiner’s film-making chops earned him countless accolades and his cinematic work is, quite simply, the stuff legends are made of. Reiner will be greatly missed.

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