Rob Reiner

Robert Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and liberal activist. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Mike "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom All in the Family (1971–1979), a performance that earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards. His other acting credits include Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), The First Wives Club (1996), Primary Colors (1998), EDtv (1999), Everyone's Hero (2006), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).

Reiner made his directorial film debut with heavy metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984). He then earned acclaim directing the romantic comedy The Sure Thing (1985), coming of age drama Stand by Me (1986), fantasy adventure The Princess Bride (1987), romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), psychological horror-thriller Misery (1990), military courtroom drama A Few Good Men (1992) which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and romantic comedy-drama The American President (1995). He has earned nominations for four Golden Globe Awards for Best Director, and three Directors Guild of America Awards.

Early life

Reiner was born into a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, on March 6, 1947. His parents were Estelle and Carl Reiner. As a child, Reiner lived at 48 Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle, New York. He studied at the UCLA Film School.

Career

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Reiner (with Sally Struthers, Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton), as Michael Stivic on All in the Family, 1976

In the early 1960s Reiner served as a trainee/apprentice at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania. He is credited (as Robert Reiner) with the non-speaking role of Thomas, who is the horse wrangler (appointed by the bloodthirsty Sergeant Wesley Kiles played by Charles McGraw) in Wagon Train, Season 5, Episode 22 "The Lieutenant Burton Story" starring Dean Jones in the title role, which aired on 2/27/1962. In the late 1960s, Reiner acted in bit roles in several television shows including Batman, That Girl, The Andy Griffith Show, Room 222, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and The Beverly Hillbillies. During this time he also appeared in several films, including some by his father such as Where's Poppa? (1970). He began his career writing for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968 and 1969, with Steve Martin as his writing partner as the two youngest writers on the show.

Two years later, Reiner became famous playing Michael Stivic, Archie Bunker's liberal son-in-law, on Norman Lear's 1970s situation comedy All in the Family, which was inspired by the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part. It was the most-watched television program in the United States for five seasons (1971–1976). The character's nickname "Meathead" (given to him by his cantankerous father-in-law Archie) became closely associated with him, even after he had left the role and went on to build a career as a director. Reiner has stated, "I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize'." For his performance, Reiner won two Emmy Awards, in addition to three other nominations, and five Golden Globe nominations. After an extended absence, Reiner returned to television acting with a recurring role on New Girl (2012–2018).

In October 1971, he had a guest role in an episode of The Partridge Family. In 1972, Reiner, Phil Mishkin, and Gerry Isenberg created the situation comedy The Super for ABC. Starring Richard S. Castellano, the show depicted the life of the harried Italian American superintendent of a New York City apartment building and ran for 10 episodes in the summer of 1972. Reiner and Mishkin co-wrote the premiere episode.

Beginning in the 1980s, Reiner became known as a director of several successful Hollywood films that spanned many different genres. Some of his earlier films include cult classics such as the rock-band mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and the comedic fantasy film The Princess Bride (1987), as well as his period piece coming of age tale Stand by Me (1986). He often collaborates with film editor Robert Leighton, whom he also shares with fellow director-actor Christopher Guest as their go-to editor.

Reiner has gone on to direct other critically and commercially successful films with his own company, Castle Rock Entertainment. These include the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), which has been critically ranked among the all-time best of its genre, the tense thriller Misery (1990), for which Kathy Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and his most commercially successful work, the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Subsequent films directed by Reiner include the political romance The American President (1995), the courtroom drama Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), and the uplifting comedy The Bucket List (2007).

Reiner has continued to act in supporting roles in a number of films and television shows, including Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), The First Wives Club (1996), Primary Colors (1998), EDtv (1999), New Girl (2012–2018), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). He has also acted in several of his own films, most notably as faux-documentarian Marty DeBirgi in This is Spinal Tap. Other acting roles in his movies include The Story of Us (1999), Alex & Emma (2001), and a major supporting role in his journalism drama Shock and Awe (2017), among others. Reiner has also parodied himself with cameos in works such as Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003), and 30 Rock (2010).

In December 2023 Reiner opened the primetime CBS special Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic with a tribute to, and conversation with, Dick Van Dyke.

Political views

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Rob Reiner speaking at a Howard Dean rally on October 29, 2003

Reiner has devoted considerable time and energy to liberal activism.

Reiner is a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which initiated the court challenge against California Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage in the state.

In 1998, Reiner chaired the campaign to pass Prop 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, a program of early childhood development services, funded by a tax on tobacco products. He served as the first chairman of First 5 California, from 1999 to 2006. His lobbying, particularly as an anti-smoking advocate, prompted his likeness to be used in a satirical role in a South Park episode titled "Butt Out", in which he is depicted as a morbidly obese, hypocritical tyrant. Reiner came under criticism for campaigning for a ballot measure (Prop 82) to fund state-run preschools while still chair of the First Five Commission, causing him to resign from his position on March 29, 2006. An audit was conducted, and it concluded that the state commission did not violate state law and that it had clear legal authority to conduct its public advertising campaigns related to preschool. Prop 82 failed to win approval, garnering only 39.1% support.

Reiner is a member of the Social Responsibility Task Force, an organization advocating moderation where social issues (such as violence and tobacco use) and the entertainment industry meet. He is also active in environmental issues, and he successfully led the effort to establish California's Ahmanson Ranch as a state park and wildlife refuge rather than as a commercial real estate development. He introduced Spinal Tap at the London Live Earth concert in July 2007.

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Reiner at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2016

Reiner was mentioned as a possible candidate to run against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 but decided not to run for personal reasons. He campaigned extensively for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, and he campaigned in Iowa for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean just before the 2004 Iowa caucuses. He endorsed Hillary Clinton for president for the 2008 election. In 2015, he donated $10,000 to Correct the Record, a political action committee that supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Since the 2016 election, he has continued to campaign against Donald Trump, calling him racist, sexist, anti-gay, and anti-Semitic. Reiner said that Harvey Weinstein is a "bad guy" but Trump is "also an abuser".

Reiner serves on the advisory board of the Committee to Investigate Russia. He and David Frum launched the site in September 2017 with Morgan Freeman warning people that "We are at war" and that Russia has attacked the United States. Others on the committee's advisory board at the time of launch included James Clapper, Max Boot, Charles Sykes, and Norman Ornstein. Additionally, in early November 2020, the advisory board included Evelyn Farkas, Michael Hayden, Michael Morrell, Leon Panetta, and Clint Watts.

Reiner endorsed Joe Biden for president for the 2020 election.

In June 2021, Reiner said that he was working on a 10- to 13-episode TV project covering the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The project, he said, would cover the leaders' childhoods up until the point where their lives cross. Reiner said he is working with writer Ward Parry on the project, which he is calling The Spy and the Asset.

Personal life

Rob Reiner married actress/director Penny Marshall in 1971. He adopted Marshall's daughter, actress Tracy Reiner (A League of Their Own), from a previous marriage to Michael Henry. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981.

Reiner was introduced to his future wife, photographer Michele Singer, while directing When Harry Met Sally. The meeting not only resulted in his decision to change the ending of that film, but he also married Singer in 1989. They have three children, Jake (born 1991), Nick (born 1993), and Romy (born 1997).

In 1997, Reiner and Singer founded the "I Am Your Child Foundation", and in 2004, they founded the "Parents' Action for Children", a non-profit organization with a dual purpose: 1) to raise awareness of the importance of a child's early years by producing and distributing celebrity-hosted educational videos for parents, and 2) to advance public policy through parental education and advocacy.

Reiner has stated that his childhood home was not observantly Jewish, although he did have a bar mitzvah ceremony; Reiner's father Carl acknowledged that he himself had become atheistic as the Holocaust progressed. Reiner identified himself as having no religious affiliation and as atheistic on the January 13, 2012, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. Reiner later said that while he rejected organized religion, he was sympathetic to the ideas of Buddhism.

Filmography

Film

File:Rob Reiner by Gage Skidmore.jpg

Reiner at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con, promoting Spinal Tap II

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer
1984	This Is Spinal Tap	Yes	No	Yes
1985	The Sure Thing	Yes	No	No
1986	Stand by Me	Yes	No	No
1987	The Princess Bride	Yes	Yes	No
1989	When Harry Met Sally...	Yes	Yes	No
1990	Misery	Yes	Yes	No
1992	A Few Good Men	Yes	Yes	No
1994	North	Yes	Yes	No
1995	The American President	Yes	Yes	No
1996	Ghosts of Mississippi	Yes	Yes	No
1999	The Story of Us	Yes	Yes	No
2003	Alex & Emma	Yes	Yes	No
2005	Rumor Has It...	Yes	No	No
2007	The Bucket List	Yes	Yes	No
2010	Flipped	Yes	Yes	Yes
2012	The Magic of Belle Isle	Yes	Yes	Uncredited
2014	And So It Goes	Yes	Yes	No
2015	Being Charlie	Yes	Yes	No
2016	LBJ	Yes	Yes	No
2017	Shock and Awe	Yes	Yes	No
2023	Albert Brooks: Defending My Life	Yes	Yes	No
2024	God & Country	No	Yes	No
2025	Spinal Tap II: The End Continues	Yes	Yes	Yes

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Enter Laughing	Clark Baxter
1969	Halls of Anger	Leaky Couloris
1970	Where's Poppa?	Roger
1971	Summertree	Don
1977	Fire Sale	Russel Fikus
1979	The Jerk	Truck Driver Picking Up Navin	Uncredited
1984	This Is Spinal Tap	Marty DiBergi
1987	Throw Momma from the Train	Joel
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Joe Pierce
	Misery	Helicopter Pilot	Uncredited
1993	Sleepless in Seattle	Jay Mathews
1994	Bullets Over Broadway	Sheldon Flender
	Mixed Nuts	Dr. Klinsky
1995	For Better or Worse	Dr. Plosner
	Bye Bye Love	Dr. David Townsend
1996	The First Wives Club	Dr. Morris Packman
	Mad Dog Time	Albert
1998	Primary Colors	Izzy Rosenblatt
1999	EDtv	Mr. Whitaker
	The Muse	Rob Reiner
	The Story of Us	Stan
2001	The Majestic	Studio Executive	Voice role
2003	Alex & Emma	Wirschafter
	Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star	Rob Reiner
2006	Everyone's Hero	Screwie	Voice role
2013	The Wolf of Wall Street	Max Belfort
2014	And So It Goes	Artie
2017	Sandy Wexler	Marty Markowitz
	Shock and Awe	John Walcott
2022	Family Squares	Narrator	Voice role
2025	Spinal Tap II: The End Continues	Marty DiBergi

Television

TV writer

Year	Title	Notes
1967	The Smothers Brothers	20 episodes
1971	The Partridge Family	1 episode
1971–1972	All in the Family	4 episodes
1972	The Super	12 episodes; also co-creator
1974	Happy Days	Episode: "All the Way"

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Writer
1978	More Than Friends	No	Yes
1981	Likely Stories: Vol. 1	Yes	Yes
1982	Million Dollar Infield	No	Yes

As actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966–1967	That Girl	Chuck / Hairdresser / Carl	3 episodes
1967	Batman	Delivery Boy	Episode: "The Penguin Declines"
	The Andy Griffith Show	Joe, The Printer's Apprentice	Episode: "Goober's Contest"
	The Mothers-in-Law	Joe Turner	Episode: "The Career Girls"
1967–1969	Gomer Pyle – USMC	Various	3 episodes
1969	The Beverly Hillbillies	Mitch	2 episodes
1970	Room 222	Tony	Episode: "Funny Money"
1971	The Partridge Family	Snake	Episode: "A Man Called Snake"
1971–1978	All in the Family	Michael "Meathead" Stivic	Series regular; 182 episodes
1974	The Odd Couple	Sheldn Stimler, Myrna Turner's boyfriend	Episode: "The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly in Vain"
1975	Saturday Night Live	Host / Various	Episode: "Rob Reiner"
1976	The Rockford Files	Larry 'King' Sturtevant	Episode: "The No-Cut Contract"
1978	Free Country	Joseph Bresner	5 episodes
	More Than Friends	Alan Corkus	Television film
1979	Archie Bunker's Place	Michael Stivic	Episode: "Thanksgiving Reunion"
1982	Million Dollar Infield	Monte Miller	Television film
1987–1990	It's Garry Shandling's Show	Himself	4 episodes
1991	Morton & Hayes	Narrator	6 episodes
1994	The Larry Sanders Show	Himself (cameo)	Episode: "Doubt of the Benefit"
2001	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Himself	Episode: "The Thong"
2006	Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip	Himself	2 episodes
	The Simpsons	Himself (voice)	Episode: "Million-Dollar Abie"
2009	Hannah Montana	Himself (cameo)	Episode: "You Gotta Lose This Job"
	Wizards of Waverly Place	Himself (cameo)	Episode: "Future Harper"
2010	30 Rock	Rep. Rob Reiner (cameo)	Episode: "Let's Stay Together"
2010–2017	Real Time with Bill Maher	Guest	7 episodes
2012–2018	New Girl	Bob Day	10 episodes
2013	Mel Brooks: Make a Noise	Himself	American Masters documentary
2014	The Case Against 8	Himself	HBO documentary
2015	Happyish	Himself	2 episodes
	The Comedians	Himself	Episode: "Misdirection"
2016	Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You	Himself	American Masters documentary
2017	When We Rise	Dr. David Blankenhorn	2 episodes
	The History of Comedy	Himself	CNN documentary
2018	The Good Fight	Judge Josh Brickner	Episode: "Day 422"
	André the Giant	Himself	HBO documentary
2019	The Big Interview	Himself	Episode: "Carl and Rob Reiner"
2020	Hollywood	Ace Amberg	4 episodes
	Home Movie: The Princess Bride	Grandfather / Grandson	2 episodes (as Grandfather); Episode: "Chapter Ten: To the Pain!" (as Grandson)
2022	Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music & Laughter	Himself	Television special
2023	Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic	Himself	Television special
2025	The Bear	Albert Schnur	3 episodes

Awards and nominations

Television

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1972	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series	All in the Family	Template:Nom
1972	Golden Globe Awards	Supporting Actor - Television		Template:Nom
1973	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series		Template:Nom
1973	Golden Globe Awards	Supporting Actor - Television		Template:Nom
1974	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series		Template:Won
1974	Golden Globe Awards	Supporting Actor - Television		Template:Nom
1975	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series		Template:Nom
1975	Golden Globe Awards	Supporting Actor - Television		Template:Nom
1976				Template:Nom
1978	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series		Template:Won

Film

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result	Ref
1986	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Director	Stand By Me	Template:Nom
1986	Golden Globe Awards	Best Director		Template:Nom
1986	Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directing - Feature Film		Template:Nom
1987	Toronto International Film Festival	People's Choice Awards	The Princess Bride	Template:Won
1988	Hugo Awards	Best Dramatic Presentation		Template:Won
1989	Golden Globe Awards	Best Director	When Harry Met Sally...	Template:Nom
1989	British Academy Film Awards	Best Film		Template:Nom
1989	Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directing - Feature Film		Template:Nom
1990	David di Donatello	Best Foreign Director		Template:Nom
1992	Academy Awards	Best Picture	A Few Good Men	Template:Nom
1992	Golden Globe Award	Best Director		Template:Nom
1992	Directors Guild of America	Outstanding Directing - Feature Film		Template:Nom
1992	Producers Guild of America	Outstanding Producer - Feature Film		Template:Nom
1995	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Picture	North	Template:Nom
		Worst Director		Template:Nom
1995	Golden Globe Awards	Best Director	The American President	Template:Nom
1996	National Board of Review	Best Cast	The First Wives Club	Template:Won
2001	Santa Barbara International Film Festival	Lifetime Achievement Award	—	Awarded
2010	American Cinema Editors	Golden Eddie	Filmmaker of the Year	Template:Won
2014	Seattle Film Critics Society	Best Ensemble Cast	The Wolf of Wall Street	Template:Nom
2017	WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival	Remi Career Achievement Award	—	Awarded

Accolades received by theatrical released features directed by Reiner

Year	Film	Academy Awards		BAFTA Awards		Golden Globe Awards
		Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins
1986	Stand by Me	1				2
1987	The Princess Bride	1
1989	When Harry Met Sally...	1		2	1	5
1990	Misery	1	1			1	1
1992	A Few Good Men	4				5
1995	The American President	1				5
1996	Ghosts of Mississippi	2				1
Total		11	1	2	1	19	1

See also

• Directors with three films rated A+ by CinemaScore
• Rob Reiner's unrealized projects

External links

• Template:First word/ Template:PAGENAMEBASE at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidata
• Template:C-SPAN
• American Foundation for Equal Rights
• Parents Action for Children
• Template:EmmyTVLegends name
• The films of Rob ReinerTemplate:Dead link, Hell Is for Hyphenates, October 31, 2013