2025’s “Top” Ten Losses: Rob Reiner (#9)

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Earlier in the month I mentioned that someone (Gary Burbank) had been “bumped” from the “top” ten list, and you probably knew why. It’s not fun to list people who died…and it’s especially no fun to think about the awful circumstances surrounding this one. Let’s try to remember the good. #9: Rob Reiner I will not rehash the details surrounding his death because you know them. I want, instead, to celebrate his life. And what a life. When you start out as the son of Carl Reiner you have some very high bars set for you. Rob managed to make his old man proud AND be his own person without having to live in the shadows of his famous dad. (For you kids, if you’ve ever seen The Dick Van Dyke Show, it was created by Carl Reiner and based on his time working on Your Show of Shows.) While he had the usual young-actor guest starring roles in various TV series, we first got to know Rob as “Meathead”: Mike Stivic, the liberal, atheist son-in-law of conservative bigot Archie Bunker on All in the Family. He won two Emmy awards for that role (there’s a cool video on YouTube of him getting his second Emmy handed to him by his father…who then kissed him and said, “That’s from your mother!” ). He branched out into directing films, and boy did he make a splash. Here’s a shocker for you: only ONE adaptation of a Stephen King novel has ever won an Oscar, and it was Kathy Bates’ performance in Misery, which Reiner directed. Reiner’s direction was all over the map: the hilarity of When Harry Met Sally…, the youthful drama of Stand By Me, the political heat of LBJ, or the perfect touch of horror in Misery. I’ll always love and remember him as the documentary maker in This Is Spinal Tap, which turned comedy, music, and documentaries on their singular and collective ears. The film was largely improvised, and the cast was splendid in every moment. The follow-up had been released in September 2025. Carl Reiner, Rob’s dad, died at the age of 98, which means we would have had many more years of talent from Rob. Oh, if only… Rob Reiner Born Robert Reiner March 6, 1947, New York City Died December 14, 2025, Los Angeles, California (murdered [stabbed]) (age 78) One of the greatest jokes in Spinal Tap: