In January 2018, conservative Fox Information host Laura Ingraham was having dinner at Toscana, an Italian restaurant in Brentwood, when she noticed the famend Hollywood director — and unabashed liberal — Rob Reiner.
She requested him to return on her present, “The Ingraham Angle.” He was on set the subsequent day.
After introducing him as “an excellent director,” who made her favourite film, “That is Spinal Faucet,” Ingraham stated: “Final evening, the very first thing Reiner says is: ‘Are they gonna shut the federal government down?’’ I’m like, wow, I’m right here in L.A.; I wanna speak about Hollywood stuff. However he needs to speak about politics.”
Al Gore and Rob Reiner attend the Tribeca Movie Competition in New York in April 2007.
(Scott Gries / Getty Pictures)
Ingraham and Reiner vehemently disagreed — about alleged Russian affect on the 2016 presidential election, about whether or not President Trump is racist, concerning the remedy of conservatives in Hollywood.
However Reiner additionally referred to as Ingraham “good as hell.” And Ingraham stated Reiner “ought to be lauded” for being keen to spar along with her, in contrast to many politicians on either side of the aisle.
It was the type of blunt however finally respectful change that added to Reiner’s widespread enchantment off-screen, each due to — and despite — his views.
Reiner and his spouse, Michele, have been killed at their Brentwood dwelling final weekend, allegedly by their son, Nick, who has been charged with homicide. The couple’s deaths have despatched a thunderclap via Hollywood and past, partly as a result of the Reiners had so many buddies and connections in artistic and political circles.
Rob Reiner — who, within the function of Michael “Meathead” Stivic within the groundbreaking sitcom “All within the Household,” performed the liberal foil to his bigoted, conservative father-in-law, Archie Bunker — appeared to relish his real-life function as a progressive celeb activist. That made him a hero to many in blue California however a villain to others, particularly the reality-TV-show-star-turned-president, Donald Trump.
In a extremely criticized social media publish, Trump attributed the deaths to “the anger he brought about others via his large, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a thoughts crippling illness often called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
However whereas Reiner, a blistering critic of the president, disagreed with many conservatives on coverage, he additionally labored to construct relationships with them — in media and leisure circles, the California State Capitol, and past.
Ingraham this week referred to as him “a legend.”
Actors Alec Baldwin and James Woods hearken to director Rob Reiner in between scenes for the 1996 movie “Ghosts Of Mississippi.”
(Columbia Photos by way of Getty Pictures)
Actor James Woods, a longtime Trump supporter, stated in a Fox Information interview this week that Reiner saved his profession by casting him within the 1996 movie “Ghosts of Mississippi” over studio objections. He referred to as Reiner “an incredible patriot” with whom he shared a mutual respect regardless of myriad political disagreements.
Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for conservative powerhouse Turning Level USA, wrote on X that he “shared roughly zero in frequent with Rob Reiner politically, however I’m so saddened by this information” and praying that “justice could be swift and with out conspiracies [sic] theories.”
Kolvet stated Reiner “responded with grace and compassion” to the September killing of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk — a violent finish that Reiner stated no person deserved, no matter their views.
Laborious-right Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, referred to as the deaths “a household tragedy, not about politics or political enemies.” And GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, wrote on X that “The Princess Bride” was his favourite movie and referred to as Reiner “a comedic and story-telling grasp.”
Off display, Reiner had a novel skill to attach with individuals of all persuasions, in numerous mediums, on the high of their careers or simply beginning. He was very a lot influenced by Norman Lear, the creator of “All within the Household,” who blended his Hollywood profession with progressive activism.
Just like Lear, Reiner didn’t simply dabble in social causes and campaigns. He launched them, led them and introduced individuals aboard. “He wasn’t constructing an operation the way in which Hollywood usually does, making donations, internet hosting fundraisers,” stated Ben Austin, a former aide to Reiner who labored within the White Home through the Clinton administration.
And on a regular basis, he did it whereas making films, a few of them deeply private, intertwined along with his life as a mum or dad.
Reiner was the driving pressure behind the profitable 1998 California poll measure, Proposition 10, a landmark coverage that put a tax on tobacco merchandise and pumped billions of {dollars} into preschools, trainer coaching, and assist for struggling households. He enlisted assist in that effort from such beloved figures as Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams and his personal father, comedy legend Carl Reiner.
After the initiative handed, Gov. Grey Davis, a Democrat, appointed the youthful Reiner chairman of the First 5 fee overseeing disbursement of the funds.
Rob Reiner co-founded the group that will assist overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 poll measure that banned same-sex marriage in California.
(Los Angeles Instances)
And in 2009, Reiner co-founded the American Basis for Equal Rights, which led the profitable authorized combat to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 poll measure that banned same-sex marriage in California. The group employed authorized luminaries from reverse sides of the political spectrum to overturn the poll measure: the conservative former U.S. Solicitor Normal Theodore Olson and litigator David Boies, a liberal who squared off in opposition to Olson within the U.S. Supreme Court docket ruling that gave George W. Bush the presidency in 2000.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, stated in an interview Wednesday that Reiner efficiently rallied individuals to the trigger as a result of he was so adept at humanizing the tales of the plaintiffs and different same-sex {couples} — and emphasizing love.
“I don’t suppose you may overstate how influential he was on the nationwide, state and native degree and the way well-liked he was,” Garcetti stated. “Politics and flicks share this in frequent: They each want good tales … and he was such a gifted storyteller.”
Garcetti stated that whereas many celebrities lend cash and faces to political causes, prettying up political mailers and e mail blasts, “Rob constructed these causes. He wasn’t just like the frosting on the cake. He really was the baker.”
Garcetti, then a Los Angeles Metropolis Council member, joined Reiner in stumping for 2004 Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean, for whom the director was an early backer. Garcetti crossed paths with him usually, together with through the push to overturn Proposition 8 — and on the Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor wedding ceremony of Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, two of the plaintiffs within the federal case that struck it down.
Katami wrote in an Instagram publish this week that Reiner and his spouse “stood with us in courtroom for 4.5 years” and that he and his husband sat on the couple’s desk of their dwelling many instances.
Rob Reiner chats in 2012 with Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, plaintiffs within the case that struck down Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Instances)
“Due to them, they have been capable of sit at our desk, at our wedding ceremony, on a day and in a second that will not exist with out their perception in who we’re and the way we love,” Katamami wrote.
He added: “They’re courageous. They’re humorous. They’re beneficiant. They’re deeply human. They usually make everybody round them really feel seen, protected, and inspired to be extra totally themselves.”
Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat now working for California governor, officiated Katami and Zarrillo’s wedding ceremony. He stated in an interview that Reiner personally bankrolled a lot of the authorized combat as a result of he genuinely believed it was the best factor to do.
In 2008, Villaraigosa kicked off his profitable reelection marketing campaign with a personal reception on the Reiners’ dwelling.
“, the one factor about Rob Reiner: There was no pretense,” Villaraigosa stated. “For those who go to his home … he’s a really rich man — he has been a director, an actor, co-founder of Fort Rock Leisure — and but his home was like a house. It wasn’t a mansion. It was like a ranch-style home, very homey.”
Rob Reiner hugs then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in January 2015. The director had simply launched Villaraigosa at a faculty because the mayor kicked off his Management Tour highlighting his assist for common preschool.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Instances)
Villaraigosa and others stated Reiner had a granular information of the insurance policies he supported, garnering the respect — if not all the time the love — of these with whom he disagreed.
Gale Kaufman, a veteran Democratic strategist who was a longtime advisor to the influential California Lecturers Assn., clashed with Reiner over training coverage however admired his dedication to — and information about — the problem.
Kaufman advised The Instances this week that she was amazed by “his consideration to element and his dogged dedication that he was proper.”
“This was not simply somebody supplying you with a pot of cash and saying, ‘Go do that.’ This was a man who was … in each piece of it.”
Cinematographer Reed Morano was certainly one of a number of in Hollywood whose profession soared due to Reiner.
Within the late 2000s, Morano was identified for filming low-budget tasks — usually in a gritty, hand-held type. Lots of them premiered on the Sundance Movie Competition, together with the Oscar-nominated “Frozen River.”
Within the early 2010s, Morano received an opportunity to pitch her skills to Reiner and producer Alan Greisman, who have been assembling a crew to shoot 2012’s “The Magic of Belle Isle,” starring Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen and directed by Reiner.
Barely quarter-hour after leaving the assembly, Morano received a name telling her she had the job.
“The factor that strikes me is he may have had anyone he wished,” stated Morano on a name Tuesday from New York Metropolis, noting that “Belle Isle” was the most important funds mission she had labored on as much as that time. “It’s simply he was so open-minded and so forward-thinking, and I believe he may see potential that different individuals couldn’t see.”
Morano then dealt with cinematography for Reiner’s “And So It Goes,” starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, launched to 2014. Reiner, she stated, additionally wished her to work on “Being Charlie,” the 2015 dependancy drama co-written by his son Nick, however she was unable to due to scheduling conflicts. Individually from Reiner, she would go on to win an Emmy in 2017 for steering on the collection “The Handmaid’s Story” and a prize at Sundance for her second movie as director, 2018’s “I Assume We’re Alone Now.”
A decade earlier than Morano related with Reiner, Michael Trujillo, now a veteran marketing campaign guide, went to work for him as a younger communications and coverage aide for First 5. He was in his early 20s and was surprised to study he could be working steps from Reiner’s workplace within the Beverly Hills headquarters of his legendary Fort Rock Leisure.
Rob Reiner speaks in 1998 to a toddler improvement coverage group about Proposition 10, which added gross sales tax to tobacco merchandise to fund early childhood training.
(Robert Durell / Los Angeles Instances)
“I present as much as Fort Rock Leisure as a 22-year-old, in Beverly Hills, off Maple Drive. I’m only a Mexican child from the northeast San Fernando Valley. My dad was a development employee. My mother was a secretary … and I’m like, ‘What the f— am I doing right here?” Trujillo stated with amusing.
Fort Rock, he stated, was concurrently a Hollywood sizzling spot and “a classroom in politics.” Trujillo stated he as soon as performed workplace golf — blue cardboard for water hazards; brown paper for sand traps — with actors Christopher Visitor and Eugene Levy whereas the film “A Mighty Wind” was being edited. Politicians have been all the time there, too.
Trujillo frequently joined Reiner on his once-a-month flights from Santa Monica to Sacramento for First 5 fee conferences and tagged alongside to information conferences and college lecture rooms. He often carried a Sharpie, understanding followers would present up with DVDs or VHS tapes of their favourite Reiner flicks to be signed.
“Rob was capable of have conversations with anybody and everybody,” Trujillo stated. “For those who’re a Republican or Democratic legislator nationally, and even native or within the state, you have been nonetheless a fanboy. You continue to wished to fulfill his character from ‘All within the Household.’ You continue to wished to shake the hand of the man that made ‘Princess Bride.’ You continue to wished to speak to the man that made ‘A Few Good Males.’”
