Carl Reiner (1922-2020)
Hollywood comic legend and filmmaker Carl Reiner died of natural causes at age 98 on June 29th, 2020. Carl was best known as Mel Brooks' long-time collaborator, co-starring in the classic TV sitcom "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and was the director of such hit comedies like "The Jerk" and "The Man with Two Brains" that featured Steve Martin.
Reiner was born to Jewish immigrants in New York City in 1922 and served in the Air Force during World War II. He got recruited by a performing unit and did a lot of shows to entertain the troops. After the war, Reiner moved to showbiz and performed in several Broadway musicals. In 1950, he joined a popular TV sketch comedy show from Sid Caesar called "Your Show of Shows", where he collaborated with Mel Brooks and Neil Simon. After working with Caesar in the 1950s, Reiner later developed his TV sitcom, which got ultimately picked up by the CBS network and changed into a vehicle for Dick Van Dyke with Mary Tyler Moore as the show is now titled "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Because of the success of the hit show, Reiner's career has gravitated towards filmmaking, where he made his directing debut in "Enter Laughing". The other movies that soon followed are "Oh God", which stars actor George Burns and "The One and Only" with Henry Winkler. Reiner was instrumental in directing Steve Martin in what would be his film debut in the hit comedy "The Jerk", and they later collaborated on three more films that were also successful, like "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", "The Man with Two Brains" and "All of Me".
In his later years, Reiner made his comeback role as the con artist Saul Bloom in Steven Soderbergh's remake of "Ocean's Eleven". Later, he would return to his role in the film's two sequels. His last film role was Carl Reineroceros in "Toy Story 4" in 2019.
He even made guest appearances in shows like "Fraiser", "King of the Hill", "The Larry Sanders Show", "Ally McBeal", "Two and a Half Men", etc. Reiner was the father of Rob Reiner, an actor but a director in his successful movies.
My condolences go to his family and friends.
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