Rob Reiner death latest: When Harry Met Sally director and wife found dead in apparent homicide

Billy Crystal was a long-time friend and collaborator of Rob Reiner and his producer wife Michele Singer, and has been seen outside their house hours after their death.

PEOPLE confirms that Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David was also at the scene in Los Angeles.

A neighbour told ABC 7 Los Angeles that Crystal was visibly emotional while paying his respects to his When Harry Met Sally director.

Early in Rob Reiner’s directing career, he made Stand by Me, the 1986 coming-of-age Stephen King adaptation – and it’s the film he said “means more” to him than any other.

“It was the first time I did a film that reflected my own personal sensibility; it had a mixture of melancholy, humour and nostalgia,” he told The Guardian in 2021.

“I was 12 in 1959 so the music was the music I listened to and the feelings I had in relation to my father, I injected into the film. When it came out and was accepted it validated me. It gave me a big boost to press forward.”

But Reiner’s classic almost wasn’t to be; he only stepped in to direct after Adrian Lyne quit the project and directed Fatal Attraction instead.

This Is Spinal Tap star Christopher Guest has reacted to news of director Rob Reiner and his producer wife Michele Singer’s deaths.

A statement shared by Guest’s wife, Jamie Lee Curtis said: “Christopher and I are numb and sad and shocked about the violent, tragic deaths of our dear friends Rob and Michele Singer Reiner and our ONLY focus and care right now is for their children and immediate families and we will offer all support possible to help them.”

– Rob Reiner and his wife, the producer Michele Singer, were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday afternoon.

– Los Angeles Police Department has launched an investigation after obtaining a search warrant.

– Reiner and Singer’s bodies were discovered by a family member, who is being questioned.

– No suspects are being sought at this stage.

Rob Reiner made quite a mark with his directorial debut, the 1984 comedy film This Is Spinal Tap.

It starred Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer as members of a fictional heavy metal band – and the script was so on the money that late Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne felt triggered by the mishaps shown on screen

“I was the only person in the audience who wasn’t laughing because it felt like a real documentary to me,” he said, adding that “those things actually happened” to him.

Spinal Tap effectively created the “mockumentary” genre, and a legacy sequel, directed by Reiner, was released earlier this year.

Rob Reiner, an ardent Democrat, hit out at Donald Trump in a 2018 interview with The Independent.

“If we’re not able to slow Trump down and slow this drift towards autocracy then the ultimate result is going to be a lot worse – which is the destruction of western-style democracy,” he said during the president’s first term.

Reiner added that he was taken aback when Trump “exacerbated” the racial tensions simmering in the country, stating: “I knew it was there but I thought it was a fringe thing. I didn’t think it was 35 to 40 per cent of the country thinking in these terms … it feels like we’re in the last major battle of the civil war which divided our country completely.”

Read the full interview here:

A spokesperson for the Reiner family said: “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner. We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”

The couple had three children together. Romy, Jake and Nick. Reiner was also the adoptive father of Tracy from his previous marriage to director Penny Marshall (Big).

Ben Stiller has paid tribute to Rob Reiner.

Calling the actor-director’s death “a huge loss”, the Zoolander star remembered Reiner as one of his favourite filmmakers.

“He made some of the most formative movies for my generation. He came out from behind a huge comedic shadow of the great Carl Reiner and being a TV actor to being a great director who made an incredible run of movies.

“Spinal Tap is one of the best comedies ever made – and the list goes on. He was a kind, caring person who was really, really funny.

Stiller continued: “I didn’t know him well but was always a fan and I feel a real sadness for those who did, and his family.

Monty Python star Eric Idle has claimed he spoke on the phone with Rob Reiner the night before he died on Sunday.

Writing on X/Twitter, Idle said: “Rob Reiner was a lovely man. I spoke to him last night for over an hour. I always enjoyed his company.

“I met him at his Dad’s in 1975. He was telling me about fiming at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future. This is so awful. I shall miss him. A clever, talented and very thoughtful man. So awful.”