Director Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele Reiner, 68, were murdered at their Los Angeles home, a source has confirmed to the Daily Beast.
The source said the couple was found by their daughter Romy, that Rob was dead on the scene, and that Michele died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
“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 family said in a statement.
The news comes after authorities confirmed that two victims matching the couple’s ages were found dead in their Brentwood mansion on Sunday. The Daily Beast has reached out to the LAPD for more information.
According to TMZ, Reiner and his wife suffered wounds consistent with a knife attack. People is reporting that the couple’s son, Nick Reiner, 32, killed his parents.
In a shambolic news conference on Sunday night, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said, “I don’t know anything about that” surrounding reports of Nick’s alleged role. “That did not come from the LAPD,” Hamilton added when pressed over the report from People.
Hamilton confirmed that at approximately 3:40 p.m., Los Angeles police responded to the home and discovered the bodies of two people upon arrival. He did not confirm the identities of the deceased, instead referring inquiries to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.
“At this time the Los Angeles Police Department is not seeking anyone as a suspect or as a person of interest or in any other manner and we will not be doing that until we conduct our investigation and we move forward,” Hamilton added.
When quizzed about the police hunt later, he reaffirmed “we have not identified a suspect at this time” and that “it doesn’t mean we’re not working the case.” No one has been detained or is being interviewed at this time, Hamilton said, while not commenting on the injuries sustained by the deceased.
The person who made the 911 call was at the location of the crime scene, Hamilton said. Family members would be interviewed, he claimed. “There are going to be many family members interviewed, I’m not going to confirm whether someone is being interviewed at this time or not, we’re going to try to speak to every family member we can to get to the facts of this investigation.”
Hamilton labeled it a “death investigation.”
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass each confirmed the couple’s identity in separate statements.
“Jen and I are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner,” Newsom posted on X, calling the director a “big-hearted genius” whose “empathy extended well beyond his films.”
“This is a devastating loss for our city and our country,” Bass added. “Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice. An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”
Reiner, the son of comedian Carl Reiner, got his show business start as “Meathead” on the immensely popular 1970s Norman Lear sitcom All in the Family. But he soon focused his attention on directing, making his feature debut with the cult classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap in 1984. Just this past year, he directed what would end up being his final film, Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues, 41 years after the original film premiered.
His work transcended genre, from the coming-of-age movie Stand by Me in 1986, to the fairy tale-inspired The Princess Bride in 1987, to the ultimate romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... in 1989, to the thriller Misery in 1990, which won Kathy Bates a Best Actress Oscar. After that came the celebrated Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson vehicle A Few Good Men in 1992, and Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing precursor The American President in 1995.
As an actor, he spent his later years primarily portraying himself on TV comedies like 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Simpsons. He also had a memorable recurring role on the latest season of The Bear.
In 2015, Reiner directed the dramatic film Being Charlie, which was co-written by his son Nick and focused on the real-life story of Nick’s struggles with addiction. “It’s not my life,” Nick Reiner said of the film at the time, but “I went to a lot of these places, so I had a lot of these stories.”
In addition to Nick, Rob and Michele Reiner shared two children, Jake and Romy. Rob Reiner also had a daughter, Tracy Reiner, from his previous marriage to director Penny Marshall.
Rob Reiner met Michele, who was working as a photographer, while he was filming When Harry Met Sally... Just last year, he said in an interview that finding love helped lead to that film’s happy ending.
“It was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking and then walking away from each other,” Reiner revealed in 2024. “I met my wife Michele, who I’ve been married to now 35 years, I met her while we were making the film, and I changed the ending.”
Reiner became an outspoken political activist in his later years, speaking out against Donald Trump and what he viewed as a form of fascism similar to the Holocaust that killed members of his family.
“I’m trying to push back as best I can in ways that I know how, and hopefully we can preserve democracy because it’s a 250-year experiment that has, in fits and starts, improved itself,” Reiner told the Daily Beast in September. “This is the first time I’m seeing this thing that is so difficult to hold onto, that is so ephemeral, being destroyed in less than a year.”
“So I’m hoping we’ll survive this,” he added. “And if we do, it’s going to take a long time to rebuild the shining city on the hill, the beacon to the rest of the world.”
For more, listen to Rob Reiner on The Last Laugh podcast.
