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Son arrested in stabbing deaths of actor/director Rob Reiner, wife

FILE - Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner arrive on the red carpet at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner, Dec. 2, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)

LOS ANGELES — Rob Reiner ‘s 32-year-old son Nick Reiner has been taken into custody after the deaths of the director-writer and his wife Michele, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Monday. The official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele Singer were found dead Sunday at their home.

The son of a comedy giant, Reiner had long been one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood whose work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”

Reiner and his son once explored their troubled relationship in a semi-autobiographical film

Nick Reiner, 32, the younger of Rob Reiner’s two sons, spoke publicly of his struggles with addiction. By 18, he had cycled in and out of nine treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between.

Rob Reiner said in a 2016 interview with The Associated Press that “I maybe didn’t handle it the best way. I listened to a lot of people who had a desk and a diploma. I didn’t really think about my kid and what he needed.”

Nick and Rob Reiner would collaborate on a semi-autobiographical 2016 film, “Being Charlie,” that included elements of their relationship and experience. Rob Reiner directed the movie and Nick Reiner was a co-writer.

“We didn’t go into it thinking this is going to be therapeutic or bring us closer, but it did come out that way,” Rob Reiner told the AP. “It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had. I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘you know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already. This has already been good.'”

Rob Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”

His role as Meathead in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic “All in the Family,” alongside Carrol O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.

Relatives of Lear, the legendary producer who died in 2023, said they were bereft by the news.

“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”

Messages to Reiner’s representatives were not immediately returned Sunday night.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Reiner’s death a devastating loss for the city.

“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,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”

The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally” and have three children together.

Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.

Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.

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