Carl Reiner

Reiner was drafted into the United States Army Air Forces on October 27, 1942,[15] and served during World War II, eventually achieving the rank of corporal by the end of the war.[16] He initially trained to be a radio operator. After spending three months in the hospital recovering from pneumonia, he was sent to Georgetown University for ten months of training as a French interpreter. There he had his first experience as a director, putting on a Molière play entirely in French. After completing language training in 1944, he was sent to Hawaii to work as a teleprinter operator. The night before he was scheduled to ship out for an unknown assignment, he attended a production of Hamlet by the Special Services entertainment unit. Following an audition before actor Major Maurice Evans, he was transferred to Special Services. Over the following two years, Reiner performed around the Pacific theater, entertaining troops in Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima until he was honorably discharged in 1946.[16]

Reiner performed in several Broadway musicals (including Inside U.S.A. and Alive and Kicking) and had the lead role in Call Me Mister.[17] In 1950, he was cast by Max Leibman as a comic actor on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, appearing on air in skits while also contributing ideas to writers such as Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.[17] He did not receive credit for his sketch material but won Emmy Awards in 1955 and 1956 as a supporting actor.[17] Reiner also wrote for Caesar's Hour with Brooks, Simon, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, Mel Tolkin, Mike Stewart, Aaron Ruben, Sheldon Keller, and Gary Belkin.[18] He assumed the role of head writer and semi-regular on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show during the 1959-60 television season.

Starting in 1960, Reiner teamed with Brooks as a comedy duo on The Steve Allen Show. Their performances on television and stage included Reiner playing the straight man in The 2000 Year Old Man.[19] Eventually the routine expanded into a series of five comedy albums and a 1975 animated television special, with the last album in the series winning a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Comedy Album.[19][20] The act gave Brooks "an identity as a comic performer for the first time," said Reiner.[21] Brooks's biographer William Holtzman called their 12-minute act "an ingenious jazz improvisation..."[21] while Gerald Nachman described Reiner's part in guiding the act:

The routine relies totally on the team's mental agility and chemistry. It's almost heresy to imagine Brooks performing it with any other straight man. Reiner was a solid straight man to Caesar, but with Brooks he is the second-banana supreme... guiding his partner's churning comic mind.[21][22]

Reiner with Goldie Hawn on the set of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on January 16, 1970

In 1958, he wrote the initial 13 episodes of a television series titled Head of the Family, based on his own personal and professional life. However, the network disliked Reiner in the lead role for unknown reasons.[17] In 1961, the series was recast and re-titled The Dick Van Dyke Show and became an iconic series, making stars of his lead actors Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. In addition to writing many of the episodes, Reiner occasionally appeared as show host Alan Brady.[17] The series ran from 1961 to 1966 and thereafter entered a long run of syndication.[17] In 1966, Reiner co-starred in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.[23]

His first film directorial effort was an adaptation of Joseph Stein's play Enter Laughing (1967), which, in turn, was based on Reiner's semi-autobiographical 1958 novel of the same name.[6] Balancing directing, producing, writing, and acting, Reiner worked on a wide range of films and television programs. Films from his early directing career include Where's Poppa? (1970), Oh, God! (1977), and The Jerk (1979).[24][25][26]

In My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir (2003), he writes:

Of all the films I have directed, only Where's Poppa? is universally acknowledged as a cult classic. A cult classic, as you may know, is a film that was seen by a small minority of the world's film goers, who insist it is one of the greatest, most daring, and innovative moving pictures ever made. Whenever two or more cult members meet, they will quote dialogue from the classic and agree that "the film was ahead of its time." To be designated a genuine cult classic, it is of primary importance that the film fail to earn back the cost of making, marketing, and distributing it. Where's Poppa? was made in 1969 for a little over $1 million. According to the last distribution statements I saw, it will not break even until it earns another $650,000.[27]

In 1977, Reiner directed and appeared in the comedy Oh, God! starring George Burns, and Teri Garr. The film was a financial success making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 1977. The film was also a critical success with Roger Ebert giving the film a positive review writing, "Carl Reiner's "Oh, God!" is a treasure of a movie: A sly, civilized, quietly funny speculation on what might happen if God endeavored to present himself in the flesh yet once again to forgetful Man."[28]

His follow up film The One and Only (1978) was not as successful receiving a mixed reception from film critics. The film starred Henry Winkler, Kim Darby, and Gene Saks

Throughout the 1970s Reiner made appearances on multiple television shows including the drama Night Gallery in the Segment: Professor Peabody in 1971, and as various characters in the variety sketch show The Carol Burnett Show (1974).

Reiner also returned to writing television by creating The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971-1974) which ran for three seasons and starred Dick Van Dyke.

Reiner played a large role in the early career of Steve Martin by directing his first film The Jerk (1979) and directing and co-writing the comedian in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984).[29] Reiner also appeared in both The Jerk, playing a version of himself, and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. In 1989, he directed Bert Rigby, You're a Fool.[30]

Reiner with Dick Van Dyke in 2000

In 2000, Reiner was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center,[6] where he was honored by fellow friends and comedians, Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, and Joy Behar. A year later, he portrayed Saul Bloom in Ocean's Eleven, Steven Soderbergh's remake of 1960's Ocean's 11,[31] and reprised his role in Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007).[32][33] From 2004 to 2005, Reiner voiced Sarmoti in Father of the Pride.[34] He claimed he knew how to play the role; in a teleconference, he said, "I spent my youth, from the time I was 6 to 18, living next to the Bronx Zoo. I knew the lions intimately. I watched them pace. They talked to me and I talked back to them. I learned that they have the worst breath of any animal in the world. I got my roar from the lions in person." Reiner mentioned Siegfried & Roy, stating, "I think Siegfried immediately called Jeffrey [Katzenberg] and said it was very important to go forward with the show, to give the idea that Siegfried & Roy is continuing. Stopping the show would have stopped both of their performing lives. [Siegfried & Roy] were very excited about doing an animated show, and Siegfried thought the show was very helpful... because it helped [Roy] pull through a little faster. The two characters in the show are really funny and the show makes a very big deal of making them look silly. But, the sillier they are, the happier they are." Based on his character of Sarmoti, Reiner stated that "curmudgeons always get the good lines."[35]

Reiner appeared in dozens of television specials from 1967 to 2000.[3] He also guest starred in several television series from the 1950s until his death in 2020.[3] In May 2009, he guest starred as a clinic patient in "Both Sides Now," the season five finale of House.[36] He also voiced Santa in Merry Madagascar (2009)[37] and reprised his role in the 2010 Penguins of Madagascar episode "The All Nighter Before Christmas."[38] In season 7 (December 2009) of Two and a Half Men, he guest-starred as television producer Marty Pepper.[39] In 2010, he guest starred in three of the first-season episodes of Hot in Cleveland as Elka Ostrovsky's (Betty White) date and reprised his role in February 2011.[40] He also made appearances in The Cleveland Show as Murray[41] and wrote the story for the episode "Your Show of Shows", named after the program that started his career. Reiner reprised his role on Two and a Half Men in seasons 8 (October 2013) and 11 (January 2014).[39]

Reiner in 2011

In 2012, he appeared as a guest on Jerry Seinfeld's show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. They talked at a diner about his comedy career and Reiner invited Seinfeld to come and have dinner with Mel Brooks and himself. Reiner reported that every night, Brooks headed to his house to eat, watch Jeopardy (he taped it), and watch movies. He went on to offer the one rule for movies was that it had to be one where "somebody says, 'Secure the perimeter!' or 'Get some rest.'" Brooks "falls asleep with his mouth open" every time.[42] Reiner's final role was in Home Movie: The Princess Bride, a project that Jason Reitman had envisioned to engage his celebrity friends to help raise money for charity during the COVID-19 pandemic, with actors filming their own takes on scenes from The Princess Bride at their own homes. Reiner appeared along with Rob Reiner (who directed the original film) in the final scene as the Grandfather and Grandson, which Rob said had been shot three days before Reiner's death. After hearing of his death, Reitman asked the Reiner family if they should swap out the scene, but the family gave him their blessing to use the scene.[43]

Reiner lent his voice to numerous films and animated films.[3] He also read for books on tape, among them Aesop's Fables and Jack and the Beanstalk (Running Press, 1994), as well as Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Prince and the Pauper, and Letters from the Earth (New Millenium, 2001).[3]

Fellow comedians and other figures in the entertainment industry gave tributes and remembrance, including Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett, George Clooney, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and Sarah Silverman. Cheryl Hines and Orlando Jones, two of Reiner's co-stars in Father of the Pride, expressed their condolences on Twitter, Hines stating that he was "not only an amazing comedic gift, but was also an extraordinary human being." Jones mentioned his work with Reiner on Father of the Pride, expressing his gratitude for Reiner's kindness and lessons.[62][63][64][65]

• 1960 – Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6421 Hollywood Boulevard[13]
• 1999 – Inducted into Television Hall of Fame[66]
• 2000 – Received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center.[6]
• 2017 – Carl and his son Rob Reiner became the first father-son duo to have their footprints and handprints added to a concrete slab at Grauman's Chinese Theater[67]

• My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir. Thorndike Press. 2003. ISBN 978-0-786-25590-0.
• I Remember Me. AuthorHouse. 2012. ISBN 978-1-477-26458-4.
• I Just Remembered. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2014. ISBN 978-0-991-53670-2.
• What I Forgot To Remember. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2015. ISBN 978-0-991-53681-8.
• Why & When The Dick Van Dyke Show Was Born. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2015. ISBN 978-0-991-53686-3.
• Carl Reiner, Now You're Ninety-Four: A Graphic Diary. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2016. ISBN 978-0-991-53687-0.
• Alive at Ninety-Five: Recalling Movies I Love. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2017. ISBN 978-0-999-51820-5.
• Approaching Ninety-Six: The Films I Love Viewing and Loved Doing. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2017. ISBN 978-0-999-51821-2.
• Too Busy To Die. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2017. ISBN 978-0-991-53689-4.
• How to Live Forever. Clear Productions. 2017.[71]
• The Downing of Trump. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2018. ISBN 978-0-999-51822-9.
• I Remember Radio. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2018. ISBN 978-0-999-51823-6.
• Scrunched Photos of the World's Greatest Works of Art. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2019. ISBN 978-0-999-51825-0.
• Scrunched Celebrity Photos. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2019. ISBN 978-0-999-51824-3.

• Enter Laughing. Crest Books. 1958. OCLC 1803102.
• All Kinds of Love. Carol Publishing Group. 1993. ISBN 978-1-559-72163-9.ḁ
• Continue Laughing. Carol Publishing Group. 1995. ISBN 978-1-559-72273-5.
• The 2000 Year-Old Man in the Year 2000: The Book. HarperCollins. 1997. ISBN 978-0-060-17480-4. (with Mel Brooks)
• How Paul Robeson Saved My Life (and Other Mostly Happy Stories). Cliff Street Books. 1999. ISBN 978-0-060-19451-2.
• Tell Me a Scary Story—but Not Too Scary!. Little, Brown and Company. 2003. ISBN 978-0-316-83329-5. (illustrated by James Bennett)
• The 2000 Year Old Man Goes to School. HarperCollins. 2005. ISBN 978-0-060-76676-4. (with Mel Brooks)
• NNNNN: A Novel. Simon and Schuster. 2006. ISBN 978-0-743-28669-5.
• Tell Me Another Scary Story—But Not Too Scary!. Dove Books. 2009. ISBN 978-1-597-77630-1. (illustrated by James Bennett)
• Just Desserts: A Novellelah. Phoenix Books. 2009. ISBN 978-1-59 7-77627-1.
• Tell Me a Silly Story. Pickwick Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-607-47713-6. (illustrated by James Bennett)
• The Secret Treasure of Tahka Paka. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2015. ISBN 978-0-991-53680-1.
• You Say God Bless You for Sneezing and Farting!. Clear Productions, Incorporated. 2017. ISBN 978-0-991-53688-7.