Robert Norman Reiner (March 6, 1947 – December 14, 2025) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He was the son of famed comedian, actor, writer, producer and director Carl Reiner (1922 – 2020) and actress Estelle Reiner (1914 – 2008). As an actor, he first came to national prominence with the role of Michael Stivic on All in the Family (1971–1979), a role that earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Comedy Series. He made his feature film acting debut in Enter Laughing (1967), with José Ferrer, Shelley Winters, Elaine May, Jack Gilford, Janet Margolin, David Opatoshu, Michael J. Pollard, Don Rickles, Richard Deacon, and Reni Santoni.
Acting roles in the 1970s include Paul Bogart’s Halls of Anger (1970), with Calvin Lockhart, Janet MacLachlan, Jeff Bridges, James A. Watson Jr., DeWayne Jessie, and Ed Asner; Where’s Poppa (1970), with George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Ron Leibman, Trish Van Devere, Barnard Hughes, and Vincent Gardenia; Anthony Newley’s Summertree (1971), with Michael Douglas, Jack Warden, Brenda Vaccaro, and Barbara Bel Geddes; the TV movie Thursday’s Game (1974), with Bob Newhart, Gene Wilder, Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman, Nancy Walker, Valerie Harper, Norman Fell, and Martha Scott; Fire Sale (1977), with Alan Arkin (who also directed), Gardenia, Anjanette Comer, Kay Medford, Sid Caesar, and Byron Stewart; and TV movie More Than Friends (1978), with Penny Marshall (whom he was married to from 1971 to 1981), Dabney Coleman, Howard Hesseman, and Joe Pantoliano.
He made his feature directorial debut with the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984), which he co-wrote and co-starred with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. Other films in the 1980s include The Sure Thing (1985), with John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Viveca Lindfors, Nicollette Sheridan, Anthony Edwards, and Tim Robbins; Stand by Me (1986), with Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland; The Princess Bride (1987), with Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, and Guest; and When Harry Met Sally… (1989), with Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, and Bruno Kirby.
Films in the 1990s include Misery (1990), starring James Caan and Kathy Bates; A Few Good Men (1992), with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, J.T. Walsh, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland. North (1994), with Elijah Wood, Jon Lovitz, Jason Alexander, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Bates, Faith Ford, Graham Greene, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Reba McEntire, John Ritter, and Abe Vigoda, Bruce Willis; The American President (1995), with Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Richard Dreyfuss; Ghosts of Mississippi (1995), with Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, James Woods, Diane Ladd, Bonnie Bartlett, Bill Cobbs, William H. Macy, Virginia Madsen, Michael O’Keefe, Susanna Thompson, Craig T. Nelson, and Brock Peters; and The Story of Us (1999), with Willis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rita Wilson, Julie Hagerty, Tim Matheson, Red Buttons, Jayne Meadows, Tom Poston, and Betty White.
Films in the 2000s include Alex & Emma (2003), with Kate Hudson, Luke Wilson, Sophie Marceau, and David Paymer; Rumor Has It… (2005), with Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins, Mena Suvari, and Christopher McDonald; and The Bucket List (2007), with Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd, and Rob Morrow.
Films in the 2010s include Flipped (2010), with Callan McAuliffe, Madeline Carroll, Rebecca De Mornay, Edwards, John Mahoney, Penelope Ann Miller, Aidan Quinn, and Kevin Weisman; The Magic of Belle Isle (2012), with Freeman, Madsen, Emma Fuhrmann, Madeline Carroll, Kenan Thompson, Nicolette Pierini, Kevin Pollak, and Fred Willard; And So It Goes (2014), with Douglas, Diane Keaton, and Sterling Jerins; and Beimg Charlie (2015), with Nick Robinson, Common, Elwes, Devon Bostick, Morgan Saylor, Susan Misner and Ricardo Chavira.
Later films include LBJ (2016), with Woody Harrelson, Richard Jenkins, Bill Pullman, Kim Allen, Michael Stahl-David, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey Donovan, Doug McKeon, C. Thomas Howell, and Michael Mosley; and Shock and Awe (2017), with Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, James Marsden, Milla Jovovich, and Jessica Biel; and Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025), with much of the previous cast along with Valerie Franco, JC Vanston, Kerry Godliman, and Nina Conti.
Other acting roles in the 1980 to mid 1990s include Throw Momma from the Train (1987), with Danny DeVito (who also directed), Crystal, and Anne Ramsey; Mike Nichols’s Postcards from the Edge (1990), with Meryl Streep, MacLaine, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, and Dreyfuss; Nora Ephron‘s Sleepless in Seattle (1993), with Tom Hanks, Ryan, Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, Rosie O’Donnell, Gaby Hoffmann, Victor Garber, and Wilson; Woody Allen‘s Bullets Over Broadway (1994), with Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri, and Jennifer Tilly; Mixed Nuts (1994), with Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Robert Klein, Anthony LaPaglia, Juliette Lewis, Adam Sandler, and Wilson; and Bye Bye Love (1995), with Matthew Modine, Randy Quaid, Paul Reiser, Janeane Garofalo, Amy Brenneman, Eliza Dushku, Amber Benson, and Lindsay Crouse.
Acting roles in the mid to late 1990s include Mad Dog Time (1996), with Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeff Goldblum, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Kyle MacLachlan, Burt Reynolds, Henry Silva, Billy Idol, Angie Everhart, Billy Drago, and Richard Pryor; Hugh Wilson’s The First Wives Club (1996), with Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Maggie Smith, Stockard Channing, Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber, and Stephen Collins, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Berkley, Marcia Gay Harden, Bronson Pinchot, Heckart, Philip Bosco, and Timothy Olyphant; Primary Colors (1998), with John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Bates, Maura Tierney, Larry Hagman and Adrian Lester; Ron Howard‘s EDtv (1999), with Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Harrelson, Ellen DeGeneres, Martin Landau, Sally Kirkland, Elizabeth Hurley, Clint Howard, and Dennis Hopper; and a cameo as himself in The Muse (1999), with Albert Brooks (who also directed), Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, and Bridges.
Acting roles in the 2000s include Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003), with David Spade, Mary McCormack, Jon Lovitz, Craig Bierko, and Alyssa Milano; a voice role in the animated film Everyone’s Hero (2006), with Jake T. Austin, Macy, Brian Dennehy, Raven-Symoné, Robert Wagner, Richard Kind, Dana Reeve, Joe Torre, Patinkin, Forest Whitaker, and Goldberg; Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), with Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, and Jon Favreau; Sandy Wexler (2017), with Sandler, Jennifer Hudson, Kevin James, Terry Crews, Rob Schneider, Colin Quinn, and Lamorne Morris; narration in Family Squares (2022), with Zoë Chao, Ann Dowd, Elsie Fisher, Judy Greer, Scott MacArthur, Billy Magnussen, Sam Richardson, Timothy Simons, June Squibb, Casey Wilson and Henry Winkler.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
Director
- Sonny Boy (1974) – TV movie
- Likely Stories, Vol. 1 (1981) – TV movie
- This Is Spın̈al Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin DiBergi (1984)** – also co-writer, actor
- The Sure Thing (1985)
- Stand by Me (1986)
- The Princess Bride (1987)**
- When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
- Misery (1990) – also uncredited actor
- A Few Good Men (1992)
- North (1994)
- The American President (1995)
- Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
- I Am Your Child (1997) – TV special
- The Story of Us (1999) – also actor
- Alex & Emma (2003) – also actor
- Rumor Has It… (2005)
- The Bucket List (2007)*
- Flipped (2010) – also co-writer
- The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)
- And So It Goes (2014) – also actor
- Being Charlie (2015)
- LBJ (2016)
- Shock and Awe (2017) – also actor
- Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (2023) – also himself – documentary
- Spın̈al Tap II: The End Continues (2025)* – also actor, co-writer
Actor
- Enter Laughing (1967) – directed by Carl Reiner
- The Big Mouth (1967) – directed by Jerry Lewis – uncredited
- Where It’s At (1969) – directed by Garson Kamin
- Hells of Anger (1970) – directed by Paul Bogart
- Where’s Poppa? (1970) – directed by Carl Reiner
- Summertree (1971) – directed by Anthony Newley
- The Picture (1972) – directed by Ken Luber – short
- Thursday’s Game (1974) – directed by Robert Moore – TV movie
- How Nobody’s on Our Side? (1974) – directed by Robert Michaels
- Fire Sale (1977) – directed by Alan Arkin
- More Than Friends (1978) – directed by James Burrows – also co-writer TV movie
- The Jerk (1979) – directed by Carl Reiner – uncredited
- The Million Dollar Infield (1982) – directed by Hal Cooper – also co-writer – TV movie
- Throw Momma from the Train (1988) – directed by Danny DeVito
- Bobby Silverman: An Actor Prepared (1989) – directed by Richard Crystal – short
- Parents in Life (1990) – directed by Carl Gottlieb – TV movie
- Postcards from the Edge (1990) – directed by Mike Nichols
- The Spirit of ’76 (1990) – directed by Lucas Reiner
- A Spinal Tap Reunion (1992) – directed by Jim Di Bergi & Lauren Eton-Hogg – TV movie
- Sleepless in Seattle (1993) – directed by Nora Ephron
- Bullets Over Broadway (1994) – Woody Allen
- Mixed Nuts (1994) – directed by Nora Ephron
- Bye Bye Love (1995) – directed by Sam Whisman
- For Better or Worse (1995) – directed by Jason Alexander
- The First Wives Club (1996) – directed by Hugh Wilson
- Mad Dog Time (1996) – directed by Larry Bishop
- Primary Colors (1998) – directed by Mike Nichols
- Edtv (1999) – directed by Ron Howard
- The Muse (1999) – directed by Albert Brooks – cameo as himself
- Catching Up with Marty DiBergi (2000) – directed by Jeffrey Schwarz – short
- The Majestic (2001) – directed by Frank Darabont – voice cameo
- Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003) – directed by Sam Weisman
- Everyone’s Hero (2006) – directed by Christopher Reeve, Daniel St. Pierre, & Colin Brady
- When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal and Helen Mirren (2011) – directed by Lindsay Crystal – uncredited cameo as himself – short
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – directed by Martin Scorsese
- Sandy Wexler (2017) – directed by Steve Brill
- Family Squares (2022) – directed by Stephanie Laing – narrator
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