Rob Reiner death live updates: Filmmaker's son Nick arrested amid investigation

Nick Reiner was disruptive at a holiday party Saturday with his parents, two people familiar with the situation told NBC News.

Reiner, 32, who was arrested yesterday and later booked on suspicion of murder, made other guests uncomfortable with his behavior at the holiday party, which was hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien, one person said. Another person said Reiner’s parents were upset and embarrassed about their son’s behavior at the party and expressed worries about his health. 

The two people asked that their names be withheld because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Read the full story here.

"New Girl" creator Elizabeth Meriwhether, who cast Reiner in a recurring role of the father of lead character Jess (played by Zooey Deschanel) said Reiner was a joy to have for his 11 episodes on the beloved Fox comedy.

"He entertained everyone between takes with his memories and wisdom," Meriwhether wrote, posting an Instagram picture of Reiner with Deschanel at the latter character's hilariously cursed wedding. "I'm so sad this morning."

Deschanel said on Instagram that she was "devastated" by the news of Reiner's death.

"Rob Reiner was the absolute warmest, funniest, most generous of spirits. A truly good human being," she wrote. "An incredible artist and such a playful and fun collaborator. I cherish the time we spent working together and the many films he made that have shaped who I am. Rob and his lovely wife Michele were always so kind and it brought me so much joy any time I was lucky enough to see them."

Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his ex-wife Maria Shriver shared tributes to the Reiners, whom they described as friends who grew up with their children in Los Angeles.

"We raised our kids together, from mommy and me on up," Shriver wrote on X. "We laughed together, we cried together, we played together, we dreamed together. We had dinner this past week, and they were in the best place in the their lives: loving one another, loving their friends, their family, their country. They never gave up on our country. They wanted to make it better. They always, always wanted to make our world better, and they were willing to fight to make it the country they loved."

She said she is "devastated, gutted, shocked, stunned, and so deeply saddened" and added that "Life will not be the same" without them.

Schwarzenegger's post on X celebrated Rob Reiner's achievements in Hollywood, describing his "wonderful friend" as a "rare talent."

"He was a creative genius who left us some of the greatest movies of all time, and he was a wonderful friend. My thoughts are with his family."

As reactions and tributes to Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, pour in, some fans in Los Angeles are honoring Reiner in a different way.

Flowers cover Rob Reiner's Walk of Fame star Monday in Hollywood.  Damian Dovarganes / AP

Flowers were seen this afternoon covering Reiner's Walk of Fame star in Hollywood.

Trump stood by his Truth Social post about Reiner, in which he baselessly said Reiner died because he was anti-Trump.

“Well, not a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person,” Trump said in the Oval Office today when a reporter asked about the criticism he had been getting over the comment.

Reiner “was very bad for our country," Trump added.

Nick Reiner was being held in the downtown Los Angeles jail with no bail, police said in their news release today.

"As a result of the initial investigation, it was determined that the Reiners were the victims of homicide," the LAPD said. "The investigation further revealed that Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of Robert and Michele Reiner, was responsible for their deaths."

The police department said "the case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration" tomorrow.

Rock legend Paul McCartney lamented the passing of Reiner and his wife, summing it up as an illustration that life is "so unfair."

"He was such an upbeat, lovable man," McCartney told fans on Instagram. "Life can be so unfair and this tragedy proves it."

McCartney appeared in Reiner's "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues," a sequel to his legendary 1984 mockumentary.

Kevin Bacon said Reiner, his "A Few Good Men" director, made hard work a fun time for everyone involved in the iconic 1992 courtroom drama.

"The making of that movie was one of the best experiences that I've ever had on a set. He was so fun," an emotional Bacon said in a video on Instagram. "It really, it comes down from the top. You can set a tone where people feel like we are working hard but also working hard in a safe and pleasant and fun situation."

Just the simple task of eating lunch with Reiner remains a cherished memory, said Bacon, who played the prosecutor, Capt. Jack Ross, in the famed Reiner film.

"You know, we had lunch together every day," Bacon said. "I'd never done that with a director before or since, I've never gone to have lunch."

Jane Fonda, the Oscar-winning actor and progressive activist, paid tribute to the Reiners on Instagram, describing them as "wonderful, caring, smart, funny, generous people."

Rob and Michele Singer Reiner were "always coming up with ideas for how to make the world better, kinder," Fonda wrote.

Fonda and Rob Reiner were both the children of Hollywood royalty. She is the daughter of Golden Age film star Henry Fonda; he was the son of American comedy icon Carl Reiner. They also shared a commitment to liberal political causes.

"They had been helping me launch the Committee for the First Amendment," Fonda wrote, referring to her father's McCarthy-era free speech initiative, which she revived this year. "I saw them night before last looking healthy and happy. I am reeling with grief. Stunned."

No filmmaker has ever definitively cracked the code on success in Hollywood. But from 1984 to 1992, Rob Reiner seemed to have it all figured out.

In that eight-year period, Reiner went on a remarkable run. He directed six movies that became modern American classics, earning a level of cultural staying power that some popular artists achieve only once or twice in their careers.

“This Is Spinal Tap” pioneered the “mockumentary” format, introducing moviegoers to a buffoonish British rock group who turned the sonic dial to 11. The coming-of-age drama “Stand by Me” and the fairy tale “The Princess Bride” enthralled children and parents alike. “When Harry Met Sally…” channeled the wit of Golden Age screwball comedies. “Misery” terrified audiences. “A Few Good Men” stirred their consciences.

The films in that prolific and creatively fruitful era weren’t all immediate box-office hits. But in time, through VHS replays and DVD rentals and cable re-airings and repertory screenings at theaters across the U.S., all six movies embedded themselves in popular consciousness. Reiner, a warm and cheerful presence on-screen and behind the camera, made it look easy.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars, paid tribute to Rob Reiner on Instagram, saying his "impact on cinema is immeasurable."

"Rob told stories with uncommon warmth and clarity, moving seamlessly between comedy, romance, drama, and suspense," the academy said. "His work received an Academy Award nomination for ‘A Few Good Men’ and helped create moments that have lived with audiences for decades. In his films, we continue to find laughter, love, and a reflection of ourselves."

Reiner received a best picture nomination for "A Few Good Men" as one of the legal drama's three credited producers.

Trump baselessly suggested this morning that Reiner and his wife died because of Reiner’s anti-Trump views, politicizing their deaths as other conservatives expressed condolences.

Reiner, Trump wrote on Truth Social, was killed “due the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known and sometimes referred to as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what information Trump might have about a motive for the killings.

Rob Reiner was a Trump critic and a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes, including having given more than $150,000 to the Democratic presidential candidates’ “victory fund” during the 2024 election cycle. He was also a prominent figure who voiced his view, in the wake of conservative Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, that violence is not an answer to political disagreement.

Read the full story here.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said today at a news conference that police had arrested and booked Nick Reiner on suspicion of murder.

He is being held on $4 million bail, the LAPD said.

It is not immediately known whether Nick Reiner, who is the younger son of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner, has legal representation

Rob Reiner’s son booked on suspicion of murder in the deaths of his parents, police say

02:59

McDonnell also confirmed that Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead after police responded to a call yesterday afternoon. A source close to the family told NBC News that the two appeared to have suffered stab wounds.

It was "a very, very tragic incident," McDonnell said.

"Princess Bride" star Cary Elwes couldn't muster the words to convey his profound sadness over the director's shocking death.

Instead, he let a picture — which appeared to be from the set of their beloved 1987 fairytale, "The Princess Bride."

Rob Reiner was a familiar face on American television for more than 50 years, first as Archie Bunker's proudly progressive son-in-law on the landmark sitcom "All in the Family" — and more recently as a tough-minded business consultant on FX's "The Bear." It's a role that helped introduce the late actor and director to a new generation of viewers.

Reiner's late-career acting work also included a memorable supporting turn as Leonardo DiCaprio's father in Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street." In one scene, DiCaprio's ruthless stock broker explains that his father was nicknamed "Mad Max" because of "his hair-trigger temper, which could be set off by something as innocuous as a ringing telephone."

Then the phone rings, and Reiner launches into an expletive-laden tirade. Reiner later told an interviewer that he appreciated Scorsese's willingness to let him improvise his lines.

"He knows that if you can improvise, you’re going to wind up with something that has a greater internal spark to it than anything that could be written," Reiner told Slashfilm, a movie news website. 

Reiner and his wife played crucial roles in the early career of Harry Connick Jr., the famed crooner said in an emotional tribute posted to his Instagram feed.

The 58-year-old musician said his “big break when I was a kid” was playing on the platinum soundtrack for Reiner’s 1989 classic “When Harry Met Sally.” Connick also fondly recalled Singer’s work as photographer for his 1990 album “Lofty’s Roach Souffle.”

"I’m just gutted, absolutely gutted," Connick said in the post. "I just have no words to describe how sad I am."

Rob Reiner wasn't sure whether he'd ever fall in love again after his divorce from his first wife, Penny Marshall. But then he met Michele Singer during the production of his 1989 romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally...," and their relationship inspired him to alter the movie's ending.

In an earlier version of Nora Ephron’s screenplay, Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) did not end up together, "because at that time, I couldn’t figure out how I was going to get with anybody," Reiner told an interviewer in 2016.

But "then I met the woman who became my wife during the making of the movie, and I changed the ending," Reiner told the A.V. Club, a pop culture news website. In the movie's final scene, Harry declares his love for Sally at a New Year's Eve party, and the two go on to tie the knot.

In real life, Rob and Michele Singer Reiner married in 1989.

In an interview with “TODAY” in 2016, Rob Reiner spoke about making the film "Being Charlie" with his son Nick Reiner, who was one of the screenwriters.

The drama, released in 2015, follows the addicted son of a would-be governor who "goes down the long, rough road of rehab, fighting against recovery every inch of the way," according to its IMDB description.

Nick Reiner, arrested in connection with parents’ deaths, told People in an interview in 2016 that he had spent weeks sleeping rough on the streets and was in and out of rehab for addiction treatment that started when he was 15.

“[W]hat I didn’t understand was the depth of what he was going through," Rob Reiner said during a May 4, 2016, appearance on “TODAY.” "And the process of making this film not only forced me to see what he was experiencing but it forced him to see what I went through and what his mother went through, and hopefully the film was a reflection of that."

NBC News’ Joe Fryer and Savannah Sellers spoke with entertainment journalist and television host Dave Karger about Reiner’s iconic career amid a devastating event.

Nick Reiner, the son of movie director Rob Reiner, has been arrested in connection with the deaths of his parents, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead Sunday with stab wounds, a source close to the family told NBC News.

It was not immediately known if Nick Reiner has legal representation.

Rob Reiner's son Nick Reiner arrested in connection with parents' deaths

04:33

Read the full story here

Reiner was active in Hollywood for more than four decades and was best known for a string of films from the 1980s into the 1990s now considered modern classics: “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally...,” “Misery” and “A Few Good Men,” among others.

Rob Reiner’s father was actor and comedian Carl Reiner, creator of one of the postwar era’s most successful television series, “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Remembering the Life and Legacy of Film Director Rob Reiner

05:41

The film that got Rob Reiner off the starting line was the satire “This Is Spinal Tap,” a look at an aging British hard rock band that has no self-awareness, an allegory for his generation, in ways. The 1984 release was hailed by critics and became enough of a cult classic that Reiner returned to the band this year with September’s release of “This is Spinal Tap II.”

Read the full story here.

Hollywood luminaries and political heavyweights expressed their shock and sadness Sunday night after news broke that prolific filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, had been found dead in their Los Angeles home.

The outpouring of grief underscored Rob Reiner’s towering stature in the entertainment industry.

Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar for her leading role as a novelist’s deranged fan in Reiner’s “Misery,” described him as “brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist.”

“I’m horrified hearing this terrible news. Absolutely devastated. I loved Rob,” Bates said in a statement, adding that Reiner, a committed progressive activist, “fought courageously for his political beliefs.”

Bates also praised Michele Reiner, calling her a “gifted photographer.”

Read the full story here.

Filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home Sunday, according to a source close to the Reiner family. The source said the couple appeared to have died from stab wounds.

Los Angeles police officials said Sunday they responded to a report of two deceased at Reiner’s Brentwood home but did not identify them. Police said a “death investigation” is underway.

Director Rob Reiner and His Wife Found Dead in Their LA Home

02:30

Paramedics were called to Reiner’s home on the west side of Los Angeles around 3:30 p.m. A few minutes later, police officers were dispatched.

Deputy Police Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters that the investigation will continue through the night. He did not confirm the identities of the victims, saying the city coroner’s office will release that information later.

Read the full story here.