Rob Reiner death live updates: Filmmaker's son Nick arrested amid investigation
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The filmmaker and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead Sunday in their Los Angeles home.
Hollywood mourns as investigation continues. Here's what to know:
- Filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home Sunday, Los Angeles Police Department officials confirmed. A homicide investigation is ongoing.
- Nick Reiner, one of Rob and Michele's children, was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder in connection with his parents’ deaths, LAPD said during a news conference Monday. The 32-year-old has a long history with drug addiction, which began in his teens. He is now being held without bail, according to the LAPD.
- Reaction of grief and shock have poured in from the entertainment industry and the political world, with many calling the deaths a tragedy. In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump baselessly suggested that Reiner and his wife died because of Reiner’s anti-Trump views, politicizing their deaths as other conservatives expressed condolences.
- Rob Reiner, who was 78, is 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 Hollywood star adorned with flowers
As tributes and reactions toward Rob Reiner and his wife Michele continue to pour in, some fans in Los Angeles are honoring the late filmmaker in a different way.
Flowers cover the Walk of Fame star for Rob Reiner on Dec. 15, 2025, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Damian Dovarganes / AP
On Monday afternoon, flowers were seen covering the Walk of Fame star for Reiner in Hollywood.
Trump doubles down on his statement about Reiner
President Donald Trump stood by his Truth Social post about Rob Reiner, in which he baselessly said the filmmaker died because he was anti-Trump.
“Well, not a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person,” the president said in the Oval Office on Monday when asked by a reporter about the criticism he had been receiving regarding the comment.
Reiner “was very bad for our country," Trump added.
Nick Reiner is being held without bail, LAPD says
The son of slain director Rob Reiner was being held in downtown Los Angeles jail with no bail, LAPD said in its news release on Monday.
"As a result of the initial investigation, it was determined that the Reiners were the victims of homicide," LAPD said. "The investigation further revealed that Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of Robert and Michele Reiner, was responsible for their deaths."
On Tuesday, LAPD said "the case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration."
Paul McCartney recalls Reiner as an 'upbeat, lovable man'
Rock legend Paul McCartney lamented the passing of Reiner and his wife, summing it up as an example of life "being so unfair."
"He was such an upbeat, lovable man," McCartney told fans in an Instagram posting. "Life can be so unfair and this tragedy proves it."
McCartney appeared in Reiner's "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues," a sequel to the director's legendary 1984 mockumentary.
Kevin Bacon says 'everyone is hurting today' after news of Reiner's death
Kevin Bacon said his "A Few Good Men" director Reiner made hard work a fun time for everyone involved in that 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 posted to 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 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 says Reiners sought to 'make the world better'
Jane Fonda, the Oscar-winning actor and progressive activist, paid tribute to the Reiners in a post 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 earlier this year. "I saw them night before last looking healthy and happy. I am reeling with grief. Stunned."
Analysis: In a busy eight-year span, Rob Reiner became Hollywood royalty
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.
Film academy says Reiner's legacy is 'immeasurable'
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars, paid tribute to Rob Reiner in a post 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 says Rob Reiner died because he was anti-Trump
President Donald Trump baselessly suggested Monday morning that legendary director and actor Rob 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 the president might have about a motive for the killings.
Rob Reiner was a Trump critic and a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes, including giving 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.
LAPD says Nick Reiner was booked on suspicion of murder
Jim McDonnell, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, said Monday at a news conference that police had arrested and booked Nick Reiner on suspicion of murder.
He is being held on $4 million bail, LAPD said.
It is not immediately known if Nick Reiner, who is the younger son of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner, has legal representation
McDonnell also confirmed that Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner had been found dead in their after LAPD responded to a call on Sunday afternoon. A source close to the family told NBC News that the two had appeared to have suffered stab wounds.
It was "a very, very tragic incident," McDonnell said.
'Princess Bride' actor Cary Elwes shares photo to mourn Reiner
"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 introduced himself to younger viewers with late-career acting work
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.
Harry Connick Jr. says he's 'gutted' by deaths
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 and Michele Singer Reiner met during production of 'When Harry Met Sally...'
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.
Rob Reiner worked on film with son Nick Reiner that touched on substance abuse
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."
A look at Rob Reiner’s film legacy
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.
Rob Reiner's son Nick Reiner arrested in connection with parents’ deaths
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.
Reiner leaves behind a legacy of directing classic American films
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.”
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.”
Hollywood stars, politicians pay tribute to Rob Reiner and his wife
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.”
Rob Reiner and his wife found dead in their L.A. home from apparent stab wounds
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.
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.
