Rob Reiner
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Robert "Rob" Reiner (born March 6, 1947 in The Bronx, New York) is an American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is son of Carl Reiner.
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Biography
Reiner was born in The Bronx, New York, and lived as a child in New Rochelle, New York, where his family resided on Bonnie Meadow Road, the same address as the Petries on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." When Reiner was about 13, the family moved to the Los Angeles area, where Reiner attended Beverly Hills High School and the University of California, Los Angeles.
He became famous playing Michael Stivic (aka Meathead), Archie Bunker's liberal son-in-law, on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family, which was the most-watched television program for five years in the United States (1971–1976). In the 1980s and 1990s, Reiner was best known as a director of successful Hollywood films. Some of these films — such as The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap — have achieved cult status. The latter film, intended as a parody of rock documentaries, was so successful in imitating the style of rock films that many viewers were inadvertently fooled into thinking that the subject of the film, the fictitious heavy metal group "Spinal Tap," really existed.
He then went on to direct other critically and commercially successful films like Stand By Me, Misery, A Few Good Men and his most famous work - When Harry Met Sally..., which has become a classic romantic comedy. However his career has taken a plunge in recent years. Starting from North which was critically panned (notoriously by Roger Ebert). His subsequent films Alex & Emma and Rumor Has It has been unsuccessful both critically and commercially.
In addition to his creative work with cinema, Reiner also had a significant administrative role, as founder and long-time co-owner of Castle Rock Entertainment. He named the production company after the fictitious town featured in many stories by Reiner's frequent collaborator, Stephen King.
Reiner was married to actress-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1979. He then married Michele Singer Reiner in 1989.
Political activism
In the late 1990s and continuing into the 2000s, Reiner has taken a vocal role supporting certain education-related proposals in California, including serving as a primary spokesman for the successful 1998 cigarette-tax initiative that has raised $700 million for early-childhood educational programs. He also campaigned in Iowa for Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean just before the 2004 Iowa caucus. Reiner had been mentioned as a possible candidate to run against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, but he has decided not to run for personal reasons.
Reiner has been criticized for his keeping his job with the state First Five Commission while at the same time campaigning for a proposition which would fund state-run preschools. The criticism caused Reiner to resign from his position with the First Five Commission on March 29, 2006. An audit of the commission's funds will be conducted in the face of accusations of misuse of state money for the political campaign for his proposed proposition.
He has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post since May 2005.
Television
- The Partridge Family - Snake (1971)
- All in the Family - Michael Stivic (1971-1978)
- Happy Days - Cowrote the first episode (1974)
- Likely Stories, Vol. 1 - Director (1981)
Film
- The Jerk - Truck Driver (uncredited) (1979)
- This Is Spinal Tap - Director, costar (1984)
- The Sure Thing - Director (1985)
- Stand By Me - Director (1986)
- The Princess Bride - Director (1987)
- When Harry Met Sally... - Director (1989)
- Misery - Director (1990)
- A Few Good Men - Director (1992)
- Sleepless in Seattle - Jay (1993)
- North - Director (1994)
- The American President - Director (1995)
- Ghosts of Mississippi - Director (1996)
- The Story of Us - Director, actor (playing "Stan") (1999)
- Alex & Emma - Director (2003)
- Rumor Has It - Director (2005)
Parodies
Rob Reiner was the subject of a parody in the South Park episode "Butt Out," which criticized his objection to smoking as hypocritical and fascist. Another episode has a character claiming that "we're as despicable as Rob Reiner" for using children for political purposes.