Beloved director Rob Reiner, who died on December 14, 2025, at the age of 78,  wasn’t just known for directing some of the most popular films of the ’80s and ’90s, including Stand By Me, The is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men, Misery and When Harry Met Sally, or for his Emmy-winning run as Mike “Meathead” Stivic on All in the Family. He was also, famously, the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, who created The Dick Van Dyke Show, directed classic films like The Jerk and Oh, God!, and had a longtime comedy due with fellow comedy icon Mel Brooks. But despite the fact that the two men pursued very similar paths, Rob revealed in a 1987 interview that father and son didn’t consult on each other’s work, telling The Kalamazoo Gazette than he and Carl “lead totally separate lives.”

In the October 9, 1987 interview, which was tied to the release of The Princess Bride, Rob said of sharing his work with his famous father, “He’s proud of me, but we lead totally separate lives. Besides, he approaches things more as a writer and he’s very oriented towards sketch comedy. My dad’s a born performer. He really loves being on stage. I don’t love that.”

Norman Lear attend the Carl and Rob Reiner Hand and Footprint Ceremony during the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, California” width=”1024″ height=”683″ data-mce-src=”https://www.remindmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/norman-lear-rob-carl-reiner.jpg”>

Norman Lear, who gave Rob his big break on All in the Family and produced The Princess Bride, told the paper of the relationship between Rob and his father, “As a kid, Rob was used to watching Mel Brooks and Sid Caesar around his house. But he’s much more serious than either his father or Brooks. You can see it in all his film work.”

Carl Reiner died of natural causes in his home on June 29, 2020, at the age of 98. Rob Reiner was murdered alongside his wife Michelle on December 14, 2025.