TV and movie great Carl Reiner has passed away.
The influence this man has had on the television and motion picture industries has been incalculable, and it was said of him that he was the one man in Hollywood that everybody wanted to work with..
Carl Reiner lived nearly a century. For seven decades, he was an entertainment genius. He wrote. He performed. He created material for other performers, In such a long and distinguished career, it is difficult to pick a best known role: father of Rob Reiner, the 2,000 Year Old Man, and creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Saul Bloom in Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels. He was nominated for sixteen Emmies and won eleven. (Not a bad average.)
He also won multiple awards for his work as a writer, producer, and director. He voiced Carl Reineroceros in Disney’s Toy Story 4 and Captain Treasure Tooth in four episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates.
Reiner was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, although he only won one Grammy Award, for Best Comedy Album in 1999 for The 2,000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, He was awarded the Mark Twain Award for American Humor in 2000.
He served his country honorably during WWII. He appeared in the classic comedy movies It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, John Goldfarb, Please Come Home, and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. Although he described himself as a “Jewish atheist,” he voiced Santa Claus three times, in Shimmer and Shine, The Penguins of Madagascar, and Merry Madagascar.
Of special interest to SCIFI.radio fans, Reiner directed The Man With Two Brains and voiced The Wizard in an episode of Justice League Action. He was Blue Blazer on WordGirl. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for directing Oh, God!
Carl Reiner created The Dick Van Dyke Show, which was loosely based on his experience writing for and performing on The Sid Caesar Show. He wrote roughly a third of its episodes, and appeared on 32 episodes of the show as Alan Brady.
Carl Reiner was born March 20, 1922 in New York City. He died June 29, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California of natural causes. His wife, singer Estelle Lebost, predeceased him in 2008. They were married 6 years, and had three children together, actor Rob Reiner, writer Annie Reiner, and painter Lucas Reiner.
“Inviting people to laugh with you while you are laughing at yourself is a good thing to do. You may be the fool but you’re the fool in charge.” Carl Reiner.
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
