Rob Reiner was a director and actor who influenced American cultural life over decades through iconic films and TV shows. He was also unabashedly proud to be Jewish and said he put politics at the center of his life due to his Jewish moral code.
It was natural, he said. “It’s part of our social legacy,” he told J. in a 2005 interview.
Reiner was killed alongside his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in a Dec. 14 stabbing in his home. The couple’s son, Nick Reiner, had at the time of writing been charged with murder.
In 2005, Reiner was in the Bay Area and speaking to J. not about his films, but about his social activism. He was a passionate advocate for a range of issues, from early childhood education to gay rights. It was something that came, he said, from his Jewish upbringing.
He was visiting Northern California to speak at a one-day social justice conference in Oakland, co-hosted by a range of Jewish institutions and run by former Oakland Temple Sinai leader Rabbi Suzanne Singer (Michele’s sister). Reiner had been successful in helping pass a ballot measure that funded early childhood education through taxes on tobacco in 1998.
But that year, Reiner’s priority was the “Preschool for All” ballot initiative, which would have guaranteed preschool for all 4-year-olds, financed by a state income tax increase. To him, supporting childhood education was the smart thing to do, though the measure was defeated by voters.
“We have an education system that educates one out of every eight kids,” he told J.’s Dan Pine. “This economy is dependent on whether we have a high-quality education system and workforce.”
Fewer people knew Reiner’s wife, Michele, who was the child of a Holocaust survivor. But she was part of his political work. She met him while working as an on-set photographer, and they married in 1989.
“In 1997, he and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, formed the I Am Your Child Foundation (now Parent Action for Children), which has produced educational materials on topics of interest to parents and caregivers of young children, and also has spearheaded legislative action on behalf of kids,” Pine wrote in 2005. “‘This keeps me very busy,’ [Reiner] says. ‘Over the course of the year, I spend half my time on political issues.’”
The other half? Filmmaking, of course.
Already famous for his role in the groundbreaking 1970s TV show “All in the Family,” Reiner went on to direct a host of iconic films starting in the mid-’80s. They included “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Misery,” “The American President,” “The Bucket List” and the recently released “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”
In 1992, he spoke with J. about his film “A Few Good Men,” a tense legal drama about uncovering secrets in the Marine Corp. starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise.
In that interview with J. contributor Paul Freeman, Reiner said he was interested in the film because of the parallels with Nazis and those who said they were only following orders.
“That’s what happened in Nazi Germany. What we’re saying in the film is that each of us has to take responsibility for our own actions. If you don’t, you should be punished for it. That was the verdict in the Nuremberg trials,” he said.
“There are moral guidelines that must be followed. Any system that tries to dictate to you that you should blindly follow orders is wrong. Great religious leaders teach you to do your own soul-searching. Of all religions, Judaism most stresses thinking for yourself.
“We need the Marine Corps. We need the police. But they have to have guidelines. When the power is abused, you wind up with Nazi Germany, with Calley at My Lai, with a Rodney King situation. This has to be stated and restated, so we never forget,” he said.
Freeman’s article continued: “Another element of the film appealed to Reiner. The Navy lawyer (Cruise) was encumbered by the fact that his father had excelled in the same field. Reiner, whose father is legendary comedian Carl Reiner, could certainly relate to that.”
“‘I knew exactly what the character was going through, a young guy working in the shadow of a famous father, trying to find his own identity and carve out his own niche,” Reiner told J. “For me, it was a terrible struggle, because not only is my father incredibly talented and acclaimed, he’s also a great guy. Growing up, all I heard was, ‘Your dad’s the nicest man in the world.’”
Carl Reiner, who collaborated with fellow Jewish comedian Mel Brooks in the 1950s and ’60s (they had dinner together every night into their 90s), not only gave his son a moral base but also a sense of humor.
“I think the Jews have always been the funniest people,” Rob Reiner said. “That’s because they’ve always had the most difficulty. They’ve had it rougher than any other group of people since the beginning of time. They discovered that humor was an effective way to deal with pain and suffering.
“If you’ve been put upon for so long, you have sympathy for the downtrodden. Jewish people have always been real good about helping the underprivileged, about standing up for human rights.”