Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner were honored by their closest friends with an impromptu memorial service one day after their passing.
Inside Rob Reiner and Michele Singer’s Memorial
GettyThe impromptu service, thrown by dear friend Albert Brooks, was the Reiners’ friends way of following the Jewish tradition of being buried within 24 hours of passing.
While the bodies of the late director and his wife remain in police custody, Brooks, along with Billy Crystal, his wife, Janice, comedians Larry David, Bill Hader, and Conan O’Brien, gathered at Brooks’ Brentwood estate on Monday, December 15, according to Daily Mail.
The same group of friends was reportedly in attendance at Conan O’Brien’s holiday party on Saturday, December 13. Reiner brought his son, Nick Reiner, to the festive event, in order to keep an eye on him, according to multiple reports.
Things took a turn, however, when Nick got into a heated argument with his father.
Rob and Michele were found deceased in their Brentwood home around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, December 14. Nick has been accused of killing his parents and is currently behind bars, being held without bail.
The younger Reiner was charged with two counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday, December 16.
Rob Reiner’s Friends Release Touching Statement
GettyCrystal—who starred at Reiner’s best friend in “All in the Family” and enjoyed a decades-long friendship with the beloved director—joined Larry David, Martin Short, director Barry Levinson, among others in a joint statement following the Reiners’ passing.
“Absorbing all he had learned from his father Carl and his mentor Norman Lear, Rob Reiner not only was a great comic actor, he became a master story teller,” the group began in their lengthy statement shared with AP on Tuesday. “There is no other director who has his range. From comedy to drama to ‘mockumentary’ to documentary he was always at the top of his game. He charmed audiences. They trusted him. They lined up to see his films.”
The group continued, “His comedic touch was beyond compare, his love of getting the music of the dialogue just right, and his sharpening of the edge of a drama was simply elegant. For the actors, he loved them. For the writers he made them better. His greatest gift was freedom. If you had an idea, he listened, he brought you into the process. They always felt they were working as a team. To be in his hands as a film maker was a privilege but that is only part of his legacy.”
