CARL REINER

March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020

Carl Reiner was a legend of American comedy, having achieved success as an actor, director, producer, and recording artist. He won nine Emmy Awards, three as an actor, four as a writer, and two as a producer. He also won a Grammy Award for his “2,000 Year Old Man” album, based on his comedy routine with Mel Brooks.

During the early years of television comedy from 1950 to 1957, he co-wrote and acted on “Your Show of Shows” starring Sid Caesar. In the 1960s, Reiner was best known as the creator, producer, writer, and actor on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” filmed by Desilu.  

CARL REINER: “’I Love Lucy’ was performed by maybe the most beautiful and best comedian of all time in Lucille Ball. The only thing I felt about it is that it was not my kind of show because it was a husband and wife against each other. My wife and I were two people against the world. When I finally did a show, we had two people that loved each other, didn’t fool each other and went on with their lives with the problems that exist for most people.”  (2017)

At the “Tenth Annual Emmy Awards” in 1958, “I Love Lucy’s” William Frawley (Fred Mertz) was defeated by Carl Reiner. Lucille Ball did not attend because the show was sponsored by Plymouth and the Arnaz’s were then in an exclusive agreement with Ford. 

Reiner and actress Polly Bergen pose with their statuettes. Reiner won for best continuing supporting performance by an actor in a dramatic or comedy series for “Caesar’s Hour.” Bergen won best single performance by an actress in a lead or support role for “Playhouse 90: Helen Morgan Story." 

In 1959 The Westinghouse-Desilu Playhouse presented “Martin’s Folly” starring Carl Reiner and Tony Randall. It also starred Phil Ober, George O’Hanlon, and Bart Braverman, all of whom had appeared on “I Love Lucy”. 

Lucille Ball and Carl Reiner were not seen on the same program until February 1961 when both were guests of Ed Sullivan on “Toast of the Town”.  Lucille Ball sang from her Broadway show Wildcat while Reiner his “The 2000 Year Old Man” routine with Mel Brooks. 

Lucille Ball was a presenter at the “The 14th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards” on May 22, 1962, where Carl Reiner won for his writing of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” 

In 1965, Carl Reiner was one of the writers who created “Salute To Stan Laurel” on CBS. Ball did a couple of sketches, one with her comedy mentor Buster Keaton. 

Carl Reiner and Lucille Ball made cameo appearances in the 1967 film A Guide For the Married Man, starring Walter Matthau and directed by Gene Kelly. 

During “The 20th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards” on May 19, 1968, Lucille Ball won her fourth (and final) competitive Emmy Award in a show broadcast on NBC from The Hollywood Palladium. Reiner attended as a previous winner, having earned a group writing Emmy the previous year. 

Ball and Reiner were just two of the many celebrities attending “A Tribute to Mr. Television, Milton Berle” on  March 26, 1978.

Lucille Ball and Carl Reiner were both interviewed by Dinah Shore on “Dinah!” on June 5, 1978. 

Lucy is joined by her husband Gary, her daughter Lucie, and colleague Robert Osborne.

“High Hopes: The Capra Years” on December 24, 1981, took a look at the career of film director Frank Capra featuring Lucille Ball, Carl Reiner, Burt Reynolds, and James Stewart. 
Ball had starred in his 1934 feature Broadway Bill. Ten years later he produced the short film “G.I. Journal” in which Ball played herself.

During “An All-Star Party for Lucille Ball” in 1984, Carl Reiner introduces and interviews Sid Caesar as (all the way from Germany) Professor Ludwig Von Blearyeyes, the world’s most renowned viewer of Lucille Ball’s television shows.

On October 3, 2013, Reiner guest-starred on “Two and a Half Men” as Marty Pepper, a 91 year-old television producer. In the episode, he thinks he remembers ‘banging’ Lucille Ball in the house where they are eating dinner. The episode is actually titled “I Think I Banged Lucille Ball” and was the second episode of their eleventh season. 

“Most of the shows [on the air then] were battle of sexes. [I Love] Lucy certainly was a battle of the sexes. A lot of deception, a lot of people fooling everybody. The Van Dyke show was based on my wife and I. We were worthy adversaries, we argued about things — but we were two against the world.” ~ Carl Reiner, 1998

In 2000, Reiner was the recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was the third person ever so honored.

On December 24, 1943, Reiner married singer Estelle Lebost. The two were married for 64 years until her death in 2008. Estelle delivered the line "I’ll have what she’s having” in the deli scene of their son Rob’s 1989 film When Harry Met Sally. She died on October 25, 2008, at age 94.

He was the father of Rob Reiner (born 1947); author Annie Reiner (born 1949); and painter, actor, and director Lucas Reiner (born 1960). 

Carl Reiner died on July 29, 2020 of natural causes at age 98. 

“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