Rob Reiner, Legendary Actor, Filmmaker and Marriage Equality Activist, Found Dead In His Home
Rob Reiner’s work as an actor and filmmaker were legendary, but he is most remembered for his fierce advocacy in civil rights spaces, including marriage equality.
Featured Image: via Human Rights Campaign
Highly accomplished actor, director and marriage equality activist Rob Reiner and his wife were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday afternoon. Police are investigating his death as an “apparent homicide,” and Reiner’s son is reportedly being questioned by authorities.
Reiner, 78, gained fame for his Emmy Award-winning role of liberal Michael “Meathead” Stivic, son-in-law of working-class bigot Archie Bunker in the groundbreaking series “All in the Family.” The 1970’s TV sitcom was a staple in American living rooms, and put a spotlight on racism and prejudice, tackling controversial topics, like women’s rights, gay rights, sexual freedom and subjects that spoke to social upheaval at the time. Reiner’s talents were broad, and in the 1980’s, he moved behind the camera, making his feature film directorial debut with the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. His list of subsequent notable directing creds include Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, Misery, A Few Good Men, and When Harry Met Sally with it’s now-famous line, “I’ll have what she’s having,” delivered by Reiner’s mother, actress Estelle Reiner.
Rob Reiner as the anti-war liberal “Meathead” on “All in the Family”
In addition to impacting national conversation through his work in Hollywood, Reiner channeled his platform toward progressive causes. He co-founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the sole sponsor of the federal constitutional challenges to California’s Proposition 8 and Virginia’s discriminatory Marriage Amendment. The Proposition 8 ballot measure sought to revoke marriage equality in California, and Reiner is on record for saying that he viewed it as having the landmark importance of the civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education. Though the voter-approved Proposition 8 passed, temporarily banning same-sex marriage, it was ultimately over-turned.
Related: NYC Unites for Marriage Equality as Supreme Court Weighs Prop 8 & DOMA
The filmmaker’s wife who also died, children’s advocate Michele Reiner, 68, was a founding board member and the Treasurer of AFER. She also co-produced the play, ’8′, which centered around the 2010 U.S. District Court trial to overturn Proposition 8.
Reiner’s voice was always brave and bold for the causes that he cared about. He often took to socials to respond to travesties undertaken by the current administration. As a committed ally to the LGBTQ+ community, he is remembered for his speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s Los Angeles dinner in 2019: “We have to move past singling out transgender, LGBTQ, black, white, Jewish, Muslim, Latino. We have to get way past that and start accepting the idea that we’re all human beings. We’re all human beings, we all share the same planet, and we should all have the same rights, period. It’s no more complicated than that.”
