He was not your average guy. He could write, act and direct, such was his massive talent. I am talking about Carl Reiner, the man who is a legend. Sadly, though he has left us for heavenly abode. On Tuesday, 30 June his assistant confirmed the news of his death. He died of natural causes at the age of 98.
Carl Reiner was one of the earliest people who made comedy popular in America. He is regarded as an icon for his work in comedy and during the early stages of the genre, he co wrote and starred in Sid Caesar’s shows ‘Caesar’s Hour’ and ‘Your Show Of Shows’. Caesar at the time was one of the most popular comedians.
His career of seven decades saw him donning several hats. He gained the utmost popularity in 60s when he created, produced, wrote and starred in his show ‘ The Dick Van Dyke Show’. Reiner’s collaboration with Steve Martin and Mel Brooks, also made him a household name. With Mel he formed a comedy-duo and together they did a sketch ‘The 2000 year old man’, along with films such as ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'(1963) and ‘The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming'(1966).
While in 2000’s, he appeared in the Ocean film series as an elderly con man. Even after reaching his 90s, he continued taking voice roles and played an important part in ‘Eat Breakfast’, which was a documentary about people in the 90s keeping themselves busy.
Born in the Bronx, New york on March 20, 1922, he went to serve in the Army in 1943 and also served in World War II.
While, in 1943 only he married his wife, Estelle Lebsot. Though, his wife died in 2008, together they have three children. Their children are Rob, Lucas and Annie Reiner. While, Rob is a a director and actor, Annie is an author and playright. Their third child, Lucas is a painter, actor and director.
In his long career, Carl had won 11 Emmy awards, 1 Grammy and Mark Twain Prize For American Humor.
His death is a hard fact to digest for many people including famous comedians. Many tributes and condolences started pouring for him on Twitter. Rob Reiner tweeted after his father’s demise :
Last night my dad passed away. As I write this my heart is hurting. He was my guiding light.
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) June 30, 2020
Among the popular comedians who gave a tribute to Carl was Jerry Seinfeld. In a post on Instagram, he condoled Carl’s demise and posted the following photo along with him :
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEWBKeHdlf/?igshid=1hracl37zidoq
Late night host, Stephen Colbert expressed his sentiments about the comedian with a tweet, writing ‘The Greatest’ along with a photo of Reiner. On the other hand, Comedian Sara Silverman tweeted :
So sad to hear about @carlreiner Not only did he make my favorite TV& movies (see:Where’s Poppa) but his humanity was beyond compare. His heart was so full of love. Never left his house empty handed- book, space pen, Swiss Army knife. RIP to a man that embodies the word mensch pic.twitter.com/mazBmwznkX
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) June 30, 2020
Carl is no more with us but his work will echo in eternity. In one his book ‘My Anecdotal Life’, he described his approach to work and wrote,
“Inviting people to laugh at you while you are laughing at yourself is a good thing to do. You may be the fool but you are the fool in charge.”
Though he was getting old, he still appeared on television shows, making cameos in shows such as ‘Two and a half men’ and ‘Hot In Cleveland’.
The legend passed away in his home in Beverly Hills amongst his family and friends. He’ll forever be remembered as the man who took comedy to great heights and showed the world how to make others laugh.