Estelle Reiner
Encyclopedia
Estelle Reiner described by The New York Times
as "matriarch of one of the leading families in American comedy", was an actress, the wife of Carl Reiner
, and the mother of Rob Reiner
, Sylvia Anne (Annie) Reiner
and Lucas Reiner. Reiner herself has been credited with delivering one of the most memorable lines in movie history.
(the same high school Jonathan Harris
attended). Reiner was a visual artist and met her future husband, Carl Reiner, while she was working in the Catskill Mountains
designing stage sets for hotel shows. She married Reiner in 1943, and had three children Rob, Lucas and Annie.
Carl Reiner's 1960s television comedy, The Dick Van Dyke Show
, recapitulated his career writing for Sid Caesar
, with Carl Reiner playing the Caesar character and Dick Van Dyke
portraying Reiner's real-life job as a writer in the role of Rob Petrie. The re-creation was so complete that the Petries in the show lived on Bonnie Meadow Road in suburban New Rochelle, New York
, the same street as the real-life Reiners. As described by Rob Reiner, "Basically he wrote his own life" in The Dick Van Dyke Show and that his "mother was Mary Tyler Moore
".
In her 60s, Reiner became a cabaret singer and performed for decades, until just a few years before her death. She studied acting with method acting
pioneer Lee Strasberg
and with Viola Spolin
, the American Grandmother of Improvisation. She appeared in a number of film comedies, including the 1980 film Fatso with Dom DeLuise
as Mrs. Goodman, and in the 1983 pictures The Man With Two Brains
with Steve Martin
in the role "Tourist in Elevator" and in Mel Brooks
' To Be or Not to Be
as Gruba.
Reiner's most enduring film role was in 1989's When Harry Met Sally...
, in which director Rob Reiner cast his mother as a customer in a scene with stars Billy Crystal
and Meg Ryan
at Katz's Delicatessen, in which Ryan fakes what was described as "a very public (and very persuasive) orgasm". Approached by a waitress after Ryan finishes, Reiner deadpans "I’ll have what she’s having". The line was ranked 33rd on the American Film Institute
's list of the Top 100 movie quotations
, just behind Casablanca
s "Round up the usual suspects".
Reiner died of natural causes on October 25, 2008 at age 94 in her home in Beverly Hills, California
.
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as "matriarch of one of the leading families in American comedy", was an actress, the wife of Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner is an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award during this career...
, and the mother of Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
, Sylvia Anne (Annie) Reiner
Annie Reiner
Sylvia Anne "Annie" Reiner is an American author, playwright and poet. She is the daughter of American producer, writer and actor Carl Reiner, and actress Estelle Reiner...
and Lucas Reiner. Reiner herself has been credited with delivering one of the most memorable lines in movie history.
Life and career
Reiner was born on June 5, 1914, in Bronx as Estelle Lebost, and graduated from James Monroe High SchoolJames Monroe High School (New York)
For schools with a similar name, see James Monroe High School.James Monroe High School was a comprehensive high school located at 1300 Boynton Avenue and E 172nd Street in the Soundview section of the Bronx....
(the same high school Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris was an American stage and film character actor. Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the TV version of The Third Man, and the comic villain Dr. Zachary Smith, in the 1960s sci-fi television series, Lost in Space...
attended). Reiner was a visual artist and met her future husband, Carl Reiner, while she was working in the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
designing stage sets for hotel shows. She married Reiner in 1943, and had three children Rob, Lucas and Annie.
Carl Reiner's 1960s television comedy, The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
, recapitulated his career writing for Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
, with Carl Reiner playing the Caesar character and Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a career spanning six decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke, and father of Barry Van Dyke...
portraying Reiner's real-life job as a writer in the role of Rob Petrie. The re-creation was so complete that the Petries in the show lived on Bonnie Meadow Road in suburban New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...
, the same street as the real-life Reiners. As described by Rob Reiner, "Basically he wrote his own life" in The Dick Van Dyke Show and that his "mother was Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
".
In her 60s, Reiner became a cabaret singer and performed for decades, until just a few years before her death. She studied acting with method acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
pioneer Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
and with Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin
Viola Spolin was an important innovator of the American theater in the 20th century. She created directorial techniques to help actors to be focused in the present moment and to find choices improvisationally, as if in real life...
, the American Grandmother of Improvisation. She appeared in a number of film comedies, including the 1980 film Fatso with Dom DeLuise
Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death and the father of: actor, director, pianist, and writer Peter DeLuise; actor David DeLuise; and actor Michael DeLuise...
as Mrs. Goodman, and in the 1983 pictures The Man With Two Brains
The Man with Two Brains
The Man with Two Brains is a 1983 American science fiction comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Kathleen Turner....
with Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
in the role "Tourist in Elevator" and in Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
' To Be or Not to Be
To Be or Not to Be (1983 film)
To Be or Not to Be is a 1983 20th Century Fox comedy-drama film directed by Alan Johnson, produced by Mel Brooks with Howard Jeffrey as executive producer and Irene Walzer as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Ronny Graham and Thomas Meehan, based on the original story by Melchior...
as Gruba.
Reiner's most enduring film role was in 1989's When Harry Met Sally...
When Harry Met Sally...
When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American romantic comedy film written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they meet just before sharing a cross-country drive, through twelve years or...
, in which director Rob Reiner cast his mother as a customer in a scene with stars Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
and Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...
at Katz's Delicatessen, in which Ryan fakes what was described as "a very public (and very persuasive) orgasm". Approached by a waitress after Ryan finishes, Reiner deadpans "I’ll have what she’s having". The line was ranked 33rd on the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's list of the Top 100 movie quotations
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
, just behind Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
s "Round up the usual suspects".
Reiner died of natural causes on October 25, 2008 at age 94 in her home in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
.