Carl Reiner, ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ Star and Prolific Entertainer, Dead at 98

Carl Reiner, a prolific entertainer who starred alongside Mary Tyler Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show, is dead at 98, TMZ reported Tuesday. The outlet reported Reiner died Monday night at his Beverly Hills home with family by his side. No further details have been released about his death.

Reiner, who worked as a director, producer and actor, was a nine-time Emmy winner with more than 400 credits to his name in his 70-year career. He also was awarded a Grammy from his’ best-selling album with Mel Brooks called 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks in 1960.

Reiner’s contributions to the entertainment industry were numerous and included many hits, including his directing of Oh God with George Burns and The Jerk with Steve Martin. Reiner would also work with Martin on other films, including Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, Man with Two Brains and All of Me. Reiner also directed other acting and comedy legends, including John Candy in Summer Rental, Mark Harmon in Summer School, Bette Midler in That Old Feeling, and Kirstie Alley and Carrie Fisher in Sibling Rivalry.

Reiner also worked as an actor in countless TV shows and movies, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, which he created and starred in. On the hit show, he played temperamental comedian Alan Brady, but was instrumental in casting a new actress as Van Dyke’s wife in the show — Mary Tyler Moore.

Reiner also appeared in The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming and Enter Laughing and well as Two and a Half Men, Hot in Cleveland and House. He also had roles in Ocean’s 11 and Ocean’s Thirteen, as well as a voice cameo in Toy Story 4.

The entertainment icon was father to three children, one of whom is actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner. Carl married his wife Estelle, who appeared in the iconic diner scene of her son’s film When Harry Met Sally, in 1943. She died in 2008. In 2017, Reiner gave a rare interview to AARP, in which he said life after her death was “never easy.”

“I wake up and say I’ve got to do this and that, but it’s never easy,” he said. “The death of your beloved is the hardest time of all. Watching her go — and it took a year — was horrible. Estelle was everything to me. We met when I was 20 and she was 28, and people said it wouldn’t last. Sixty-five years later: three kids, five grandchildren, the greatest life and friendship you can imagine.”

At the time, he added he was keeping busy by writing books, continuing to work and discover new things in life. “The list of satirical young comedians that make me laugh is always growing, and we need smart satire in this political era,” he told the outlet. As for laughter’s role in his longevity? He said, “It doesn’t hurt! Well, correction — it might hurt a little. But laughter definitely makes it hurt less.”