Tributes have been coming in from all over the worlds of film and music to Rob Reiner, the director of the original mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap.
You probably already know by now that Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday night. Their son Nick Reiner has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
On Instagram, Harry Shearer who co-wrote both Spinal Tap movies with Reiner and played bassist Derek Smalls, wrote: "Rob was a friend and collaborator through much of my life. He was funny, he was smart, he was a mensch. When he came to see the comedy act I was in, and, later, the musical comedy I had co-written, his laugh was uproarious and audible around the block... This is unspeakable, the stuff of Greek tragedy."
Paul McCartney had a cameo role in the recent Spinal Tap sequel and posted on social media: "What a tragedy the death of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, is. It is so shocking in many ways but for me especially so, because over the last year I had been working with him. He directed me in 'Spinal Tap II: The End Continues'. He was such an upbeat, lovable man… Thanks for all the humour, Rob Rest in Peace. Love Paul.”
Elton John also appeared in the sequel and said on his Instagram Stories: “I am in disbelief at today’s news of Rob and Michele. They were two of the most beautiful people I’d ever met and they deserved better.”
Aside from Spinal Tap, Reiner directed a run of classic Hollywood movies in the 1980s and 1990s, including Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990) and A Few Good Men (1992).
He also appeared as an actor in a number of films, including Postcards From The Edge, Bullets Over Broadway and more recently The Wolf Of Wall Street and founded the production company Castle Rock Entertainment.
He would later sell Castle Rock to Turner Broadcasting and turned to activism, founding the American Foundation for Equal Rights which campaigns for gay marriage and was a regular fundraiser for the Democratic party.
Recently, though, he returned behind the camera for Spinal Tap: The End Continues, which reunited the band for one final concert and was released in September. Before then, in August, he filmed the band at the actual Stonehenge, which will be turned into a concert film for a 2026 release.
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