CARL REINER

'Carl Reiner' (March 20, 1922''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture'', St. James Press, (2000)) is an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. The son of Irving and Bessie (Mathias) Reiner, he is the father of actor-turned-director Rob Reiner (b. 1945), poet, playwright and author Sylvia Anne (Annie) Reiner (b. 1947) and painter,^[1] actor, director Lucas Reiner,^[2] and husband of Estelle Lebost Reiner (b. 1914). Reiner won nine Emmys during his career.
When he was sixteen, his older brother Charlie read in the New York Daily News about a free dramatic workshop being put on by the Works Progress Administration and told him about it. He had been working as a machinist fixing sewing machines. He credits Charlie with changing his career plans.^[3]
On December 24, 1943 he married singer Estelle Lebost. Estelle is 8 years his senior and the two have been married 63 years now (2007). At the time of the marriage he was 21 and she was 29. Estelle is probably best remembered for her one line — "I'll have what she's having" — in the deli scene in son Rob's 1989 hit, ''When Harry Met Sally''.
Born of Jewish descent in the Bronx, New York, Reiner was educated at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and served in the United States Army during World War II. He later performed in several Broadway musicals, including ''Inside U.S.A.'', and ''Alive and Kicking'', and had the lead role in ''Call Me Mister''. In 1950, he was cast by producer Max Leibman in Sid Caesar's ''Your Show of Shows'', appearing on air in skits; he also worked alongside writers such as Mel Brooks and Neil Simon. He also worked on ''Caesar's Hour'' with Brooks, Simon, Larry Gelbart, and Woody Allen.
In 1959, Reiner developed a television pilot, "Head of the Family," based on his experience on the Caesar shows. However, the network didn't like Reiner in the lead role. In 1961, the recast and retitled show, ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', edited by Bud Molin became a hit. In addition to usually writing the show, Reiner occasionally appeared as temperamental show host "Alan Brady," who ruthlessly browbeats his brother-in-law (played by Richard Deacon). The show ran from 1961 to 1966.
Reiner began his directing career on the Van Dyke show. After that show ended its run, Reiner's first film feature was an adaptation of Joseph Stein's play ''Enter Laughing'' (1967), which was based on Reiner's book of the same name. Balancing writing, directing, producing and acting, Reiner has worked on a range of movies and television programs. He had a part in a small-time movie ''Generation'' alongside Pete Duel and Kim Darby. Probably the best-known film of his early directing career was the cult comedy ''Where's Poppa?'' (1970), starring George Segal and Ruth Gordon.
Reiner played a large role in the early career of Steve Martin, by directing and co-writing four films for the comedian: ''The Jerk'' in 1979, ''Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'' in 1982, ''The Man with Two Brains'' in 1983, and ''All of Me'' in 1984.
In 1989 he directed ''Bert Rigby, You're a Fool''.
Reiner was frequently seen or heard playing the straight man to Mel Brooks' "2000 Year Old Man" character.
In 2000 Reiner was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2001, he played the character of Saul Bloom in Steven Soderbergh's ''Ocean's Eleven'', and has reprised that role in its sequels, ''Ocean's Twelve'' and ''Ocean's Thirteen''. In 2004 he voiced the lion Sarmoti in the animated TV series ''Father of the Pride''.
Reiner has also written a number of books, including memoirs like 2004's ''My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir'', and novels like 2006's ''NNNNN: A Novel''.
In ''American Film'', Reiner expressed his philosophy on writing comedy thus:
:"You have to imagine yourself as not somebody very special but somebody very ordinary. If you imagine yourself as somebody really normal and if it makes you laugh, it's going to make everybody laugh. If you think of yourself as something very special, you'll end up a pedant and a bore." He continued: "If you start thinking about what's funny, you won't be funny, actually. It's like walking. How do you walk? If you start thinking about it, you'll trip."

★ Office: c/o George Shapiro, Shapiro-West, 141 El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

★ Agent: c/o Paula Wagner, Creative Artists Agency, 1888 Century Park East, Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

Contents

Bibliography

Books by Carl Reiner

Screenplays

Plays

Television Plays

Other

Awards

References

External links

Bibliography

Books by Carl Reiner

★ ''The 2000 Year Old Man Goes To School'', Mel Books & Carl Reiner ISBN 0-060-76676-X

★ ''The 2,000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000:The Book'', Cliff Street (New York City), 1997 ISBN 0-060-92992-8

★ ''All Kinds of Love'' ( novel), Carol Publishing (Secaucus, NJ), 1993 ISBN 1-559-72163-4

★ ''Continue Laughing'' (novel), Carol Publishing, 1995 ISBN 0-517-16744-1

★ ''Enter Laughing'' (semi-autobiographical novel), Simon & Schuster, (1958).

★ ''How Paul Robeson Saved My Life (and Other Mostly Happy Stories)'', Cliff Street, (1999)ISBN 0-060-93251-1

★ ''My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir'', St. Martin's Press (2003) ISBN 0-312-31104-4

★ ''Nnnnn'': A novel, Simon & Schuster (2006) ISBN 0-743-28669-3

★ ''Tell Me a Scary Story but Not Too Scary'', Carl Reiner and James Bennett, Little & Brown (2007) ISBN 0-316-00260-7

Screenplays

★ ''The Thrill of It All'', Universal, (1963).

★ ''The Art of Love'', Universal, (1965).

★ ''Enter Laughing'' (adaptation of Reiner's novel), Columbia, (1967) (With Joesph Stein).

★ ''The Comic'', Columbia, (1968)(With Aaron Ruben).

★ ''Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'', Universal, (1982) (With Steve Martin and George Gipe).

★ ''The Man with Two Brains'', Warner Bros., (1983) (With Steve Martin and George Gipe).

Plays

★ ''Something Different'', Samuel French, 1967. (produced on Broadway, 1967)

Television Plays

★ ''Your Show of Shows'' (series), NBC-TV, 1950-54.

★ ''Sid Caesar Invites You'' (series), ABC-TV, 1958.

★ ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (series), CBS-TV, 1961-66.

★ ''The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special'', NBC-TV, 1967.

Other

★ ''Carl Reiner: An American Film Institute Seminar on His Work'', Microfilming Corporation of America, (1977).

Awards

★ Emmy Award, 1957, Best supporting actor in a comedy series, (Caesar's Hour).

★ Emmy Award, 1958, Best supporting actor in a comedy series, (Sid Caesar Invites You).

★ Outstanding writing achievement in comedy, 1962, 1963, and 1964 (The Dick Van Dyke Show).

★ Outstanding program achievement in entertainment, 1965, (The Dick Van Dyke Show)

★ Outstanding writing achievement in a variety, 1967, (The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special).

★ Grammy Award nomination, 1960, (2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks)

★ Grammy Award (The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000)

★ Elected to Emmy Award Hall of Fame

★ Grammy nomination for best spoken word album (Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings from Mark Twain, 2001).

References

1. ART REVIEWS; David Pagel, ''Los Angeles Times'', Oct 12, (1995) pg. 4
2.
3. SUSAN KING, ''Los Angeles Times'', Feb 27, (2001) pg. F.5


★ ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, (2007).

External links

★

★ See Carl Reiner's interview for the Archive of American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

★ [1] ''Carl Reiner'' - Museum of Broadcast Communications

★ [2] "Remembering the Dick Van Dyke Show" (Carl Reiner)