Reiner, Carl,
1922-2020, American comedian, television producer, actor, and film director,
b. Bronx, N.Y. The son of a watchmaker, Reiner initially worked as a
machinist’s helper when he began taking acting lessons. He joined the
Army’s entertainment unit in World War II, performing on bases in the
South Pacific. After the war, he made his Broadway debut in Call Me
Mister (1948), and then appeared in the revue Alive and
Kicking (1950), where he was spotted by producer Max Liebman
who was launching a new television comedy sketch program, Your Show
of Shows (1950-1954), featuring Sid Caesar. Reiner became part of the
show’s stock company including Howard Morris and Imogene Coca, as
well as joining the show’s writers, including Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen in crafting its sketches. Reiner
continued his work for Caesar through the 1950s. In 1960, he recorded a
comedy album titled The 2000 Year Old Man, in which he
interviewed Mel Brooks, who purportedly was born at the time of Christ; the
recording was added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry
(2008). He then created The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966),
winning five Emmys as its writer and producer (he would win a total of nine
Emmys for his television work); he also portrayed Van Dyke’s cranky
boss, Alan Brady, on the program. Reiner next enjoyed a career as a film
director, with a long association with comedian Steve Martin from his debut, The
Jerk (1979) through All of Me (1984). After
his “retirement,” he returned to acting on television and
notably in the film caper series Ocean’s Eleven
(2001), Twelve (2004), and Thirteen
(2007). Reiner also wrote plays and screenplays, several memoirs, and
children’s books; his semi-autobiographical novel Enter
Laughing (1958) was adapted as a Broadway play (1963) and film
(1967; cowritten by Reiner).
See his memoirs My Anecdotal Life (2003); I Remember
Me (2013), Too Busy to Die (2017).
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