'Dick Van Dyke Show' Star and Creator Carl Reiner Dead at 98

Actors Dick Van Dyke, left, and Carl Reiner pose during the TV Land Awards 2003 at the Hollywood Palladium on March 2, 2003, in Hollywood, California. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

By The Associated Press

Published June 30, 2020 at 7:05am

Carl Reiner, the ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man,” has died, according to reports. He was 98.

Reiner, who was the father of actor-director Rob Reiner, died Monday night of natural causes his home in Beverly Hills, California, TMZ and Variety reports.

Messages for several Reiner representatives were unanswered Tuesday morning.

One of show business’ best liked men, the tall, bald Reiner was a welcome face on the small and silver screens, in Caesar’s 1950s troupe, as the snarling, toupee-wearing Alan Brady of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

He also starred in such films as “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”

In recent years, he was part of the roguish gang in the “Ocean’s Eleven” movies starring George Clooney and appeared in documentaries including “Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age” and “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast.”

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Poster Comment:

Carl Reiner was the father of "meathead" (Rob Reiner) in All in The Family.