“First thing in the morning, before having a coffee, I read the obits,” said Carl Reiner Tracy Smith, correspondent for “Sunday Morning” in 2015. “If I’m not there, I’ll have breakfast.”
Even when talking about something gloomy (like when pretended to die in the middle of an interview, described as the way you would like to go), Reiner, who died last week at 98I couldn’t help but sound sunny.
“It was weird because I can’t recall him being in a bad mood, or talking to me in a bad mood,” said legendary television writer and producer Norman Lear, now 97. He was a close friend of Reiner for over 50 years. years.
Correspondent Mo Rocca asked, “This may be a bit silly, but what do you think kept it that way for so long?”
“The same thing that keeps me on my feet for so long: we both like to get up in the morning!” Lear laughed. “And she missed her today. She missed her today.”
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Carl Reiner did not miss much. Reiner, one of the founding fathers of television comedy, first came to our homes as a featured player on Your Show of Shows, “which was Sid Caesar’s second banana.
Rocca asked, “What made you so good in that role?”
“Carl had no need to be the director at all,” Lear replied. “A lot of comics do. And so it could be a lot of fun as a partner and straight guy.”
Reiner is probably best known for creating “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, which began airing on CBS in 1961. It starred Dick Van Dyke as the lead writer for a fictional television show. Reiner played the aggressive host, Alan Brady.
Van Dyke praised Reiner as “a mensch. The greatest human being I have ever met. Unique and irreplaceable man. For some reason, Carl had a deep understanding of human behavior and what motivated people to do so. What do they do.
“I found myself going to his office for answers about life, about raising my children, about the family. And I learned a lot from him. He created me, along with the creation of Rob Petrie.”
Van Dyke honored us with some of the little-known lyrics from the show’s theme:
So you think you have problems
well, problems are a bubble.
So tell old Mr. Trouble to get lost. …
A smile is just a frown.
Then smile and that frown will thaw.
And don’t forget to keep your fingers crossed.
“Carl understood that there is no such thing as an adult: an adult is this costume and the mannerism that the child puts on to survive,” said Van Dyke.
There was no place where Reiner did not kill: on stage, on television, as a film director and at some point an actor. And do you remember the comedy albums? He and Mel Brooks had one of the greatest with “The 2,000-Year-Old Man”, with Reiner once again playing the straight man.
“That’s 100% Carl Reiner,” said Lear. “And that’s why he worked so well with Mel. Because Mel will tell himself, he needed to be honest. And Carl was a champion of the sides.”
Carl and Mel were a match made in comedy heaven. But Reiner’s lifelong co-star was his beloved wife Estelle. The couple recalled their first meeting. in 2007with Tracy Smith.
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“I had a lot of hair in those days, black, wavy hair!” Carl said.
“No, no, he was really handsome,” Estelle said. “I said, tall, dark and handsome.”
Ten years later, after Estelle’s death, Reiner reflected: “Having a good marriage and good children. A good life is what you send into the world. I have three children, non-toxic children, they have all done great things.” , and I keep doing great things. And I had a marriage of 65 years. That’s the only thing that really defines me. “
There is a stereotype that comics are dark. Carl Reiner was all light. A few days ago, Norman Lear’s son-in-law, Dr. Jon LaPook of CBS News, sent us a video clip of Carl Reiner greeting Lear at a party in 2000:
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Lear said to Rocca: “It’s weird to say it in the coronavirus season, but it was a great hugger. It’s a gem, that little picture of him hugging me. In a way, that’s the essence of Carl too.”
“And it seems he loved being with his friends,” said Rocca.
“There was never a best friend,” Lear said. “The LA Times obituary was talking about pure joy. And that’s what it brought to everything. Pure joy.”
For more information:
Story produced by John D’Amelio and Jay Kernis. Publisher: Steven Tyler.
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