This week started with the terrible news that actor, director and all-round good egg Rob Reiner and his wife, the filmmaker, photographer and also all-round good egg Michele Singer Reiner had been found dead in their home in LA. Their son Nick was later charged with their murder. He has struggled with addiction, and there are reports that he’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
You might be wondering why the deaths of a couple I’ve never met are the subject of this week’s blog instead of whatever I’ve been up to this week. Well, Reiner – among his many other achievements – was the man who took a chance on William Goldman’s The Princess Bride and in so doing created the greatest film ever made. He was also the man who introduced me to Stephen King with his adaptation of King’s novella The Body, in the form of Stand By Me. He was also responsible for When Harry Met Sally (“I’ll have what she’s having”), This is Spinal Tap (“These go to eleven”) and The Sure Thing (which triggered my long-standing love for John Cusack). He and Michele also ran Castle Rock Entertainment, responsible for more Stephen King adaptations – The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile. Misery was a Reiner film too but despite James Caan and Kathy Bates I can’t love that one. Stephen King will probably be the subject of another blog, another day (but not for many years, please). A Few Good Men is another, but as it’s got the loathsome Cruise in it I can’t watch it.
The Princess Bride will always, always be my favourite. It didn’t do well at the box office but became a cult success, and people who recognise a quote when it’s dropped into conversation are kindred spirits. I remember the first time we watched it – it was Bonfire Night in 1988, and we’d rented the video from Apollo in Monmouth and watched it as a family. We all still have copies of the film on DVD and watch it whenever it’s on TV. Reiner’s films changed the way we talk, inspired endless memes and even a socially-distanced version of the movie in lockdown where Reiner appeared as The Grandson, with his father Carl as The Grandfather. The words may have been written by Goldman, Nora Ephron, Stephen King and others but Reiner brought them to life with love and humour. I have loved listening to his reading of The Princess Bride on Audible this week.
The Reiners were also activists, campaigning for gay marriage, for tobacco taxes to be used to pay for early childhood causes, for child development, and he was outspoken against Trump whose tasteless, egotistical, offensive response to the news of their deaths may become a nail in his coffin. I can say this as I have no intention of going to the US in the near future. The outpouring of respect and grief across social media and the news, from people who knew them and people who didn’t but whose lives have been touched by their words and actions, has been enormous.
Rest in peace, Rob and Michele Reiner. “Death cannot stop true love. It can only delay it for a while.”
Things cheering me up this week
- The Borough of Sanctuary Christmas Party, which was surreal and joyful in turn.
- My clever daughter making marshmallows which melt beautifully and artistically in my hot chocolate (Poulain 1848, on this occasion)
- Making the front room look all festive
- Finishing this army of pigs
- Finding some festive reading
- Lunch with London sister and brother in law at Turtle Bay. Two for one cocktails at lunchtime, bad idea.
- Finishing work until the New Year
Today I’ll be making stollen, marzipanning the cake and pottering about in my lair. It’s Christmas this week, and we have TT2, her partner and GT2 coming for lunch.
As you wish, faithful readers.
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase/Black Hearts in Battersea/Night Birds on Nantucket – Joan Aiken
The Madness of Crowds/A World of Curiosities – Louise Penny
The Princess Bride – William Goldman (Audible, read by Rob Reiner)
The Secrets of Pain/The Magus of Hay – Phil Rickman (Audible)
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (Audible)
What Kirsty did next 