In the wake of the shocking deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, attention has inevitably turned to the Brentwood home where the couple spent more than three decades. The house carries a history that’s personal for the When Harry Met Sally filmmaker. To him, it was the real-life version of a dream shaped by television, friendship, and mentorship. It also came with a twist: the home once belonged to his boss and longtime friend Norman Lear, and without meaning to, the Spinal Tap helmer ended up buying it.
In a 2015 PBS American Masters digital interview, Reiner remembered the days when he’d go over to Lear’s place to play tennis while working on one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, All in the Family. He was taken with the house from the start, the kind of place that lodges itself in your mind. The comedy mainstay said he’d look around and think:
I would go over there, and I used to say, 'Boy, if ever I get money, if ever I have some money to buy a house, this is the kind of house that I would like.
Years later, after the Stand by Me director married Michele Singer, that offhand dream quietly became reality. Singer began looking for a house that matched everything her husband had talked about over the years. When she found one that felt right, she didn’t immediately tell him whose house it was. Only after showing it to him did she reveal that it had been the former home of Norman Lear. The Princess Bride director recognized it instantly.
The house itself was already storied. Built in 1936, it had once been owned by Henry Fonda, where Jane and Peter Fonda were born, and later by actor Paul Henreid before Lear purchased it. Lear added a screening room and hosted political and creative gatherings that brought presidents, artists, and activists through its doors. When the Reiners bought the house, they became the latest custodians of that history.
The pop culture fixture marveled at the coincidence but also at the continuity of the home’s legacy. Political discussions, creative debates, and laughter had always filled the space, and that didn’t change when the family moved in. The director reflected on the experience:
We moved into the house, and we wanted to make some changes. We had to go to the Brentwood Park Association for approval. They asked, ‘You’re not going to have a lot of political events, are you, like Norman did?’ I said, ‘No, no, that’s not what we’re doing.’ Yet, soon after, we had President Clinton, Hillary, and Al Gore over, and even planned a visit from Nancy Pelosi. So, we did the exact opposite! A lot of political events had flowed through that house, and we were continuing that tradition.
The house represents a through line of comedy and activism, tied to people who believed entertainment could do more than entertain. Lear showed Reiner that a sitcom could confront bigotry head-on, that a filmmaker didn’t have to stay on the sidelines, and that success came with an obligation to engage. Those ideas stayed with the Oscar-nominated director long after All in the Family ended.
As Hollywood share their condolences and reflects on the influential movie maker’s life and legacy, the Brentwood house feels less like a piece of real estate and more like a living record of American television history. It’s a place where humor, politics, and creative risk overlapped for generations. And it’s where a young actor’s passing thought about “the kind of house I would like” quietly turned into the home that came to define his life.
Details surrounding the deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner continue to emerge, but much remains unresolved. For now, the focus remains on honoring their lives and the legacy they leave behind — in film, in television, and in the personal histories tied to the Brentwood home they shared for so many years. Our thoughts are with their family, friends, and all those who loved and admired them during this difficult time.
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