Los Angeles police are investigating an apparent homicide at the Brentwood home of Rob Reiner, where two people were found dead Sunday afternoon.
The bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman were found at the home in the 200 block of Chadbourne Avenue, according to Police Capt. Mike Bland.
Law enforcement sources told The Times that a family member was being questioned in connection with the death. .
The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation, confirmed that there was no sign of forced entry into the home. The names of the victims have not been released.
Margaret Stewart, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman, said the department was called to the residence around 3:30 p.m. for medical aid. Inside the home, fire personnel discovered the bodies of the man and woman.
Rob Reiner and wife Michele Reiner attend the 46th Kennedy Center Honors gala at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in December 2023.
(Kent Nishimulra / AFP via Getty Images)
Reiner, 78, has had a five-decade-long career in Hollywood.
Early in his career, he played Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the iconic sitcom “All in the Family” from 1971 to 1979, alongside Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker.
As a director, Reiner helmed a string of hits including “When Harry Met Sally,” “The Princess Bride” and “This Is Spinal Tap.” His work took a dramatic turn when he directed the 1986 adaptation of Steven King’s novella “Stand by Me.”
Reiner was finally nominated for an Academy Award for 1993’s “A Few Good Men,” which starred Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise, though the movie lost to Clint Eastwood’s western “Unforgiven.”
Reiner also was a leading political voice in Hollywood.
He was a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the organization that led the fight to overturn Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. He’s also been active in children’s issues through the years, having led the campaign to pass Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created an ambitious program of early childhood development services.
Proposition 10 was considered landmark policy. Reiner enlisted help in the effort from Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, and his own father, comedy legend Carl Reiner.
Reiner was married to Penny Marshall, star of “Laverne & Shirley,” from 1971 to 1981. He met photographer Michele Singer on the set of “When Harry Met Sally” and the two married in 1989, the year the movie came out.
Michele Singer Reiner began producing films over the last decade, including “Shock and Awe,” “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” and “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” all directed by her husband. She also produced “God & Country,” a look at Christian nationalism in the U.S.
By Sunday evening, law enforcement had swarmed Reiner’s sprawling estate in Brentwood, though an eerie quiet hung over Chadbourne Avenue, which had been sealed from the public with yellow crime scene tape.
Police cars were stationed at either ends of the block where the Reiner residence is located while a chopper circled overhead.
Officers spoke to a young man inside of the sealed off area, who left the scene around 7:30 p.m. in a white Tesla and declined to speak to the media.
Councilmember Traci Park, whose Westside district includes Brentwood, said in a statement that the LAPD had increased patrols in the neighborhood “out of an abundance of caution.”
“As we continue to wait for more updates, I want to express my profound concern and sadness at the news coming out of Brentwood,” Park wrote in the statement. “We are in close contact with LAPD as the homicide unit continues their investigation.”
This breaking news story will be updated.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.