Christopher Guest, who co-wrote and starred in Rob Reiner’s classic rock mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, has paid tribute to the director after he and his wife were found dead in their home.
In a joint statement, Guest and his wife, Jamie Lee Curtis, said they were “numb and sad and shocked” by the violent deaths of their “dear friends Rob and Michele Singer Reiner.” The grisly discovery of the couple’s bodies in their Los Angeles home on Sunday has sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry.
“Our ONLY focus and care right now is for their children and immediate families, and we will offer all support possible to help them,” Guest and Curtis said in a statement shared via Variety. “There will be plenty of time later to discuss the creative lives we shared and the great political and social impact they both had on the entertainment industry, early childhood development, the fight for gay marriage, and their global care for a world in crisis. We have lost great friends. Please give us time to grieve.”
Reiner, 78—the director of several much beloved films, including When Harry Met Sally, Stand by Me, and The Princess Bride—and his 68-year-old wife were found dead at their home by their daughter, Romy, on Sunday, a source told the Daily Beast.
The couple reportedly suffered knife wounds during an attack inside their home, and their 32-year-old son, Nick, is being questioned by homicide investigators, according to People.
Officials with the Los Angeles Police Department held a press conference Sunday night where they declined to comment on reports that the Reiners’ son was a suspect.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters at the scene that police were not “seeking anyone as a suspect or a person of interest,” while also stating that “no one has been detained or is being interviewed at this time.”
Guest, who played Spinal Tap’s lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel in Reiner’s 1984 comedy, is among a wave of Hollywood figures who have paid tribute to the director following the shocking news of his and his wife’s deaths.
Kathy Bates, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Annie Wilkes in Reiner’s 1990 psychological thriller Misery, told The Hollywood Reporter she was “absolutely devastated.”
“I loved Rob. He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist,” Bates said. “He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michelle was a gifted photographer. She shot my beautiful photos for the Misery campaign. My heart breaks for them both. My thoughts are with their family.”
Monty Python star Eric Idle wrote on social media that he had spoken with Reiner for an hour just this weekend.
“I met him at his dad’s in 1975. He was telling me about filming at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future. This is so awful,” Idle wrote. “I shall miss him. A clever, talented, and very thoughtful man.”
Cary Elwes, the star of The Princess Bride, also shared a black-and-white photo of his and Reiner’s empty cast chairs on the set of the 1987 fantasy film, along with the caption: “No words…”
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