Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner first met when Crystal guest-starred on the classic CBS sitcom All in the Family in January 1976. The episode “New Year’s Wedding” featured Crystal as Reiner’s character’s best friend, Al Bender, in what also happened to be Crystal’s television debut. The pair quickly struck up a real friendship that lasted nearly 50 years. As you’ve probably heard by now, Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead in their home this past December of an apparent homicide.
On the April 12 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Crystal opened up about the loss of his longtime friend and revealed that the two had spent the night before Reiner’s death together reminiscing about their careers. Crystal and Reiner were both at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party that evening and got into a discussion about the ever-changing movie business and how people don’t go to see films in theaters anymore. “We talked about the fact that you can’t control how a movie is gonna do. What you can control is the experience of making it,” Crystal explained.
“Hits are great to have, but it’s the people that you hold on to,” Reiner told him during that same conversation. Crystal went on to say that he and Reiner were so close that many of the scenes between Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally… were actually a reflection of what his relationship with Reiner was like. For example, while that film was in production, Crystal and Reiner would watch movies like Casablanca together over the phone and comment on them. In conclusion, Crystal said that Reiner’s death was a profound loss for humanity, “because he was the most human person that I ever met.”
Last month, Crystal opened the 98th Academy Awards with a special tribute to the Reiners. Joining him on-stage at the show were a number of other actors and actresses who’d worked with Reiner in films like This Is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Among them were Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Fred Savage, and Cary Elwes. You can check out the full Oscars segment, courtesy of ABC News, below.
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