US comedian and actor Carl Reiner has died at the age of 98.
Carl’s assistant told Variety that the veteran performer died of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills on Monday night.
In the 1960s, Carl rose to fame as a performer and writer on The Dick Van Dyke Show, before going on to form a comedy duo with Mel Brooks, who he performed the running 2000 Year Old Man sketch with.
Carl’s acting credits include films like The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming and It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. More recently, he also appeared in the Ocean’s trilogy between 2001 and 2007, playing Saul Bloom.
His final big-screen credit was in the 2019 film Toy Story 4, voicing a “veteran” toy based on him named Carl Reineroceros. The character also appeared in the Disney+ series, Forky Asks A Question.
As well as his work on screen, Carl was a writer and director, helming films like The Jerk, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and All Of Me, which all starred comedy actor Steve Martin.
Throughout his career, which spanned almost 70 years, Carl scooped an impressive nine Emmy awards, most of which were for his work on The Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as a Grammy for Best Spoken Comedy Album.
In 2000, he was also awarded the Mark Twain Prize For American Humour, and was honoured at the Kennedy Centre by a number of his former colleagues, including Dick Van Dyke, Mel Brooks, Mary Tyler Moore and Steve Martin.
Carl was married to singer Estelle Reiner for 64 years, until her death in 2008.
He is survived by his sons, actor Rob Reiner and director Lucas Reiner, his daughter, writer Annie Reiner, and his six grandchildren.
