NEED TO KNOW
Dick Van Dyke couldn’t sleep following the reports of the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner.
On Monday, Dec. 15, Van Dyke’s wife, Arlene Silver, mourned the couple in an Instagram video, sharing her and her husband’s reaction to the news that Rob and Michele were found dead by apparent homicide at their home in Brentwood, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 14.
Rob and Michele’s son, Nick, was charged with first-degree murder with a special allegation that he used a knife, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a press conference on Tuesday, Dec. 16. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
In Silver’s Instagram video, she remarked that she and Van Dyke celebrated the prolific actor’s 100th birthday just one day before the Reiners were found dead.
“Such a weird, wonderful, awful weekend,” Silver, 54, began. “I can’t not talk about this horrible thing… I mean, Dick’s birthday was so amazing, so over-the-top beautiful, and then this. I was relieved and happy, and then this happened yesterday.”
Silver said the Mary Poppins actor “didn’t sleep,” explaining that he “wanted to stay up” to learn more information. “We didn’t know what happened. It just said, the first reports are two people found in the house,” she shared.
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According to Silver, Rob met Van Dyke as a teenager. His father, the late Carl Reiner, created The Dick Van Dyke Show, which aired from 1961 to 1966.
Silver also shared that she was always a fan of Rob’s work before she ever knew him.
“And then Rob and Carl [Reiner] were the first people I ever met with Dick,” she added. “Rob and Michele were always together, like Dick and I. And I always felt part of the Reiner family; they always treated me like part of their family. And this is just unbelievable.”
“I can’t imagine if Norman Lear and Carl were alive for this,” Silver added, in reference to Rob’s close friend and former boss, the All in the Family creator.
“It’s terrible,” she continued. “I want to celebrate Dick, I want to keep doing that, but I also want to acknowledge this horrible thing.”
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Like Van Dyke and Silver, tributes from people who revered the couple for their work as well as their commitment to art, family, and activism have poured in.
Lear’s family told The Hollywood Reporter that they were “devastated” by Rob and Michele’s deaths. “Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” the family told the outlet.
Others who have paid tribute include more recent collaborators, such as Zooey Deschanel and Kate Hudson, to those he worked with in the early years of his directing career, including Carol Kane, Jerry O’Connell, Kathy Bates and many more.
