From Hollywood classics to change-making activism: Rob Reiner's legacy will outlast the headlines about his final moments

Hollywood is grieving actor, director and activist Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner.

The horrifying circumstances surrounding their final moments are currently capturing headlines but Reiner, who contributed profoundly to the film and television industry and was a leading voice for equal rights activism in California, leaves a legacy that will outlast the news cycle.

A quick scan of his profile on IMDB proves just how much of an impact the Emmy Award winner had on our screens – big and small – across more than six decades in the industry.

He played a part in bringing some of the most iconic Hollywood films to life alongside some other major stars.

Reiner rose to prominence as an actor portraying Mike 'Meathead' Stivic on the sitcom All in the Family – a role that earned him two Emmy Awards.

Over the years, he lent his acting skills to some iconic films. He starred as Max Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and worked with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in his role as Mr Whitaker in EdTV.

Reiner also appeared in several TV shows, including The Bear, The Good Fight, New Girl, Hannah Montana, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Simpsons.

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After starting his career as an actor, Reiner expanded his skills to become a writer, producer and director. 

He directed Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer in The Story of Us, worked with River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton for Stand By Me and was the director for the classic 1987 film The Princess Bride.

Reiner also directed classics This Is Spinal Tap, Misery, A Few Good Men and When Harry Met Sally, among many more.

It was on the set of the beloved rom-com that Reiner met Michele Singer and their love story began.

When Harry Met Sally... had been inspired by Reiner's struggles to find love after his divorce from actress and director Penny Marshall.

The original script had the characters Harry Burns and Sally Albright going their separate ways, rather than the happy finale fans know but Reiner's newfound love led him to a change of heart.

"It was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking and then walking away from each other," the late actor said in an interview with CNN's Chris Wallace.

"I met my wife, Michele … while we were making the film and I changed the ending."

Their romance went on to span more than three decades, in which time they welcomed three children. Reiner also had one adopted daughter from his first marriage.

When Harry Met Sally was just one of Reiner's 30 directing credits.

Throughout his impressive career, according to IMDB, the artist also earned 90 acting credits, 55 writing credits and 32 producing credits.

All of them stand as proof of the multi-hyphenate artist's impact on Hollywood but there's one he hopes we all remember.

In one of his final interviews before his death, he was asked about the one movie he would like to be remembered for.

"I'm not expecting this to happen any time soon, Rob. You're looking like a fine, healthy figure of a man," Piers Morgan said to Reiner back in September.

"But should the moment come when we need to remember the work of Rob Reiner, which is the one [project] for you, of everything you've ever done, that you would most like to be remembered for?"

Reiner's reply was simple. 

"I mean, listen, people have their favourites. [It's] the cliche, 'We love all our children, even the bad ones,'" he said, before revealing his choice would be Stand By Me.

"I don't know that it's the best, that's for other people to decide, but it's the one that meant the most to me because it really is an extension of my personality and my sensibility," he explained.

"It has a mixture of humour and melancholy and emotion and it's something that is closest to me of all the films I've done."

There is no doubt Reiner will be remembered for Stand By Me and his dozens of other roles but his legacy extends far beyond his Hollywood roles.

He was known as a devoted activist who worked to advance causes he cared about. 

The actor and director played a major role in advancing the fight to legalise gay marriage in California, advocated for children and staunchly supported taxing the rich.

Reiner co-founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights in 2008 to help challenge the California Proposition 8 (Prop 8), which intended to ban same-sex marriage.

Through the foundation and his dedicated activism, Reiner contributed to challenging the proposition. Eventually, a 2010 trial found that Prop 8 was unconstitutional and same-sex marriage was legalised on a federal level in 2015.

"When I started speaking out about this, I said, 'Forty years from now, we'll look back on this the same way we do on women having the right to vote or on African-Americans having civil rights," Reiner wrote in a piece for Variety at the time.

"It will be kind of quaint. People will wonder what all the fuss was about. Each one of these steps makes us more one country and reminds us we are all part of the family of man."

Alongside his LGBTQ+ activism, Reiner was also a fierce advocate for children's welfare. He led the campaign to pass The Children and Families First Act which saw funding go to early childhood education and development services in California by taxing tobacco products.

He also moved to tax the rich, proposing California's Proposition 832, which would have raised the taxes for the wealthiest residents in order to fund free preschool for four year olds. 

The proposition wasn't passed but Reiner's suggestion to tax the rich struck a chord with a number of political activists. 

Following Reiner's death, California governor Gavin Newsom said: "Rob was a passionate advocate for children and for civil rights … He made California a better place through his good works".

"Rob will be remembered for his remarkable filmography and for his extraordinary contribution to humanity," he added.

The couple's son Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and has since appeared in court over their deaths.

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