Actor and comedian Eric Idle revealed the last conversation he had with his friend Rob Reiner, just hours before the director’s death.
The Monty Python star, 82, divulged that he shared a long phone call with the Hollywood director, 78, on Saturday night, where the two discussed meeting up in the New Year.
“Rob Reiner was a lovely man,” Idle wrote on X late Sunday night. “I spoke to him last night for over an hour. I always enjoyed his company.”
The next day on Dec. 14, Reiner—who was known for directing films like When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men and Stand by Me—and his wife, Michele Singer, were found dead inside their Brentwood mansion.
“He was telling me about filming at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future,” Idle wrote in his tribute. “This is so awful. I shall miss him. A clever, talented and very thoughtful man. So awful.”
Idle, who was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, also explained in his tweet that he met Reiner in 1975 at the home of Reiner’s father, comic actor Carl Reiner.
“Last thing he said to me was, ‘See you next year,” the Daily Mail reported that Idle said, although it did not appear in his edited tweet at the time of the Beast’s reporting. “Such a terrible end. Such a sweet man.”
Paramedics were called to Reiner’s home around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, where they found a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman deceased from a knife attack. The victims were later identified as Reiner and Singer, a source confirmed to the Daily Beast.
“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner. We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time,” the family said in a statement.
The couple had three children together: Jake, Nick and Romy. The source told the Beast that the couple’s daughter, Romy, 28, found her father dead on the scene, and her mother died in the ambulance en route to the hospital.
Nick, 32, is now in the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, TMZ reported on Monday. The outlet claims that Nick Reiner was arrested and is being held with a $4 million bail.
The Daily Beast has also confirmed through online booking records that the LAPD booked a 32-year-old Nick Reiner into jail on Dec. 14. The police have yet to confirm this arrest officially.
At a Sunday night press conference, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said, “I don’t know anything about that” regarding Nick Reiner’s alleged role in the murders.
