Michele Singer Reiner, who died Sunday in Los Angeles alongside her husband of three decades, Rob Reiner, was an accomplished producer, actor and photographer and collaborated with Reiner on many of his most famous projects.
Singer Reiner began her career as a photographer, working on the “MysteryDisc” video games and the thriller “Misery,” which Reiner directed. She also acted, starring in the Nora Ephron holiday movie “Mixed Nuts,” and produced several Reiner films including “Shock and Awe” and “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which was released this year.
Singer Reiner was nominated for an Emmy for the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life,” which she produced and her husband directed. She also produced “God & Country,” a documentary about Christian nationalism in the United States.
Reiner and Singer Reiner met on the set of the iconic romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally,” and Reiner has said their romance inspired the film’s heartwarming ending.
Harry and Sally were originally going to part ways, Reiner told CNN in 2024.
“It was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking and then walking away from each other,” Reiner said. At that point, Reiner had been single for years and wasn’t sure he’d ever find love again.
But then he met Singer Reiner and had a change of heart. He was introduced to her by the cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, and was “attracted immediately,” he recalled to the New York Times.
The romantic comedy instead ends with Harry declaring his love for Sally at a New Year’s Eve party and the two of them getting married.
Singer Reiner and Reiner wed in 1989, the year the film came out, and went on to have three children together: Jake, Nick and Romy.
In a 2024 interview with Senior Planet, Reiner credited their enduring marriage to their close friendship. “We get along just great and enjoy each other’s company,” he said.
Outside of their work in Hollywood, the Reiners were passionate advocates for marriage equality and early childhood development, among other causes. They helped found the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which fought against Prop 8, a proposed ban to same-sex marriage in California.
In a conversation with Stephen Colbert at the Montclair Film Festival in 2016, Reiner said Singer Reiner motivated his activism work.
“I can honestly say the reason I’ve done as many things in the political sphere is largely because of her,” he said, joking, “She is my Bunsen burner that lights the flame in my ass.”
