Rob Reiner had reflected on the close relationship between his father, Carl Reiner, and comedian Mel Brooks in a new documentary filmed before the All in the Family star’s murder.
Rob Reiner opens up on Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks
The new two-part HBO documentary Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!, which premieres Thursday, January 22nd, includes a section in which Mel and Carl’s close bond is discussed by his son. Specifically, Rob discussed the night Carl died of a heart attack at age 98 in 2020.
“Mel was there when my dad died,” Rob says in the documentary, per People. “He just collapsed in the bathroom, and Mel came back and realized, ‘Uh oh, something’s wrong.’”
Rob explains that his father passed away soon after that. However, he stated Mel wasn’t ready to let his friend go and told the paramedics so.
“I was still hoping that they would put the stuff on him and boom, get him up,” Brooks says in the documentary.
“I kept yelling at them, ‘Keep it up, keep it up,’ and they thought I was crazy after an hour of yelling.”
As Carl’s wife, Estelle Reiner, passed away in 2008 and Brooks’ second wife, Anne Bancroft, died in 2005, the duo spent every night together eating TV-tray dinners and watching movies.
“I just didn’t want him to go. I just couldn’t — I wouldn’t accept it,” Brooks added. “I loved him so much.”
Rob had also revealed that, following his dad’s death, Mel kept up the tradition of coming over for dinner, spending the time with him and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
“He was that close to my dad, where he kept, he wanted to be close to him even when my dad was gone,” Reiner says.
“I always thought even though Mel was only like four years younger than my dad, I think he looked to my dad as a father figure.”
Rob and his wife were slayed in their Los Angeles home on Sunday, December 14th. Their son, Nick Reiner, has since been charged with the murders.
