Soon after the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife and producing partner Michele was revealed on Dec. 14, the biggest names in liberal politics sought to connect the humanism of his creative footprint in the entertainment industry with his consequential policy advocacy over the past several decades.
“Beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people — and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action,” Barack Obama explained. Gavin Newsom noted that he’d been “a passionate advocate for children and for civil rights,” Kamala Harris said he “cared deeply about the future of our nation,” and Bill and Hillary Clinton together extolled Reiner’s “active citizenship in defense of inclusive democracy.”
Reiner left a significant legacy as an iconic actor, director and producer. But it may be rivaled by his efforts as a progressive activist and pillar of what in recent years has become an epithet — Hollywood liberalism — that leaves the most lasting mark.
The couple’s involvement in public policy began with a cold call to Tipper Gore in 1994. They’d become focused on finding ways to improve early childhood development. Soon Reiner had a meeting with President Clinton and, in time, a White House conference.
Reiner became the key force behind Proposition 10, a 1998 California ballot measure which levied a tax on tobacco products to pay for a variety of early childhood programs across the state, many of which are still in existence today. “Nobody had ever proposed something of this magnitude before,” says Zev Yaroslavsky, a former Los Angeles County supervisor who now runs a policy institute at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. “That was his baby, and it’s made a huge difference that’s helped hundreds of thousands of kids.”
Reiner was also a key player in the fight for same-sex marriage. “Rob and Michele thought deeply about how do you improve society in a durable and sustainable way,” recalls Kris Perry, one of the lead plaintiffs in the federal case that overturned California’s Proposition 8.
Ken Mehlman, the former George W. Bush and Republican National Committee operative, served on the board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights with Reiner: “Rob was smart and creative — highly effective at identifying ways to overturn Prop 8. He brought to every discussion an eye and mind of how to help us tell our story.” One Reiner idea put to action: court-transcript readings held in community theaters in states where same-sex marriage was on the ballot.
Lara Bergthold, a veteran consultant who worked closely with Reiner when she ran Norman Lear’s political operation, observes, “he was interested in strategy and messaging. He was driven by passion and backed by research — an unstoppable combination.”
Reiner’s advocacy also focused on the environment, from climate change to land conservation. He was a key figure in the successful 1990s campaign to preserve 3,000 acres of pristine Southern California wildlands, then known as Ahmanson Ranch, from commercial development in the Santa Monica Mountains.
“Ahmanson Ranch was one of the best examples of what Rob could do,” explains Joel Reynolds, senior institutional strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “He motivated people, elevated the profile of the issue and had the capacity to generate and maintain opposition — through his tremendous network, with friends in high places — at a level that even a company as big as [landowner] Washington Mutual decided it was too big a risk to move forward. Rob made the difference in stopping this mega development.”
Reiner credited Michele for his energetic activism. “The reason I’ve done as many things in the political sphere is largely because of her,” he told Stephen Colbert in 2016. “She is my Bunsen burner that lights the flame in my ass.”
Reiner considered a gubernatorial run against Schwarzenegger in 2006, then opted against it, citing the toll it would take on his children, who were still school-aged. Nine years later, Reiner released Being Charlie, co-written by his son Nick, who has been arrested in his parents’ killing. It was about the struggles of a young addict as his father, a Hollywood star, ran for California governor.
Donald Trump’s ascendance to the White House — first in 2016 and then again last year — challenged Hollywood’s liberal political establishment. In 2017, Reiner and his wife helped launch the Committee to Investigate Russia, focused on compiling information about apparent Russian interference in American elections, which the president has often referred to as a hoax. Reiner later revealed he was developing a limited series about the relationship between Trump and Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin.
On social media following Reiner’s death, the President said his death was a result of the “anger he caused others” through “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” That post has prompted considerable criticism within the Republican Party.
Since Trump’s reelection, colleagues like Perry had noticed a retrenchment in the Reiners’ political activity. “I sensed a shift in their priorities,” she says. But the long arc of the couple’s policy achievements was already secured. Bruce Cohen — the Oscar-winning producer and president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which Reiner co-founded — explains that “Rob brought his full self to his activism. He cared about giving people dignity. That’s what this work was about for him.”
This story appeared in the Dec. 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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