The actor could not hold back his emotions while talking about the last conversation he had with Rob Reiner, before the filmmaker was brutally murdered.
Billy Crystal was a guest on the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” last Tuesday and could not hold back his emotions as he spoke about the last conversation he had with filmmaker Rob Reiner, one of his closest friends.
Reiner and his wife were murdered in their home in Los Angeles on December 14, 2025. Nick Reiner, one of the couple’s children, was arrested the day after his parents’ deaths and charged with both murders.
Crystal, 78, became choked up as he recalled what he and Reiner talked about during the Christmas party at Conan O’Brien’s house on the night before the deaths.
“We had spent the previous evening together, talking about our careers,” the actor and comedian told Colbert.
“We talked about the film industry and how it has changed. And how people don’t go to the movies like they used to,” he said. “We talked about the fact that you can’t control a film’s performance. What you can control is the experience of making it.”
Crystal described Reiner as “hilarious, dedicated and opinionated”: “We could talk about anything. He was like an uncle to my children,” he revealed.
“There are so many moments when I just — when something good happens or ‘Isn’t this amazing?’ — want to pick up the phone and call. Because that’s what we would do.”
For Crystal, who paid a beautiful tribute to Reiner at the 98th Academy Awards in March this year, his friend’s death was a profound loss for humanity: “He was the most human person I’ve ever known,” he concluded.
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