In a tribute post, Jerry Seinfeld said Rob Reiner “had the biggest influence on my career.”
Honoring the legendary director and actor just hours after his death on Sunday, Seinfeld credited Reiner with saving his now-legendary sitcom from cancellation in its early days. As the story goes, Reiner personally vouched for the show to NBC executives.
“[Seinfeld] would have never happened without him. He saw something no one else could. When nobody at the network liked the early episodes, he saved us from cancellation,” Seinfeld wrote.
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“That I was working with Carl Reiner’s son, who happened to be one of the kindest people in show business, seemed unreal. I was naive at the time to how much his passion for us meant,” Seinfeld added.
Seinfeld also said Reiner’s marriage to his wife Michele Singer “became an imprint for me of how it’s supposed to work, each one broadening the other. Their death, together, is impossibly sad.”
Check out our list of Reiner’s 10 best movies as well as Wren Graves’ touching essay titled “Rob Reiner Was the American Everyman.”
