Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan will reportedly reunite at the 98th Academy Awards for a tribute to their late When Harry Met Sally director Rob Reiner.
Oscars producers are making a significant change to this year’s In Memoriam segment, where Hollywood looks back at the actors and creatives who died in the past year, according to a Wednesday, March 4, report from Variety. Crystal, 77, is expected to discuss his friendship with Reiner, while Ryan, 64, and several other stars from the late director’s movies appear on stage at the March 15 gala.
Us Weekly has reached out to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for comment.
Rob and his wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead with multiple stab wounds in their Brentwood, California home in December 2025. They were 78 and 70, respectively. Rob and Michele’s son, Nick Reiner, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances in connection with his parents’ death. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently being held without bond while he awaits trial.
Meg Ryan Breaks Silence on ‘Impossible Tragedy’ of Rob Reiner’s Death
Crystal was spotted at the crime scene hours after the Reiners’ bodies were discovered and was reportedly quite emotional as he left the premises.
When Harry Met Sally was a career breakthrough for both Crystal and Ryan, as they played two singles slowly discovering their true love for each other over 12 years of friendship. The 1989 comedy made $193 million at the box office and was subsequently ranked as the 23rd greatest comedy of all time on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years… 100 Laughs” countdown in 2000. Rob famously changed the ending of the iconic rom-com after he met Michele.
In December 2025, Billy and his wife, Janice Crystal, joined several of the Reiners’ closest friends — including Larry David, Martin Short and Albert Brooks — to pen a powerful statement honoring the late couple.
“Absorbing all he had learned from his father Carl [Reiner] and his mentor Norman Lear, Rob Reiner not only was a great comic actor, he became a master storyteller,” Crystal and friends wrote on December 16, 2025. “There is no other director who has his range. From comedy to drama to ‘mockumentary’ to documentary, he was always at the top of his game. He charmed audiences. They trusted him. They lined up to see his films.”
Their statement went on, “His comedic touch was beyond compare, his love of getting the music of the dialogue just right and his sharpening of the edge of a drama was simply elegant. For the actors, he loved them. For the writers, he made them better. His greatest gift was freedom. If you had an idea, he listened, he brought you into the process. They always felt they were working as a team. To be in his hands as a filmmaker was a privilege, but that is only part of his legacy.”
The 98th Academy Awards will air live Sunday, March 15, on ABC and streaming live on Hulu from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, with Conan O’Brien as host.
