Billy Crystal recalled the final conversation he had with longtime friend Rob Reiner hours before the famed director’s death.
“We had spent the night before together and [were] talking about our careers together,” Crystal, 78, said during his Tuesday, April 14, appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “We were talking about the movie business and how it’s changed and how people don’t go to theaters like they used to.”
He continued, “We talked about the fact that you can’t control how a movie is going to do. What you can control is the experience of making it.”
Crystal reflected on the “extraordinary” moments he shared with Reiner.
“He said, ‘That’s something you always have.’ Hits are great to have, but it’s the people that you hold on to,” Crystal recalled. “I kept that in my heart.”
Crystal also remembered Reiner as a “hilarious, devoted, opinionated” person.
“There are so many moments that I just — when something good happens or ‘Isn’t that crazy?’ — I want to pick up the phone and call,” Crystal said. “Because that’s what we would do.”
Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner, died at ages 78 and 70, respectively, in December 2025. Their son Nick Reiner was arrested in connection to their deaths but pleaded not guilty. He is currently awaiting trial.
“It’s a profound loss for — I’m just going to say humanity, because he was the most human person that I ever met,” Crystal said on Tuesday.
Inside Billy Crystal and Late Rob Reiner’s Friendship Over the Years
Crystal honored Rob at the 2026 Oscars last month alongside several Hollywood stars who worked with the famed director throughout his career. Crystal said on Tuesday that he called Academy Awards host Conan O’Brien with an idea for the tribute.
“His first seven movies were incredibly different and so great,” Crystal said. “I can get the cast of those movies together to walk out with me, that would have made him really smile.”
He added, “So I got in touch with all of them. The Academy was great in getting most of them there. … We were able to hold hands and walk out there in tribute with a beautiful picture of Rob and Michelle because they were our closest friends.”
Crystal met Rob in 1975 while starring together on All in the Family. They played best friends on the show and continued that relationship in real life.
“It was a thrill to see him evolve from a great comic actor to a skilled storyteller,” Crystal said during his Oscars tribute. “For us, who had the privilege of working with and knowing him and loving him, all we can say is, ‘Buddy, what fun we had storming the castle.’”
