Eric Idle has shared that he was in conversation with Rob Reiner just hours before the acclaimed director and his wife were tragically discovered dead in their Los Angeles home.

The 82-year-old Monty Python icon mentioned that they had discussed plans to meet in the New Year during a heartfelt, hour-long phone call on Saturday night.

The following day, the bodies of Rob and Michele Reiner were found, both reportedly suffering from knife wounds. Authorities are currently questioning a family member in connection with the incident, according to insider reports.

Idle expressed his sorrow over the passing of his dear friend, whom he described as a kind and gentle soul.

“Rob Reiner was a truly wonderful person,” Idle reflected. “We spoke for over an hour last night. I always cherished his company.”

‘Last thing he said to me was “See you next year..” Such a terrible end. Such a sweet man’, he said.

He recalled having met Reiner at his father Carl Reiner’s home in 1975.

‘He was telling me about filming at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future,’ he wrote. ‘This is so awful. I shall miss him. A clever, talented and very thoughtful man. So awful’, Idle tweeted.

The Reiner mansion is sealed off by police today. 

The 78-year-old made many of the best-known movies of the 1980s and 1990s, including Stand By Me in 1987, legal thriller A Few Good Men in 1992 and romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally in 1989. 

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) was called to Mr and Mrs Reiner’s  home at about 3.30pm on Sunday and found a man, 78, and a woman, 68, dead in the property.

Sources confirmed the victims were Rob and Michele Reiner and that they had suffered stab wounds.

Detectives are treating the incident as homicide and a family member is being questioned by investigators, an official told the Associated Press. There are no arrests.

The couple’s daughter Romy, who lives just across the street, is said to have made the grim discovery when she visited their sprawling six-bedroom estate yesterday afternoon.

Romy has a brother, Nick, 32. He has previously spoken about his struggles with drug addiction and bouts of homelessness. A Reiner family spokesperson confirmed the deaths, saying: ‘It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,’ they said. ‘We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.’

Earlier this month Romy revealed she was thankful for ‘family and health’ and recently shared pictures of her swimming in the sea with her father. As well as Nick, their other sibling is Jake Reiner, who is a news reporter in Houston, Texas.

Reiner also adopted another daughter, Tracy Reiner, with his first wife Penny Marshall. 

Los Angeles Police Department detectives say the deaths are being investigated as homicides, and a heavy police presence was at the home on Sunday evening. 

A neighbor told ABC7 that Larry David and Billy Crystal — who starred in Reiner’s rom-com classic When Harry Met Sally — visited the crime scene separately, and Crystal allegedly ‘looked like he was about to cry’ before he left.

Reiner and his wife reportedly lived in the home, and property records obtained by the Daily Mail indicate that they are the owners.

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Reiner and the LAPD for comment. 

In a press conference, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said a suspect in the murders had not yet been identified. He added that no one had yet been interviewed as a suspect and that no one was in custody.

‘We’re going to try to speak to every family member that we can to get to the facts of this investigation,’ Hamilton continued.

He noted that the bodies were still in the home, as police were waiting on a warrant to reenter the home and begin their investigation after determining that there was no further threat.

Hamilton added that the home was in the exact same state that it had been after police first arrived to find the bodies. 

The LAPD declined to identify the bodies, as that information will be officially announced by the LA County Coroner. 

LAFD paramedics were dispatched to the mansion on Chadbourne Avenue at 3.38pm.

Just minutes after arriving, LAFD members on the scene reportedly called LAPD officers to the scene in an ‘ambulance death investigation.’ 

In a statement, LA Mayor Karen Bass said she was ‘heartbroken’ by the Reiners’ deaths, calling them ‘a devastating loss for our city and our country.’ 

‘Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,’ Bass said

In September, Reiner released Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, the sequel to his iconic 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, which he co-wrote, directed and appeared in. 

Reiner followed his father, the comic actor and filmmaker Carl Reiner — who died in 2020 at 98 — into Hollywood, where he became known as an actor, director and a tireless champion of liberal politics.

Rob Reiner first emerged as an actor and is best known for his role as Michael ‘Meathead’ Stivic on All In The Family.

He won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for five Golden Globes during his stint on the series from 1971 to 1978. 

Reiner helped reinvent his career in the 1980s with his forward-looking comedy This Is Spinal Tap, which would go on to inspire countless mockumentaries. 

He became one of Hollywood’s most in-demand directors for the next two decades due to classics and box office hits, including Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), Misery (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), The American President (1995) and The Bucket List (2007). 

Despite focusing his efforts on directing, Reiner continued to act in his later years, including a role as the father of Leonardo DiCaprio’s lead character in Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013), as well as later roles in his own film And So It Goes (2014), the Adam Sandler–starring comedy Sandy Wexler (2017) and, most recently, his Spinal Tap sequel. 

Reiner’s 1989 film When Harry Met Sally is widely considered one of the greatest romantic comedies ever made.

It was on the set of that film that Reiner met his future wife, the photographer Michele Singer. The two were married in 1989 and went on to welcome three children: Jake, Nick and Romy.

Reiner was previously married to the late actress and filmmaker Penny Marshall, and he adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Marshall died in 2018 at 75. 

Reiner’s son Nick Reiner, 32, has previously spoken about his struggles with drug addiction and bouts of homelessness. 

In 2016, Rob directed the film Being Charlie, a semi-autobiographical drama written by Nick that he said was inspired by his numerous rehab visits, the first of which was around when he turned 15. 

‘I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas,’ Nick recalled while speaking about the film in a 2016 interview with People. ‘I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun.’

Nick, who said he had gone to rehab 17 more times as of 2016, also claimed to have lived on the streets after he refused to go back to a rehab program. 

In 2016, when he was 22, he said that his last rehab stint had been three years earlier.

He said at the time of Being Charlie’s release that he hoped to stay off drugs so that he would never be homeless again.

‘When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. You roll the dice and you hope you make it,’ he told People.

In an interview with the BUILD series while promoting Being Charlie in 2016, Nick said that he ‘didn’t bond’ well with his father, who sat by his side during the interview, when he was younger.

‘It really clicked for me because we didn’t bond a lot as a kid,’ Nick said. ‘He really liked baseball, I liked basketball, and he could watch that with my brother — baseball — but I just, when I saw [Rob Reiner direct Being Charlie], it was something that I’m interested in. 

‘I was like, “Wow, he really knows a lot,” and it made me feel closer to him,’ Nick said at the time.

Earlier this month, Reiner’s daughter Romy shared an update on her life, along with sweet snaps with her father.

‘Thankful for family, health, and followers of any age. Not thankful for the president and the state of our country,’ she wrote on Instagram.

Her apparent swipe at Trump reflected Reiner’s own political beliefs. The staunch Democrat had railed against a Trump presidency and repeatedly endorsed liberal candidates. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom, former presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former president Barack Obama were among the Democrats to pay tribute to Reiner on Sunday night. 

‘Jen and I are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner,’ Newsom wrote.

He went on to describe the world-renowned director ‘the big-hearted genius behind so many of the classic stories we love, with products as wide ranging as The Princess Bride to A Few Good Men.

‘His boundless empathy made his stories timeless, teaching generations how to see goodness and righteousness in others – and encouraging us to dream bigger.’

Newsom praised his ongoing advocacy for ‘children and civil rights’, highlighting some of the causes he was most passionate about.  

‘From taking on Big Tobacco, fighting for marriage equality to serving as a powerful voice in early education, he made California a better place through his good works.’

He said Reiner ‘will be remembered for his remarkable filmography and for his extraordinary contribution to humanity.’

Obama said his ‘achievements in film and television gave us some of our most cherished stories on screen.

‘But 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.

‘Together, he and his wife lived lives defined by purpose. They will be remembered for their values they championed and the countless people they inspired. We send our deepest condolences to all who loved them.’

Actor-filmmaker Ben Stiller, who has been on record calling Reiner a major influence in his career, called the deaths ‘a huge loss. 

He added, ‘Rob Reiner was one of my favorite directors. He made some of the most formative movies for my generation. He came out from behind a huge comedic shadow of the great Carl Reiner and being a tv actor to being a great director who made an incredible run of movies.’

Stiller said he felt that ‘Spinal Tap is one of the best comedies ever made – and the list goes on.’

He concluded by saying of Reiner, ‘He was a kind caring person who was really really funny. I didn’t know him well but was always a fan and I feel a real sadness for those who did, and his family. 

Corey Feldman, who appeared in 1986’s Stand By Me directed by Reiner, expressed his sadness at the death of the filmmaker. 

Stand By Me’s John Cusack said, ‘Shocked by the death of Rob Reiner – a great man.’