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Much-loved writer, producer, director, actor, quiz host … and creator of a style of comedy stamped indelibly on US television and film

Carl Reiner dies aged 98
Hadley Freeman meets Reiner and Brooks, February 2020
A life in pictures

As the 21st-century dawned, it had looked as if comedy legend Carl Reiner’s final moment in the spotlight might be his small bittersweet role in Steven Soderbergh’s heist caper remake Ocean’s Eleven in 2001. He played Saul Bloom, the elderly conman and droll mentor to the two dudes in charge: Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), a role he reprised in two sequels. When Rusty initially tries to engineer a surprise meeting with Saul at the racetrack for recruitment purposes, it is Saul who catches Rusty unawares, tolerant but unimpressed. “I saw you at the paddock before the second race, outside the men’s room when I placed my bet. I saw you before you even got up this morning.” And he isn’t tempted when Rusty asks what he would want to get involved: “Nothing. I’ve got a duplex now, I’ve got wall-to-wall and a goldfish. I’m seeing a nice lady who works the unmentionables counter at Macy’s. I’ve changed.” Continue reading...