Rob Reiner’s UCLA journey: From theater student to the university’s highest honor

Rob Reiner's connection to UCLA spanned decades, from his student days in the university's theater program in the 1960s to receiving the UCLA Medal, the institution's highest honor, in recognition of his contributions to film, public service and child advocacy.

The legendary actor, director and political activist and his wife, Michele Springer Reiner, were found dead Dec. 14 at their Brentwood, California, home in what police are calling a homicide.

Reiner as a student: Improv, The Doors and getting booted from Royce Hall

Reiner was a student in the theater program of what was then the UCLA Department of Theater Arts - later to become the School of Theater, Film and Television - from 1964 to 1966. And although he left the university before earning his degree, his years as a Bruin had a formative influence on him. In 2024, on the "Armchair Expert"podcast hosted by actor and comedian Dax Shepard, a fellow UCLA alum, Reiner reminisced about those times.

"There were a lot of heavyweight people," he said. He was following, he recalled, in the footsteps of Francis Ford Coppola, who had just completed a master's degree, and was classmates of film students Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, later to form The Doors, as well as actor Richard Dreyfuss, with whom he founded a campus-based improv group called The Session that would practice, surreptitiously, in the basement of Royce Hall - a group that also included actor and screenwriter Larry Bishop and Phil Mishkin, who would become one of Reiner's TV writing partners.

That was "until the cops found us," Reiner told Shepard. "They kicked us out."

Not long after, his career would take off - from an early writing gig on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" to an Emmy-winning role as Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the sitcom "All in the Family" and ultimately to worldwide recognition as director of some of the best-loved comedic and dramatic films, including "This Is Spinal Tap," "The Princess Bride," "A Few Good Men," "The American President" and "When Harry Met Sally," which was entered into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2022.

UCLA Medal: Honoring Rob Reiner's activism and commitment to child welfare

Along the way, Reiner became a committed activist on behalf of environmental issues, gay rights, mental health awareness and early childhood development. In 1997, he and Singer launched the I Am Your Child campaign and foundation, recognizing the detriments of inadequate child care, poverty and insufficient attention to children's needs and highlighting the importance of early childhood development as a state and national priority.

In California, he played a major role in the passage of Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Initiative in 1998, which taxed tobacco products to fund health, education and support services for young children in the first five years of life.From 1999 to 2006, he served as chair of First 5 California, the organization tasked with directing the initiative's policies and overseeing the allocation of state funds for child services to counties across the state.

Reiner's campaigns drew heavily on the research of early childhood specialists like Neal Halfon,director of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities,who helped create school centers that served as a model for First 5's investments.

In honor of his efforts, Reiner was invited to deliver the 2000 commencement address to graduates of the UCLA School of Public Health and was awarded the UCLA Medal,the university's highest honor, which recognizes leaders in government, education, science, industry, the arts and culture and individuals who have worked to advance UCLA's mission. Former President Jimmy Carter was honored the same year.

"Rob Reiner's efforts to improve the lives of America's children through the rapidly expanding educational efforts of I Am Your Child mirror his widely recognized dedication to his craft in the film and television industry," Abdelmonem Afifi, then the dean of the School of Public Health, said at the time. "The UCLA Medal is a fitting tribute to Mr. Reiner's record of public service."

► List of all UCLA Medal recipients

Continuing support for UCLA initiatives and other programs

Reiner, who also served on the advisory board of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, would return to campus frequently in support of UCLA and other initiatives over the years, co-chairing a gala honoring UCLA's Early Care and Education programin 2004, and returning to Royce Hall - where he was once kicked out - to emcee the Natural Resources Defense Council's first Los Angeles fundraiser in 2000 and to receive, with his son Nick Reiner, a Voice Award from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2016 for their work on the film "Being Charlie," a film inspired by Nick's recovery from addiction.