US director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife have been found dead at their home in Los Angeles.

Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner apparently died of stab wounds and a family member is being questioned, US media reported.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman were found dead inside a property, without identifying the victims. Reiner turned 78 in March.

Detectives from the LAPD Robbery Homicide Division have been assigned to the case, the force said in a statement.

LAPD Captain Mike Bland said they were investigating an “apparent homicide”.

A large police presence gathered at the house.

‘Celebrated director’

Reiner was a celebrated director whose work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s.

He directed such classics as This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men and Stand By Me.

He also acted, starring in Sleepless in Seattle and The Wolf of Wall Street among others. His most recent high-profile work was a recurring guest role in the hit show The Bear.

He met Michele Singer in 1989, while directing When Harry Met Sally. They have three children together.

Michele used to work as a photographer and took the photo of Donald Trump that appears on the cover of his book Trump: The Art Of The Deal.

A spokesperson for the Reiner family said: “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner. We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”

Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said Reiner’s death was a devastating loss for the city.

“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,” she said.

“An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”

‘Creative, funny, and beloved’

Reiner was a champion of liberal causes and a political activist.

In the 2004 presidential election, he backed Democratic candidate John Kerry and featured in advertisements taking aim at incumbent President George W Bush.

Reiner also supported Democratic presidential hopefuls Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.

Former US president Barack Obama has led the tributes. He wrote on X that “Michelle and I are heartbroken by the tragic passing of Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, Michele. Rob’s achievements in film and television gave us some of our most cherished stories on screen.”

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “It’s hard to think of anyone more remarkable and excellent in every field and endeavour they pursued.

“Rob was creative, funny, and beloved. And in all of their endeavours, Michelle was his indispensable partner, intellectual resource, and loving wife.

“Personally, Rob cared deeply about people and demonstrated that in his civic activities – whether by supporting the First 5 initiative or fighting against Prop 8 in California.

“Civically, he was a champion for the First Amendment and the creative rights of artists. And professionally, he was an iconic figure in film who made us laugh, cry and think with the movies he created.”

Actress Kathy Bates, who starred in Reiner’s film Misery, told NBC News: “I’m horrified hearing this terrible news. Absolutely devastated. I loved Rob.

“He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs.

“He changed the course of my life. Michele was a gifted photographer. She shot my beautiful photos for the Misery campaign. My heart breaks for them both. My thoughts are with their family.”

Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he has been treated for prostate cancer during the past year.

The 85-year-old singer said his cancer had “gone at the moment” and backed calls for a national screening test for men.

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, he said: “I was about to embark on a tour… I was going to Australia and New Zealand, and the promoter said ‘well we need your insurance, so you’ll need to be checked up for something’.

“They found I had a prostate with cancer, but the good fortune was, it was not very old. And the other thing is that it had not metastasized. It hadn’t moved into bones or anything like that.

“And the cancer’s gone at the moment, I don’t know whether it’s going to come back. I mean you can’t tell with those sort of things, but we need to absolutely, I’m convinced, get there, get tested, get checked.

“I think we as men… we’ve got to be seen as human beings who may die of this thing.”

Sir Cliff made the revelation in conversation with former Sky News presenter, Dermot Murnaghan, who has himself been diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.

Mr Murnaghan asked the singer whether he backed calls for a national prostate cancer screening programme, given that the disease is “the most prevalent cancer amongst men”.

Lending his support, Sir Cliff replied: “We have governments to look after our country and those who live in that country. We all deserve to have the same ability to have a test and then start the treatments really early.

“It’s only been one year now I’ve been in touch with cancer, but in point of fact, every time I’ve talked with anybody, this has come up, and so I think our government must listen to us.”

It comes after King Charles revealed he had reached a “milestone” in his own fight with cancer, and would be able to reduce his schedule of treatment in the new year.

He credited the “personal blessing” to early diagnosis when he announced the news on Friday.

He said: “Early diagnosis quite simply saves lives.

“Now, I have heard this message repeatedly during my visits to cancer centres across the country. I know too what a difference it has made in my own case, enabling me to continue leading a full and active life, even while undergoing treatment.

“Today, I am able to share with you the good news that thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to ‘doctors’ orders’, my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year.”

He continued: “This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years; testimony that I hope may give encouragement to the 50% of us who will be diagnosed with the illness at some point in our lives.”

Read more:
King ‘deeply touched’ by reaction to cancer ‘good news’
NHS to offer same-day prostate cancer diagnosis

Buckingham Palace has not revealed what kind of cancer the king has, though it is confirmed not to be prostate cancer.

Mr Murnaghan asked Sir Cliff whether his own charitable efforts could be co-ordinated with the king’s on the issue of early screening.

The pop icon replied: “I’m sure! I mean, why not? I’ve been involved with many charities over the years, and if the king is happy to front it for us, I’m sure loads of people… I certainly would join him, I’m sure you would.

“If the king is listening, then I’m sure most of us would say, yeah, we’re available.”

Last month the UK National Screening Committee decided not to recommend mass screening for prostate cancer, saying the measure was “likely to cause more harm than good”.

Instead, it proposes a targeted screening programme every two years for men with specific genetic mutations, known as BRCA-1 and BRCA-2, between the ages of 45 and 61.

Writing 26 books and a memoir in his lifetime, John le Carré is widely considered to be one of the best spy novelists of all time.

His son, Simon Cornwell, told Sky News: “I think there was only one thing that was more important to him than his family and that was his writing.”

First gaining attention in 1963 with his breakout novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, cementing his reputation 10 years later with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, his work is now enjoying a resurgence.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold has been adapted for the stage for the first time, with confirmation of a TV series to follow, while another of his works, The Night Manager, premieres its second season starring Tom Hiddleston in the new year.

There are further productions waiting in the wings, plus an unfinished le Carré play with the potential to be developed.

And archives of le Carré’s work – containing over 1,200 boxes of material – have gone on display at the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.

Writing under a pen name, le Carré, who was born David Cornwell, died in December 2020.

His elder sons, Simon and Stephen, now manage the film, TV and stage rights of his work through their studio The Ink Factory, while his youngest son, Nick, expands the George Smiley universe.

Smiley’s continuation ‘could have gone horribly wrong’

One of le Carré’s most well-known creations, Smiley was the antidote to James Bond – bespectacled, balding and a little out of shape – and a recurring character in le Carré’s books.

Simon says Nick, who has two more Smiley books in the pipeline, was “taking on a big risk” developing the character, but insists, “he is the only person who could have done it and done it that well”.

He goes on: “He could find my father’s voice… he grew up talking every day to my dad, as we did, and he just knows at an instinctive level what’s important…

“There are so many ways in which it could have gone horribly wrong, and it went brilliantly right.”

‘A family enterprise’

Explaining how they all work together – calling it a “family enterprise in the best of ways” – Simon explains: “A lot of authors, when they die, they leave very strict instructions to their children, their estate as to how things should be managed and lots of rules and restrictions and everything else. My dad didn’t do that.”

Le Carré’s fourth son, Tim, sadly died aged 59 in 2022, shortly after editing a collection of his father’s letters, titled A Private Spy.

Le Carré is by no means the only author whose legacy lives on via others.

Announcing a staggered retirement, Lee Child passed his hit creation Jack Reacher on to his younger brother Andrew in 2020.

PG Wodehouse’s much-loved Jeeves and Wooster stories have been rewritten this Christmas by celebrity fans including Frank Skinner and Alan Titchmarsh, half a century after his death.

Staying part of the conversation is key

While Ian Fleming’s James Bond has been continued by 15 authors so far, and spilling into the young adult genre, capturing a whole new generation of readers.

Mark Edlitz, intellectual expert and author of The Many Lives Of James Bond, told Sky News such continuations are essential to the survival of the work.

“We have seen all these detectives and spies who don’t have a movie series or a TV series to bolster their eyeballs, and then they fade from public view.

“These books and movies help keep the author’s work present and viable and part of the public conversation.”

Sarah Baxter, senior contracts advisor for The Society of Authors, says remaining relevant and visible has another big benefit too.

“That kind of partnership can go on to give a whole new lease of life to works that may have been written many, many years ago, and it can go on to generate a lot of income for a literary estate.”

‘An enigma’

More than 60 million copies of Le Carré’s books have been sold worldwide, with new adaptations likely to boost those sales further.

But Simon Cornwell says the investment in his father’s work is about more than just profits.

“We became very, very close as a family because he was very keen to be a proper dad and we were working with him and his material as well, so it was particularly towards the end of his life. It was a beautiful, thrilling thing.”

A master storyteller, the moral ambiguity of the fictional world he constructed reflected back on to its creator.

Simon says: “He remained an enigma. I think in some ways he was probably an enigma to himself…

“He was an extraordinary man to be close with, but do you ever understand somebody like that? Probably not.”

His work more widespread than ever, but the man himself – still a mystery.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is at @sohoplace in London’s West End to 21 February before embarking on a UK Tour.

John le Carré: Tradecraft is at the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford until 6 April.