Thursday, October 30, 2008

Estelle Reiner: 1914-2008

Estelle Reiner, best known for delivering one of the funniest punch lines in film history, passed away last Saturday. She was 94.

The wife of Carl Reiner (she was the inspiration for the character of Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show), her brief but memorable cameo in her son Rob's 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally ... made her a star. Her only line in the movie -- "I'll have what she's having", quipped in response to Meg Ryan's infamous fake orgasm in the middle of a New York deli -- was named one of the top 100 movie quotes by the American Film Institute in 2005.

In addition to roles in Fatso, The Man with Two Brains and To Be or Not To Be, Reiner was also an artist and jazz singer, a career she began at the age of 65.

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