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(CNN) - Carl Reiner, the writer, actor, director, and producer whose credits for many decades, including "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The 2000-Year-Old Man," showed clever wit and a generous spirit, died This Monday, as announced by his son, director Rob Reiner, in a tweet.
"My dad passed away last night," wrote Rob Reiner. “As I write this my heart hurts. It was my guiding light. "
His career spanned live television, Broadway, movies, album albums, and a variety of special appearances. He was a performer and writer on the legendary "Your Show of Shows". He created "The Dick Van Dyke Show", one of the greatest comedies in history, which was based on his life as a comedy writer.
Her routine with comedian and director Mel Brooks, called "The 2000-Year-Old Man", which began in the 1950s, was immortalized on several comedy albums. The act, about a journalist interviewing a 2000-year-old man about his life, is still memorized and repeated by comedians of the past and present, loved for his giddy humor, absurd twists, and obvious camaraderie between the couple.
But unlike Brooks, who was often the center of attention in whatever he was doing, Reiner preferred to play a straight man or work behind the scenes.
He participated in many scripts on the "Dick Van Dyke Show" and occasionally appeared as a supporting character, grumpy TV presenter Alan Brady. He had a career as a film director with movies like "Oh, God!" (1977) and "The Jerk" (1979).
Brooks praised him for his comic intelligence.
“The real engine behind ('The 2000 year old man) is Carl, not me. I'm only charging, ”he told the AV Club. "People should know that he is the most important on the spot."