Eric Idle reveals he spoke to Rob Reiner hours before he died

Eric Idle has revealed that he spoke to late filmmaker Rob Reiner hours before he died on Sunday.

The Princess Bride filmmaker, 78, and his photographer wife Michele Singer, 68, were found dead from apparent stab wounds at their home in Brentwood, Los Angeles on Sunday. Their deaths are being investigated as homicides.

Amid the outpouring of tributes to Reiner on social media, Monty Python star Idle revealed that he spoke to the This Is Spinal Tap actor-director on the phone hours before his passing.

"Rob Reiner was a lovely man. I spoke to him last night for over an hour," he revealed on X. "I always enjoyed his company. I met him at his Dad's in 1975. He was telling me about (filming) at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future. This is so awful. I shall miss him. A clever, talented and very thoughtful man. So awful."

Idle was referring to Reiner and his Spinal Tap stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer filming a concert at the legendary Stonehenge formation in Wiltshire, England in August.

The concert footage was expected to appear in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which was released in September, and is now Reiner's final film before his death. However, it was later revealed they had made a follow-up film, Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale, which will be released in 2026. Reiner completed the project before his death, according to IMDb.

Reiner, whose father was actor Carl Reiner, was friends with many of the former Monty Python comedy troupe.

In 2023, it was announced that he and his wife were developing a reboot of John Cleese's hit sitcom Fawlty Towers, with Cleese set to write and star alongside his daughter Camilla Cleese.