- - Rob Reiner Planned Heartfelt Tribute to Late “Stand by Me Star ”River Phoenix Before His Own Tragic Death (Exclusive)

Angela AndaloroDecember 16, 2025 at 12:02 AM

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John Nacion/Variety via Getty; Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Rob Reiner (left), River Phoenix -

The Stand By Me film family has suffered another difficult loss with the death of Rob Reiner

The surviving cast members recently spoke with PEOPLE about how Reiner encouraged them to do something special to keep River Phoenix's memory alive on their anniversary reunion tour celebrating the 1986 film

Reiner, 78, and wife Michele were killed in their California home on Dec. 14

Rob Reiner was responsible for so much of the heart in Stand by Me.

The cast of the 1986 film, which starred Jerry O’Connell, Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, and Corey Feldman as a group of friends on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, was directed by the late multi-hyphenate.

Recently, O'Connell, Wheaton and Feldman began the first leg of a reunion tour that saw them bring screenings of and discussions about the film to different cities. Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of their first tour date, Wheaton shared how Reiner, who has died at age 78, was instrumental in one of their most important decisions — how to best honor Phoenix, who died in 1993 at the age of 23.

"When we all got together, gosh, I guess 10 years ago for the 30th anniversary, we all looked around, and Rob Reiner said, 'I feel like there should be a chair here for him,' " Wheaton shared.

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"So when we go on this tour, it's one of the first things we talked about. There's a chair for River on that stage. And I thought it was really great that the three of us brought that up independently of discussing it with each other, that we just wanted to remember him and put a place for him there while we're all remembering all of this."

"I think that's going to be really emotional for us, him not being there. We're going to honor him in some way, but I want to save that for the show and people who come see the show, but we have a way to honor him," O'Connell added.

The three actors all shared tributes to Reiner upon hearing that he and wife Michele were killed in their Brentwood, CA home on Dec. 14.

On threads, Wheaton wrote, "I'm heartbroken. That's all I have to say right now."

Feldman took to Twitter to share, "OMG this is horrible news! I'm so sorry 4 Rob & his wife, & their children & the whole Reiner family! All I can say is I'm shocked & saddened, but I #LOVE u Rob! U will b 4ever missed!"

O'Connell spoke about the loss on Monday on CBS Mornings, sharing, "It’s shock. The whole weekend seemed completely surreal, Gayle. But this one was really shocking and how the news sort of trickled out… it started off saying there were two deceased people at an address matching Rob’s. And of course, I’m very close with the guys that were in Stand by Me, with Will Wheaton and Corey Feldman. And I called our other boss, Rob’s partner at Castle Rock and said, ‘I’m so sorry to call you,'" he shared.

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"And he said — you know, we didn’t have news. We said, ‘I think it’s them.’ The ages matched. They described them as two people of a certain age. Just really surreal and still in shock, to be honest."

O'Connell praised Reiner for being "like a father" to him, later adding, "Everything I have is because of Rob Reiner. Everything I have. It’s just a sad, shocking sad."

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”