Estelle Reiner, Orderer of Orgasms, Passes On at 94

Estelle Reiner, the woman who 20 years ago set the enduring standard for cameos by directors’ mums, has died at age 94. Wife of Carl, mother of Meathead, she rocketed to fame in 1989 as a witness to Meg Ryan’s epic fake orgasm in her son’s film When Harry Met Sally; her quip, “I’ll have what she’s having,” later ranked #33 among AFI’s Top 100 movie quotations. She’d previously appeared in small parts opposite Steve Martin (The Man With Two Brains) and Dom DeLuise (Fatso), also sustaining a late-blooming cabaret singing career on the side. Lesser known fact: Rob Reiner tells the New York Times today that his mother was the basis for Mary Tyler Moore’s Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Today, however, we remember her lunch preferences. We, too, will have what she’s having.

• Estelle Reiner, 94, Comedy Matriarch, Is Dead [NYT]