ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Oscars’ annual In Memoriam section is always a somber segment of the awards show, but this year it was particularly difficult following the shocking and violent deaths of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer in December.

Billy Crystal, who first met Reiner in 1975 when he was cast as his best friend on an episode of “All In The Family” — and became one of his best friends in real life ever after — came on stage to talk about Reiner’s life and his work on and off the screen.

“His first film is ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ Yes! You stop right there,” Crystal said of the beloved mockumentary that opened Reiner’s directing career.

He listed more of Reiner’s credits: “Stand By Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Misery,” “A Few Good Men,” and more.

“My friend Rob’s movies will last for lifetimes, because they were about what makes us laugh and cry, and what we aspired to be — far better, far kinder, far funnier and far more human.”

Crystal mentioned Singer and Reiner’s work together — not just in film, but in civil rights work, including their role as “the driving force in the landmark decision for marriage equality across the United States,” Crystal said.

“Their loss is immeasurable,” he continued. “And to the millions who have enjoyed his films all these years, here and around the world, I want you to know how many times Rob told me that it meant everything that his work meant something to you.

“And for those of us who knew him and worked with him, all we can say is, ‘Buddy, what fun we had storming the castle.’"

Actors from some of Reiner’s films, among them Meg Ryan, John Cusack and Kiefer Sutherland, lined up across the stage as the rest of the In Memoriam began.

Among the slideshow of actors, executives, crew members and more who died in the last year, a few special moments stood out. Rachel McAdams came out to speak of the many beloved actresses, including Diane Keaton and Catherine O’Hara, who died in the past year.

And Barbra Streisand made an appearance to remember her longtime friend and castmate Robert Redford, with whom she starred in “The Way We Were.”

“I’m thrilled that ‘The Way We Were’ is now considered a classic love story,” she said. “But it’s also about a dark time in our history, the late ’40s and early ’50s, when people were informing on each other and subject to loyalty oaths.

“Bob had real backbone on and off the screens. He spoke up to defend freedom of the press, protect the environment, and encourage new voices at his Sundance Institute.

“He was thoughtful and bold,” Streisand said, adding that to her, he was “an intellectual cowboy.”

“And I miss him now more than ever,” she continued. “Even though he loved teasing me. He’d call me Babs, and I’d say, Bob, you know, do i look like a Babs? I’m not a Babs. But the way he said it made me laugh.”

Years later, in a phone call not too long before Redford’s death, he signed off by telling Streisand, “Babs, I love you dearly and I always will.”

“And in the last note I ever wrote to Bob, I ended it with ‘I love you, too,’ and I signed it Babs,” Streisand said before singing a portion of the theme song for “The Way We Were.”

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