Estelle Reiner, who died on October 25 aged 94, uttered one of the most famous lines in modern cinema – as a customer in a New York deli in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally she observed Meg Ryan's character faking an orgasm at a nearby table and told the waiter asking for her order: "I'll have what she's having."
The line makes the scene, lifting it above the crude, and has become this romantic comedy's best-remembered moment. Estelle Reiner – who appeared only in that one cameo – was the mother of the film's director, Rob Reiner, and married to the actor, director and producer Carl Reiner, famous for his partnership with Mel Brooks.
She used the fame bestowed on her by her scene in When Harry Met Sally to embark, in her mid-seventies, on a career as a jazz singer, recording and performing until last year.
She was born Estelle Lebost in the Bronx on June 5 1914, and as a girl spent much of her time at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem; she was also offered spots singing on the radio. Having studied at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan she joined the Sperry Corporation as its first female isometric draughtsman, preparing blueprints for submarines and aircraft.
On Christmas Eve 1943 she married Carl Reiner, eight years her junior, who was on Army leave and had given up repairing sewing-machines to seek a career in showbusiness.
As his career prospered Estelle brought up their two sons and one daughter in Beverly Hills. Later there were occasional film parts. Mel Brooks's wife, Anne Bancroft, gave her a part in Fatso (1979). She also appeared in her husband's picture The Man With Two Brains, with Steve Martin, and was Gruba in Mel Brooks's serviceable remake of To Be or Not to Be (both 1983).
As a singer, Estelle had recorded an album, Just In Time, in 1984. Thanks to the scintilla of fame which followed her small triumph in When Harry Met Sally she was able to record a further six. She also performed at clubs in New York and Los Angeles, delivering a nifty version of Don't You Feel My Leg. If heckled, she gave as good as she got, demanding of her tormentors: "Don't you ever go to the men's room?"
Estelle Reiner is survived by her husband and by their three children.
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