Ghostbusters star Harold Ramis dies aged 69 Actor and director Harold Ramis, best known for the films Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, has died aged 69. The star found fame as bespectacled ghost-hunter Egon Spengler in the Ghostbusters franchise in 1984. But he was also a talented writer and director, whose credits included Caddyshack and Analyze This. He died of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, his agent told the BBC. His creativity, compassion, intelligence, humour and spirit will be missed by all who knew and loved him, said his family in a statement. Born in Chicago to convenience store owners Ruth and Nathan, Ramis studied at Washington University in Missouri and, on graduation, briefly worked in a psychiatric ward. Continue reading the main story SELECTED HAROLD RAMIS WRITING CREDITS Animal House (1978) Meatballs (1979) Caddyshack (1980) Stripes (1981) Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989) Groundhog Day (1993) He started his career as a writer by penning arts stories for his local newspaper and editing Playboy magazines party jokes section. It was amazing how many of these jokes were written in pencil on three-ring notebook paper, or came from people who were incarcerated, he told The Chicago Reader. It was also amazing how many of them dealt with farmers and farm animals. At the time - it was the late 1960s - the Playboy editors wanted to modernize the jokes a bit, to make them more counterculture. A big part of my job was changing the farmer into a swinging advertising executive. After leaving the magazine, he joined Chicagos renowned Second City improvised comedy troupe but said he realised his limitations as a performer after encountering John Belushi on the same stage. When I saw how far he was willing to go to get a laugh or to make a point on stage, the language he would use, how physical he was, throwing himself literally off the stage, taking big falls, strangling other actors, I thought: Im never going to be this big. Instead, he played the straight man - acting as a sardonic foil to Bill Murray in the 18-rated army comedy Stripes, and playing the most straitlaced and scientifically-inclined of the Ghostbusters trio. The film, a global smash in 1984, spawned a sequel in 1989 as well as a long-running cartoon series. A third instalment had been in development for several years. Ramis acknowledged that the film was his most memorable work but took pride in its longevity. People love Ghostbusters in a really big way, he said in 2009. Parents loved it for their kids. Teachers loved it. We got mail from teachers who said they loved that kids were playing Ghostbusters at recess because it was a non-violent game that didnt divide the kids into good guys and bad guys and the games were very co-operative. Its really had some power. After the success of the film, he developed his career behind the camera, directing Bill Murray in Groundhog Day and Robert De Niro in the mobster spoof Analyze This. His other films included The Ice Harvest, Bedazzled and prehistoric comedy Year One, his final movie, in 2009. He said that his time on a psychiatric ward had prepared him for directing Hollywoods elite. People laugh when I say that, but it was actually very good training, he told journalist Mike Sacks. Not just with actors; it was good training for just living in the world. Its knowing how to deal with people who might be reacting in a way thats connected to anxiety or grief or fear or rage. As a director, youre dealing with that constantly with actors. But if I were a businessman, Id probably be applying those same principles to that line of work. Film producer Brian Grazer once called him the father of the modern Hollywood comedy, saying his Animal House script was thoroughly ripped off by the Porkys series while Caddyshack was ripped off by Happy Gilmore; Ghostbusters by Men in Black; and Groundhog Day by the Adam Sandler comedy 50 First Dates. Ramis also inspired a new generation of film-makers, including Judd Apatow, who cast the director in his 2007 comedy Knocked Up. In addition to his wife, Erica, Ramis is survived by his sons Julian and Daniel, daughter Violet and two grandchildren.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 18:33:37 +0000
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