Harold Ramis

American actor, comedian, and filmmaker (1944–2014)

Harold Ramis

Ramis in 2009

Born|

Harold Allen Ramis

(1944-11-21)November 21, 1944

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Died| February 24, 2014(2014-02-24) (aged 69)

Glencoe, Illinois, U.S.

Resting place| Shalom Memorial Park, Arlington Heights, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater| Washington University in St. Louis
Occupations|

* Actor
* comedian
* filmmaker

Years active| 1968–2010
Spouses|

* Anne Plotkin

(m. 1967; div. 1984)​

* Erica Mann

(m. 1989)​

Children| 4

Harold Allen Ramis (/ˈreɪmɪs/; November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His film acting roles include Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), and as Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981); he also co-wrote those films. As a director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, as well as a co-writer of Groundhog Day and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). The final film that he wrote, produced, directed, and acted in was Year One (2009).

Ramis's films influenced subsequent generations of comedians, comedy writers and actors.[1] Filmmakers and actors including Jay Roach, Jake Kasdan, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Peter and Bobby Farrelly have listed his films among their favorites.[1] Along with Danny Rubin, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for Groundhog Day.[2]

## Early life[edit]

Ramis was born on November 21, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois,[3] the son of Ruth (née Cokee) (1919–2001) and Nathan Ramis (1915–2009), who owned the Ace Food & Liquor Mart on the city's West Side.[1] Ramis had a Jewish upbringing.[4][5][6][7] In his adult life, he did not practice any religion.[8][9] He graduated from Stephen K. Hayt Elementary School in June 1958 and Nicholas Senn High School in 1962, both Chicago public schools,[10] and in 1966 from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri,[1][11] where he was a member of the Alpha Xi chapter of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.[12]

Afterward, Ramis worked in a mental institution in St. Louis for seven months. He later said of his time working there that it:

> …prepared me well for when I went out to Hollywood to work with actors. People laugh when I say that, but it was actually very good training. And not just with actors; it was good training for just living in the world. It's knowing how to deal with people who might be reacting in a way that's connected to anxiety or grief or fear or rage. As a director, you're dealing with that constantly with actors. But if I were a businessman, I'd probably be applying those same principles to that line of work.[11]

## Career[edit]

### Early years[edit]

Ramis began writing parodic plays in college, saying years later, "In my heart, I felt I was a combination of Groucho and Harpo Marx, of Groucho using his wit as a weapon against the upper classes, and of Harpo's antic charm and the fact that he was oddly sexy—he grabs women, pulls their skirts off, and gets away with it."[1] He avoided the Vietnam War military draft by taking methamphetamine to fail his draft physical.[13]

Following his work in St. Louis, Ramis returned to Chicago, where by 1968, he was a substitute teacher at schools serving the inner-city Robert Taylor Homes public housing development.[14] He also became associated with the guerrilla television collective TVTV, headed by his college friend Michael Shamberg, and wrote freelance for the Chicago Daily News. "Michael Shamberg, right out of college, had started freelancing for newspapers and got on as a stringer for a local paper, and I thought, 'Well, if Michael can do that, I can do that.' I wrote a spec piece and submitted it to the Chicago Daily News, the Arts & Leisure section, and they started giving me assignments [for] entertainment features."[15] Additionally, Ramis had begun studying and performing with Chicago's Second City improvisational comedy troupe.[16]

Ramis's newspaper writing led to him becoming joke editor at Playboy magazine.[11] "I called…just cold and said I had written several pieces freelance and did they have any openings. And they happened to have their entry-level job, party jokes editor, open. He liked my stuff and he gave me a stack of jokes that readers had sent in and asked me to rewrite them. I had been in Second City in the workshops already and Michael Shamberg and I had written comedy shows in college."[15] Ramis was eventually promoted to associate editor.[17]

### National Lampoon, SCTV, and The Top[edit]

After leaving Second City for a time and returning in 1972, having been replaced in the main cast by John Belushi, Ramis worked his way back as Belushi's deadpan foil. In 1974, Belushi brought Ramis and other Second City performers, including Ramis's frequent future collaborator Bill Murray, to New York City to work on The National Lampoon Radio Hour.[1]

During this time, Ramis, Belushi, Murray, Joe Flaherty, Christopher Guest, and Gilda Radner starred in the revue The National Lampoon Show, the successor to National Lampoon's Lemmings.[18] Later, Ramis became a performer on, and head writer of, the Canadian sketch-comedy television series SCTV during its first three years (1976–1979).[19] At this juncture, SCTV was seen mainly in Canada, and also via syndication in scattered markets in the US. He was soon offered work as a writer at Saturday Night Live but chose to continue with SCTV.[17] Characterizations by Ramis on SCTV include weaselly, corrupt and constantly sweating Dialing for Dollars host/SCTV station manager Maurice "Moe" Green, outwardly amiable (but thoroughly fascist) cop Officer Friendly, exercise guru Swami Bananananda (whose real name was Dennis Peterson), stern board chairman Allan "Crazy Legs" Hirschman and home dentist Mort Finkel. His celebrity impressions on SCTV included Kenneth Clark and Leonard Nimoy.

In 1984, Ramis executive produced a music/comedy/variety television show called The Top. The producer was Paul Flaherty and the director was David Jove. Ramis got involved after the mysterious death of his friend Peter Ivers, who had hosted Jove's underground show New Wave Theatre. He called Jove and offered to help. Flattery and Jove pitched him the idea for The Top, and Ramis was instrumental in getting it on the air.

The show was a mixture of live music, videos, and humor. Performers on the show included Cyndi Lauper, who performed "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "True Colors"; the Hollies, who performed "Stop in the Name of Love"; and the Romantics, who performed their two hits at the time, "Talking in Your Sleep" and "What I Like About You".

Guest stars included Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, and Dan Aykroyd. Ramis got Bill Murray to host but, because Ghostbusters filming ran late, he did not make it to the taping. Chase came out dressed as a "punk" of the time and somehow got into a physical altercation with an audience member (also a punk) during the opening monologue. He immediately left the taping. Flattery and Jove carried on with the show.

Ramis then got Andy Kaufman to fill in for Chase and recorded the host segments at a separate, later, session; it would be Kaufman's final professional appearance.

The Top aired on Friday, January 27, 1984, at 7 p.m. It scored a 7.7% rating and a 14% share. This represented a 28% rating increase and a 27% share increase over KTLA's regularly scheduled Happy Days/Laverne and Shirley.

### Film career[edit]

Ramis left SCTV to pursue a film career and wrote a script with National Lampoon magazine's Douglas Kenney, which eventually became National Lampoon's Animal House. They were later joined by a third collaborator, Chris Miller. The 1978 film followed the struggle between a rowdy college fraternity house and the college dean. The film's humor was raunchy for its time. Animal House "broke all box-office records for comedies" and earned $141 million.[1]

He also had a voice part as Zeke in the "So Beautiful & So Dangerous" segment of Heavy Metal in 1981.

Ramis next co-wrote the comedy Meatballs, starring Bill Murray. The movie was a commercial success and became the first of six film collaborations between Murray and Ramis.[1] His third film and his directorial debut was Caddyshack, which he wrote with Kenney and Brian Doyle-Murray. It starred Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray. Like Ramis's previous two films, Caddyshack was a commercial success.

In 1982, Ramis was attached to direct the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The film was to star John Belushi and Richard Pryor, but the project was aborted.[20] In 1984, Ramis collaborated with Dan Aykroyd on the screenplay for Ghostbusters, which became one of the biggest comedy hits of all time, in which he also starred as Dr. Egon Spengler.[21] He reprised the role for the 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II (which he also co-wrote with Aykroyd). His later film Groundhog Day has been called his "masterpiece".[1]

His films have been noted for attacking "the smugness of institutional life…with an impish good [will] that is unmistakably American." They are also noted for "Ramis's signature tongue-in-cheek pep talks." Sloppiness and improv were also important aspects of his work. Ramis frequently depicted the qualities of "anger, curiosity, laziness, and woolly idealism" in "a hyper-articulate voice".[1]

Ramis also occasionally acted in supporting roles in acclaimed films that he did not write or direct, such as James L. Brooks's Academy Award-winning As Good as It Gets (1997) and Judd Apatow's hit comedy Knocked Up (2007).

In 2004, Ramis turned down the opportunity to direct the Bernie Mac-Ashton Kutcher film Guess Who, then under the working title "The Dinner Party", because he considered it poorly written. That same year, he began filming the low-budget The Ice Harvest, "his first attempt to make a comic film noir." Ramis spent six weeks trying to get the film greenlit because he had difficulty reaching an agreement about stars John Cusack's and Billy Bob Thornton's salaries. The film received mixed reviews. In 2004, Ramis's typical directing fee was $5 million.[1]

In an interview in the documentary American Storytellers, Ramis said he hoped to make a film about Emma Goldman (even pitching Disney with the idea of having Bette Midler star)[22] but that none of the film studios were interested and that it would have been difficult to raise the funding.

Ramis said in 2009 that he planned to make a third Ghostbusters film for release either in mid-2011[23] or for Christmas 2012.[24] A reboot to the franchise, also called Ghostbusters, was eventually made and released in 2016, directed and co-written by Paul Feig. In this film, a bronze bust of Ramis can be seen when Erin Gilbert leaves her office at Columbia University. Later, the second sequel to the original film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, was released in 2021 and posthumously dedicated to him.

## Personal life[edit]

Ramis was married twice and had four children. On July 2, 1967,[3] he married San Francisco artist Anne Plotkin, with whom he had a daughter, Violet Ramis Stiel.[1][25] Actor and Ghostbusters co-star Bill Murray is Violet's godfather.[1] Ramis and Plotkin separated in 1984 and later divorced.[1]

Ramis' daughter Mollie Israel (known professionally as Mollie Heckerling) was born in 1985 to him and director Amy Heckerling, while Heckerling was married to actor-director Neal Israel.[26]

In 1989, Ramis married Erica Mann, daughter of director Daniel Mann and actress Mary Kathleen Williams.[27] Together they had two sons, Julian Arthur and Daniel Hayes in 1990 and 1994.[3]

Although Ramis maintained humanist beliefs, Erica's Buddhist upbringing greatly influenced his philosophies for the rest of his life, and he became friends with the Dalai Lama.

Ramis was a Chicago Cubs fan, and when he moved back from Los Angeles to Chicago in the late 1990s, he would attend games at Wrigley Field, sometimes taking part of the seventh-inning stretch of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".[28][29] His pastimes included fencing, ritual drumming, acoustic guitar, and making hats from felted fleece; additionally, he taught himself to ski by watching skiers on television.[1]

## Illness and death[edit]

A memorial to Ramis at the Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8 firehouse, where Ghostbusters was filmed

In May 2010, Ramis contracted an infection that resulted in complications from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis and lost the ability to walk. After relearning to walk he suffered a relapse of the disease in late 2011.[30]

He died of complications of the disease on February 24, 2014, at his home on Chicago's North Shore, at age 69.[30] A private funeral was held for him two days later with family, friends, and several collaborators in attendance, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, David Pasquesi, Andrew Alexander, and the widows of John Belushi and Bernard Sahlins. He is buried at Shalom Memorial Park in Arlington Heights.[31]

Upon Ramis's death, then-President Barack Obama released a statement, saying, "When we watched his movies—from Animal House and Caddyshack to Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day—we didn't just laugh until it hurt. We questioned authority. We identified with the outsider. We rooted for the underdog. And through it all, we never lost our faith in happy endings."[32] He ended his statement by saying he hoped Ramis "received total consciousness", in reference to a line from Caddyshack.[33]

Ramis and longtime collaborator Bill Murray had a falling out during the filming of Groundhog Day, which Ramis attributed to problems that Murray had in his own life at the time. They did not speak for more than 20 years. Shortly before Ramis's death, Murray, encouraged by his brother Brian Doyle-Murray, visited him to make amends with a box of donuts and a police escort, according to Ramis's daughter Violet. At that point, Ramis had lost most of his ability to speak, so Murray did most of the talking over several hours.[34] Murray gave a tribute to Ramis at the 86th Academy Awards.[35]

Stephen Colbert paid tribute to Ramis on an episode of his show The Colbert Report. Colbert said that "as a young, bookish man with glasses looking for a role model, I might have picked Harold Ramis." He ended the show by thanking him.[36]

## Awards and honors[edit]

In 2004, Ramis was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[37] In 2005, he received the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.[38] In 2010, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago Improv Festival.[39] In 2015, the Writers Guild of America posthumously honored him with their lifetime achievement award, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.[40]

In 2016, two years after his death, The Second City founded the Harold Ramis Film School, the first film school to focus solely on film comedy, in his honor.

The 2016 film Ghostbusters, a reboot of the series Ramis co-created and starred in, was posthumously dedicated to him.[41] A bust of Ramis appears in the film.[42][43] In the 2021 movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the age-progressed image of Ramis appears as the ghost of Egon Spengler; a dedication before the end credits also reads "for Harold."

On February 2, 2024, Chicago declared every February 2nd going forward to be "Harold Ramis Day".[44][45]

## Collaborations[edit]

Ramis frequently collaborated with director Ivan Reitman. He co-wrote National Lampoon's Animal House, which Reitman produced, then co-wrote the Reitman comedy Meatballs; he co-wrote and appeared in the Reitman films Stripes, Ghostbusters, and Ghostbusters II.

## Filmography[edit]

### Film[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Producer

|
|
|
|

1978  | National Lampoon's Animal House | No  | Yes  | No
1979  | Meatballs | No  | Yes  | No
1980  | Caddyshack | Yes  | Yes  | No
1981  | Stripes | No  | Yes  | No
1983  | National Lampoon's Vacation | Yes  | No  | No
1984  | Ghostbusters | No  | Yes  | No
1986  | Back to School | No  | Yes  | No
Armed and Dangerous | No  | Yes  | No
Club Paradise | Yes  | Yes  | No
1988  | Caddyshack II | No  | Yes  | No
1989  | Ghostbusters II | No  | Yes  | No
1991  | Rover Dangerfield | No  | Story  | No
1993  | Groundhog Day | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
1995  | Stuart Saves His Family | Yes  | No  | No
1996  | Multiplicity | Yes  | No  | Yes
1999  | Analyze This | Yes  | Yes  | No
2000  | Bedazzled | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
2002  | Analyze That | Yes  | Yes  | No
2005  | The Ice Harvest | Yes  | No  | No
2009  | Year One | Yes  | Yes  | Yes

Executive producer

* The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (2002)
* I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006)
* Archie's Final Project (2009)

### Television[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Notes

|
|
|
|

1979  | Delta House | No  | Yes  | Pilot episode
1982  | The Rodney Dangerfield Show: It's Not Easy Bein' Me | No  | Yes  |
2006–2010  | The Office | Yes  | No  | 4 episodes

### Acting roles[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1976–1978  | Second City Television | Various roles  | 28 episodes
1981  | Stripes | Russell Ziskey  |
Heavy Metal | Zeke  | Voice, (segment "So Beautiful and So Dangerous")
1983  | Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone | Intercom  | Voice, uncredited
National Lampoon's Vacation | Marty Moose  | Voice, uncredited
1984  | Ghostbusters | Dr. Egon Spengler |
1987  | Baby Boom | Steven Bochner  |
1988  | Stealing Home | Alan Appleby  |
1989  | Ghostbusters II | Dr. Egon Spengler  |
1993  | Groundhog Day | Neurologist  |
1994  | Airheads | Chris Moore  |
Love Affair | Sheldon Blumenthal  |
1997  | As Good as It Gets | Dr. Martin Bettes  |
2000  | High Fidelity | Rob's Dad  | Deleted scenes
2002  | Orange County | Don Durkett  |
I'm with Lucy | Jack  |
2006  | The Last Kiss | Professor Bowler  |
2007  | Knocked Up | Ben's Dad  |
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | L'Chai'm  |
2009  | Year One | Adam |

### Video games[edit]

Year  | Title  | Voice role  | Notes

|
|
|

2009 | Ghostbusters: The Video Game | Dr. Egon Spengler | Also writer

### Archival appearances[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

2015 | Lego Dimensions | Dr. Egon Spengler | Voice role
2019  | Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered
Cleanin' Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters | Himself  | Documentary film
2021  | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Dr. Egon Spengler  | Digital likeness superimposed on Bob Gunton and Ivan Reitman;[46]
Also archival footage and photographs

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Friend, Tad (April 19, 2004). "Comedy First: How Harold Ramis's movies have stayed funny for twenty-five years". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
2. ^ "Awards Database—Film: Original Screenplay". bafta.org. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
3. ^ a b c "Harold Ramis Biography (1944–)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
4. ^ "'Ghostbusters' Actor, 'Caddyshack' Director Harold Ramis Dies at 69". Algemeiner Journal. February 24, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2018.[permanent dead link]
5. ^ Sacks, Ethan (February 24, 2014). "Harold Ramis dead at 69: Actor-director-writer was best remembered for 'Ghostbusters,' 'Groundhog Day'". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 24, 2018.[permanent dead link]
6. ^ "Harold Ramis, Judd Apatow talk "Groundhog Day," Buddhism, and San Francisco in the 60s". Lion's Roar. July 18, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
7. ^ Loerzel, Robert (April 24, 2014). "11 Questions for Harold Ramis: An Unpublished Interview". Chicago magazine. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
8. ^ Leopold, Todd (February 24, 2014). "Harold Ramis of 'Ghostbusters,' 'Groundhog Day' fame dies". CNN.com. Retrieved February 25, 2014. "Asked by The New York Times about the existential questions raised by "Groundhog Day" – and competing interpretations of the film's meaning – he mentioned that he didn't practice any religion himself."
9. ^ Kuczynski, Alex. "Groundhog Almighty", The New York Times, December 7, 2003, via Kenyon College Department of Religious Studies
10. ^ "Chicago Public Schools Alumni: 'Senn, Nicolas Senn High School'". Cpsalumni.org. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
11. ^ a b c Sacks, Mike. And Here's the Kicker...: Conversations with Top Humor Writers About Their Craft Archived June 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (Writer's Digest Books, July 2009). Online excerpt from Harold Ramis interview
12. ^ "Zeta Beta Tau – Notable Alumni". Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity. Archived from the original on December 5, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
13. ^ Martin, Brett (July 2009). "Harold Ramis Gets the Last Laugh". GQ: 64–67, 124–25. Archived from the original on July 1, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
14. ^ Caldwell, Sara C., and Marie-Eve S. Kielson, So You Want to be A Screenwriter: How to Face the Fears and Take the Risks (Allworth Press, 2000), p. 75. ISBN 1-58115-062-8, ISBN 978-1-58115-062-9
15. ^ a b Lovece, Frank, "Ramis' realm: Comedy creator surveys career from Second City to 'Year One'" Archived February 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Film Journal International online, June 12, 2009
16. ^ Patinkin, Sheldon. The Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theater (Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 2000) ISBN 1-57071-561-0, ISBN 978-1-57071-561-7.[page needed]
17. ^ a b Martin, Douglas (February 24, 2014). "Harold Ramis, 69, Dies; Alchemist of the Hilarious". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
18. ^ Karp, Josh (2006). A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. Chicago Review Press. p. 219. ISBN 1-55652-602-4.
19. ^ Caldwell, Kielson, p. 77
20. ^ Saito, Stephen "20 Movies Not Coming Soon to a Theater Near You", Section: "A Confederacy of Dunces", Premiere, no date
21. ^ "'Ghostbusters 3' in Theaters by Christmas 2012!". Bloody Disgusting. May 11, 2010.
22. ^ Wolgamott, L. Kent (April 15, 2004). "An 'exceedingly dangerous woman':Emma Goldman's story". Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. Archived from the original on June 4, 2004.
23. ^ Abrams, Brian (December 28, 2009). "Ramis on 'Ghostbusters 3': 'Plans to Shoot Next Summer and Release in 2011'". Heeb. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
24. ^ Ramis interview, WABC-TV, via "Harold Ramis Says 'Ghostbusters 3' in 2011!". BloodyDisgustng.com. December 30, 2009. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
25. ^ E Television Online: "Harold Ramis' Daughter Speaks Out: Stop Using My Dad as an Excuse to Hate the New 'Ghostbusters'" by John Boone July 14, 2016
26. ^ Swartz, Tracy. "Mollie Heckerling revealed as Harold Ramis' daughter in new book". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
27. ^ Honan, William H. (November 23, 1991). "Daniel Mann, 79, the Director of Successful Plays and Films". The New York Times.
28. ^ "Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69". Chicago Tribune. February 24, 2014.
29. ^ Bacon, Shane (February 24, 2014). "Remembering Harold Ramis and "Caddyshack"". Yahoo!. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
30. ^ a b Caro, Mark. "Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 25, 2014. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
31. ^ Harold Ramis ancestry.com
32. ^ "Statement from the President on the Passing of Harold Ramis". whitehouse.gov. February 25, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2016 - via National Archives.
33. ^ Jordan Zakarin (February 25, 2014). "President Obama Makes 'Caddyshack' Joke in Tribute to Harold Ramis". TheWrap. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
34. ^ Boone, Brian (June 6, 2018). "How Harold Ramis and Bill Murray Ended Their Feud and Other Things We Learned in This Memoir". Vulture. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
35. ^ Wakeman, Gregory (September 23, 2014). "How Groundhog Day Ruined Bill Murray And Harold Ramis' Partnership". Retrieved May 28, 2015.
36. ^ McCarthy, Sean L. (February 25, 2014). "Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart pay tribute to the late great Harold Ramis". The Comic's Cosmic. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
37. ^ "St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees: Harold Ramis". Stlouiswalkoffame.org. Archived from the original on December 28, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
38. ^ "Austin Film Festival Past Award Recipients". AustinFilmFestival.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
39. ^ Palmer, J. H. (March 30, 2010). "Chicago Improv Festival April 19–25". Gapers Block. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
40. ^ "Harold Ramis Honored by Writers Guild with Screen Laurel Award". Variety. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
41. ^ Anderson, Melissa (July 10, 2016). "Busted Flat: All-Too-Normal Activity Dominates the 'Ghostbusters' Remake". The Village Voice. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
42. ^ Lewis, Hilary (July 15, 2016). "'Ghostbusters' Co-Writer Reveals Stories Behind Cameos, Kate McKinnon's Character". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
43. ^ Brayson, Johnny (July 14, 2016). "'Ghostbusters' Finds Ways To Honor Harold Ramis". Bustle. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
44. ^ "'Groundhog Day' cast reunites in Chicago, city proclaims Feb. 2 as 'Harold Ramis Day'". ABC7 Chicago. February 2, 2024.
45. ^ Cast of 'Groundhog Day' reunites at Navy Pier for first time since movie's 1993 debut (33min Video). NBC Chicago. February 2, 2024.
46. ^ Parker, Ryan (November 22, 2021). "Harold Ramis' Daughter Reflects on 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' and Her Beloved, Iconic Father". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 27, 2021.

## Bibliography[edit]

* Ramis Stiel, Violet (2018). Ghostbuster's Daughter: Life with My Dad, Harold Ramis. Penguin. ISBN 9780735217898.

## External links[edit]

* Harold Ramis at IMDb
* Harold Ramis at Find a Grave
* Henkel, Guido. "Anatomy of a Comedian: Harold Ramis", DVD Review, August 6, 1999
* Garfinkel, Perry. "And If He Sees His Shadow...", Lion's Roar
* Meatballs Movie Website
* The films of Harold Ramis, Hell Is For Hyphenates, April 30, 2014

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Harold Ramis

* Caddyshack (1980)
* National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
* Club Paradise (1986)
* Groundhog Day (1993)
* Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
* Multiplicity (1996)
* Analyze This (1999)
* Bedazzled (2000)
* Analyze That (2002)
* The Ice Harvest (2005)
* Year One (2009)

* v
* t
* e

Ghostbusters

Feature films|

* Ghostbusters (1984)
* Ghostbusters II (1989)
* Ghostbusters (2016)
* Afterlife (2021)
* Frozen Empire (2024)

Television|

* The Real Ghostbusters (1986–1991)
* episodes
* Extreme Ghostbusters (1997)

Characters|

* Peter Venkman
* Ray Stantz
* Egon Spengler
* Winston Zeddemore
* Janine Melnitz
* Slimer
* Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

Music|

* Ghostbusters (1984)
* Theme song
* Ghostbusters II
* "On Our Own"
* Ghostbusters (2016)
* "Good Girls"
* "Girls Talk Boys"
* Afterlife

Video games|

* Ghostbusters (1984)
* The Real Ghostbusters (1987)
* Ghostbusters II (PC)
* Ghostbusters II (NES)
* Ghostbusters (1990)
* New Ghostbusters II
* The Real Ghostbusters (1993)
* The Video Game (2009)
* Sanctum of Slime (2011)
* Ghostbusters (2013)
* Ghostbusters (2016)
* Ghostbusters (pinball)
* Spirits Unleashed (2022)
* Rise of the Ghost Lord (2023)

Comics|

* The Real Ghostbusters (1998)
* Legion (2004)
* Infestation (2011)
* Transformers/Ghostbusters (2019)
* Crossover (2020–2022)
* Back in Town (2024)

Related|

* Ghostheads
* Ghost Corps
* Proton pack
* Ectomobile
* Role-playing game
* Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue
* The Earth Day Special
* Casper
* Zuul
* Lego Ghostbusters

* Category

* v
* t
* e

BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay

1983–2000|

* Paul D. Zimmerman (1983)
* Woody Allen (1984)
* Woody Allen (1985)
* Woody Allen (1986)
* David Leland (1987)
* Shawn Slovo (1988)
* Nora Ephron (1989)
* Giuseppe Tornatore (1990)
* Anthony Minghella (1991)
* Woody Allen (1992)
* Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin (1993)
* Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary (1994)
* Christopher McQuarrie (1995)
* Mike Leigh (1996)
* Gary Oldman (1997)
* Andrew Niccol (1998)
* Charlie Kaufman (1999)
* Cameron Crowe (2000)

2001–present|

* Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant (2001)
* Pedro Almodóvar (2002)
* Tom McCarthy (2003)
* Charlie Kaufman (2004)
* Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco (2005)
* Michael Arndt (2006)
* Diablo Cody (2007)
* Martin McDonagh (2008)
* Mark Boal (2009)
* David Seidler (2010)
* Michel Hazanavicius (2011)
* Quentin Tarantino (2012)
* Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell (2013)
* Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (2014)
* Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (2015)
* Kenneth Lonergan (2016)
* Martin McDonagh (2017)
* Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (2018)
* Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won (2019)
* Emerald Fennell (2020)
* Paul Thomas Anderson (2021)
* Martin McDonagh (2022)
* Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (2023)

* v
* t
* e

London Film Critics' Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year

1980–2000|

* Steve Tesich (1980)
* Colin Welland (1981)
* Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart (1982)
* Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1983)
* Philip Kaufman (1984)
* Alan Bennett (1985)
* Woody Allen (1986)
* Alan Bennett (1987)
* David Mamet (1988)
* Christopher Hampton (1989)
* Woody Allen (1990)
* David Mamet (1991)
* Michael Tolkin (1992)
* Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin (1993)
* Quentin Tarantino (1994)
* Paul Attanasio (1995)
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (1996)
* Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland (1997)
* Andrew Niccol (1998)
* Alan Ball (1999)
* Charlie Kaufman (2000)

2001–present|

* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2001)
* Andrew Bovell (2002)
* John Collee and Peter Weir (2003)
* Charlie Kaufman (2004)
* Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco (2005)
* Peter Morgan (2006)
* Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2007)
* Simon Beaufoy (2008)
* Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche (2009)
* Aaron Sorkin (2010)
* Asghar Farhadi (2011)
* Michael Haneke (2012)
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2013)
* Wes Anderson (2014)
* Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (2015)
* Kenneth Lonergan (2016)
* Martin McDonagh (2017)
* Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (2018)
* Noah Baumbach (2019)
* Chloé Zhao (2020)
* Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe (2021)
* Martin McDonagh (2022)
* Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement

1950s|

* Sonya Levien (1953)
* Dudley Nichols (1954)
* Robert Riskin (1955)
* Julius Epstein & Philip Epstein and Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich (1956)
* Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder (1957)
* John Lee Mahin (1958)
* Nunnally Johnson (1959)

1960s|

* Norman Krasna (1960)
* George Seaton (1961)
* Philip Dunne (1962)
* Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1963)
* John Huston (1964)
* Sidney Buchman (1965)
* Isobel Lennart (1966)
* Richard Brooks (1967)
* Casey Robinson (1968)
* Carl Foreman (1969)

1970s|

* Dalton Trumbo (1970)
* James Poe (1971)
* Ernest Lehman (1972)
* William Rose (1973)
* Paddy Chayefsky (1974)
* Preston Sturges (1975)
* Michael Wilson (1976)
* Samson Raphaelson (1977)
* Edward Anhalt (1978)
* Neil Simon (1979)

1980s|

* Billy Wilder & I. A. L. Diamond (1980)
* Ben Hecht (1981)
* Paul Osborn (1982)
* Lamar Trotti (1983)
* Melville Shavelson, Jack Rose, Norman Panama, and Melvin Frank (1984)
* William Goldman (1985)
* Waldo Salt (1986)
* Woody Allen (1987)
* Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank Jr. (1988)
* Ring Lardner Jr. (1989)

1990s|

* Donald Ogden Stewart (1990)
* Alvin Sargent (1991)
* Frank Pierson (1992)
* Horton Foote (1993)
* Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1994)
* Charles Bennett (1995)
* Daniel Taradash (1996)
* Robert Towne (1997)
* Bo Goldman (1998)
* Paul Schrader (1999)

2000s|

* Jean-Claude Carrière (2000)
* Betty Comden and Adolph Green (2001)
* Blake Edwards (2002)
* Mel Brooks (2003)
* John Michael Hayes (2004)
* David Mamet (2005)
* Lawrence Kasdan (2006)
* Robert Benton (2007)
* Budd Schulberg (2008)
* No award (2009)

2010s|

* Barry Levinson (2010)
* Steven Zaillian (2011)
* Eric Roth (2012)
* Tom Stoppard (2013)
* Paul Mazursky (2014)
* Harold Ramis (2015)
* Elaine May (2016)
* Oliver Stone (2017)
* James L. Brooks (2018)
* Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (2019)

2020s|

* Nancy Meyers (2020)
* No award (2021)
* No award (2022)
* Charlie Kaufman (2023)

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Norway
* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Germany
* Israel
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Korea
* Netherlands
* Poland

Artists|

* Museum of Modern Art

Other|

* SNAC
* IdRef

*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced
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