In Memory of Harold Ramis (1944-2014)

Harold Ramis (1944-2014)

To fans who watched several or most
of the movies he wrote, starred and
directed, including two of the films
from the "Ghostbusters" series,
notably the first (click here), "Animal
House", "Groundhog Day", "National
Lampoon's Vacation" and "Caddyshack".

Comedy director/writer/actor Harold
Ramis unexpectedly passed away at
age 69 on February 24th, 2014. Ramis began his life when enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he wrote some spoof materials in a list of plays. After finishing his work in St. Louis, Ramis returned to his hometown of Chicago and, in 1968, worked as a substitute teacher at various schools in one of the city's inner states. Then, he went on to join the improvisational comedy troupe of Second City to study and perform.

After leaving the comedy troupe for one time of absence before returning in 1972, Ramis made his way as a foil to the deadpan comedy of John Belushi, who at one time replaced him in the main cast. It got Harold and his fellow performers, including Bill Murray, to join Belushi and work together on a radio show called The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Concluding this time, Ramis, Murray, Belushi and the other comedians starred in a revue of The National Lampoon Show on the stage. Then he became a performer/writer for the TV series "SCTV", where he spent the rest of his years, from 1976 to 1979, acting and writing these skits. After "SCTV", he underwent a film career and worked with National Lampoon's Douglas Kenney and later with Chris Miller on a story they wrote with raunchy humour set in the struggle in a fraternity house and a corrupt dean. That story became a movie and is now entitled "Animal House", which earned $141 and broke box office records. The next film that starred Bill Murray, "Meatballs", became a commercial success in 1979, and so did "Caddyshack" in the next year, where he made his directing debut. Again working with Bill Murray, the edgy comedy flick featured other comedy leads like Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight.

Ramis would collaborate with Dan Aykroyd for the screenplay and co-star with the comedian in a project directed by Ivan Reitman called "Ghostbusters" as Dr. Egon Spengler, the group's brains. The 1984 movie became one of the top-grossing hits in the summer, earning him to reprise again as the character in the second instalment. Before "Ghostbusters", Harold Ramis directed the first "National Lampoon's Vacation", another big success. His later ground-breaking feature in 1993, "Groundhog Day", ran moderately at the box office and then was considered by critics as his "masterpiece". "Analyse This", followed by its sequel "Analyse That", "Bedazzled", and "Year One" were all some of the last movies he wrote and directed.

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