Harold Ramis

Harold Ramis

Ramis in October 2009
Born Harold Allen Ramis
(1944-11-21)November 21, 1944
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died February 24, 2014(2014-02-24) (aged 69)
Glencoe, Illinois, United States
Cause of death Complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis
Alma mater Washington University in St. Louis
Occupation Actor, director, writer, comedian
Years active 1969–2014
Home town Chicago, Illinois
Spouse(s) Anne Plotkin (m. 1967; div. 1984)
Erica Mann (m. 1989; his death 2014)
Children 3

Harold Allen Ramis (November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, director, writer, and comedian. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989) and Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981); he also co-wrote those films. As a writer-director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day (1993), and Analyze This (1999). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, and he was one of three screenwriters of the film National Lampoon's Animal House (1978).

Ramis' films influenced subsequent generations of comedians and comedy writers.[1] Filmmakers including Jay Roach, Jake Kasdan, Adam Sandler, and Peter and Bobby Farrelly have cited his films as among their favorites.[1] He won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for Groundhog Day.

Early life

Ramis was born on November 21, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois,[2] the son of Ruth (née Cokee) and Nathan Ramis, who owned the Ace Food & Liquor Mart on the city's far North Side.[1][3] Ramis had a Jewish upbringing. In his adult life, he did not practice any religion.[4][5] He graduated from Stephen K. Hayt Elementary School in June 1958 and Nicholas Senn High School in 1962, both Chicago public schools,[6] and in 1966 from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri,[1][7] where he was a member of the Alpha Xi chapter of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.[8]

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.[7]

Career

Early years

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.[9]

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.[10] 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."[11] Additionally, Ramis had begun studying and performing with Chicago's Second City improvisational comedy troupe.[12]

Ramis' newspaper writing led to his becoming joke editor at Playboy magazine.[7] "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".[11] Ramis was eventually promoted to associate editor.[13]

National Lampoon, SCTV, and The Top

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' 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.[14] Later, Ramis became a performer on, and head writer of, the late-night sketch-comedy television series SCTV during its first three years (1976–1979).[15] He was soon offered work as a writer at Saturday Night Live but chose to continue with SCTV.[13] Characterizations by Ramis on SCTV include corrupt Dialing for Dollars host/SCTV station manager Maurice "Moe" Green, amiable cop Officer Friendly, exercise guru Swami Bananananda, 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 Flattery 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 Theater." 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, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. Ramis got Chevy Chase 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 was to be the last professional appearance by Andy Kaufman before his death.

The Top aired on Friday, January 27, 1984, at 7p.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

Ramis left SCTV to pursue a film career and wrote a script with National Lampoon magazine's Douglas Kenney which would eventually become 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]

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.[16] 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,[17] a role he reprised 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)[18] but that none of the movie studios were interested and that it would have been difficult to raise the funding.

Ramis said in 2009 he planned to make a third Ghostbusters film for release either in mid-2011[19] or for Christmas 2012.[20] The film was eventually made and released in 2016. In this film a bronze bust can be seen of Ramis when Erin Gilbert leaves her office at Columbia University.

Personal life

Ramis was married twice and was the father of three children. On July 2, 1967,[2] he married San Francisco artist Anne Plotkin, with whom he had a daughter, Violet.[1] Actor and Ghostbusters co-star Bill Murray is Violet's godfather.[1] Ramis and Plotkin separated in 1984 and later divorced.[1] In 1989 Ramis married Erica Mann, daughter of director Daniel Mann and actress Mary Kathleen Williams.[21] Together they had two sons, Julian Arthur and Daniel Hayes.[2] Although Ramis maintained non-supernatural Humanist beliefs, Erica's Buddhist upbringing was to be a huge influence on his philosophies for the rest of his life, and he became friends with the Dalai Lama.

Ramis was a Chicago Cubs fan and attended games every year to conduct the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field.[22] His pastimes included fencing, ritual drumming, acoustic guitar, and making hats from felted fleece; he taught himself skiing by watching skiers on television.[1]

Illness and death

A memorial to Ramis appeared at the "Ghostbusters firehouse".

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.[23]

He died of complications of the disease on February 24, 2014 at his home on Chicago's North Shore, at age 69.[23] 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.[24]

Upon his death, President Barack Obama released a statement on Ramis, 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."[25] He ended his statement by saying he hoped Ramis "received total consciousness", in reference to a line from Caddyshack.[26]

Longtime collaborator Bill Murray gave tribute to Ramis at the 86th Academy Awards.[27]

Awards and honors

In 2004, Ramis was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[28] In 2005, he received the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.[29] In 2010, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago Improv Festival. In 2015, the Writers Guild of America posthumously honored him with their lifetime achievement award, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.[30]

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

Collaborations

Ramis frequently collaborated with Ivan Reitman. He co-wrote National Lampoon's Animal House, which Reitman produced, then co-wrote the Reitman-directed comedy Meatballs; he co-wrote and appeared in the Reitman-directed films Stripes, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. Ramis also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1986 comedy Back to School, which starred Rodney Dangerfield, who had appeared in Caddyshack.

SCTV (1976–78) Meatballs (1979) Caddy-
shack (1980)		 Stripes (1981) National Lampoon's Vacation
(1983)		 Ghost-
busters (1984)		 Club Paradise (1986) Caddy-
shack II
(1988)		 Ghost-
busters II
(1989)		 Groundhog Day
(1993)		 Stuart Saves His Family (1995) Multi-
plicity (1996)
Dan Aykroyd No No No No
John Candy No No No
Chevy Chase No No No
Brian Doyle-Murray No No No No No No No
Robin Duke No No No No
Joe Flaherty No No No No
Eugene Levy No No No No
Bill Murray No No No No No No
Harris Yulin No No No
Director - Ivan Reitman No No No No

Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Writer Producer Executive producer Actor Role Notes
1978 National Lampoon's Animal House Yes
1979 Meatballs Yes
1980 Caddyshack Yes Yes
1981 Stripes Yes Yes Russell Ziskey
Heavy Metal Yes Zeke Voice, (segment "So Beautiful and So Dangerous")
1983 Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone Yes Voice on Intercom Voice, Uncredited
National Lampoon's Vacation Yes Yes Car salesman Voice, Uncredited
1984 Ghostbusters Yes Yes Dr. Egon Spengler
1986 Back to School Yes Yes
Club Paradise Yes Yes
Armed and Dangerous Yes
1987 Baby Boom Yes Steven Bochner
1988 Caddyshack II Yes
Stealing Home Yes Alan Appleby
1989 Ghostbusters II Yes Yes Dr. Egon Spengler
1991 Rover Dangerfield Yes
1993 Groundhog Day Yes Yes Yes Yes Neurologist
1994 Airheads Yes Chris Moore
Love Affair Yes Sheldon Blumenthal
1995 Stuart Saves His Family Yes
1996 Multiplicity Yes Yes
1997 As Good as It Gets Yes Dr. Martin Bettes
1999 Analyze This Yes Yes
2000 High Fidelity Yes Rob's Dad (scenes deleted)
Bedazzled Yes Yes Yes
2002 Orange County Yes Don Durkett
Analyze That Yes Yes
The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest Yes
I'm with Lucy Yes Jack
2005 The Ice Harvest Yes
2006 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With Yes
The Last Kiss Yes Professor Bowler
2007 Knocked Up Yes Ben's Dad
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Yes L'Chai'm
2009 Year One Yes Yes Yes Yes Adam (Final appearance)
Archie's Final Project Yes

Television

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2009 Ghostbusters: The Video Game Dr. Egon Spengler Writer, Voice
2015 Lego Dimensions Dr. Egon Spengler Voice (Archive Audio)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Friend, Tad (April 19, 2004). "Comedy First: How Harold Ramis's movies have stayed funny for twenty-five years". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "Harold Ramis Biography (1944–)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Ruth Cokee Ramis (1919 - 2001) - Find A Grave Memorial". Findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  4. ↑ Leopold, Todd (February 24, 2014). "Harold Ramis of 'Ghostbusters,' 'Groundhog Day' fame dies". CNN.com. Retrieved 25 February 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.
  5. ↑ Kuczynski, Alex. "Groundhog Almighty", The New York Times, December 7, 2003, via Kenyon College Department of Religious Studies
  6. ↑ "Chicago Public Schools Alumni: 'Senn, Nicolas Senn High School'". Cpsalumni.org. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Sacks, Mike. And Here's the Kicker...: Conversations with Top Humor Writers About Their Craft (Writer's Digest Books, July 2009). Online excerpt from Harold Ramis interview
  8. ↑ "Zeta Beta Tau – Notable Alumni". Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ 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
  11. 1 2 Lovece, Frank, "Ramis' realm: Comedy creator surveys career from Second City to 'Year One'", Film Journal International online, June 12, 2009
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. 1 2 Martin, Douglas (February 24, 2014). "Harold Ramis, 69, Dies; Alchemist of the Hilarious". The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ Caldwell, Kielson, p. 77
  16. ↑ Saito, Stephen "20 Movies Not Coming Soon to a Theater Near You", Section: "A Confederacy of Dunces", Premiere, no date
  17. ↑ "'Ghostbusters 3' in Theaters by Christmas 2012!". Bloody Disgusting.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ Abrams, Brian (December 28, 2009). "Ramis on 'Ghostbusters 3': 'Plans to Shoot Next Summer and Release in 2011'". Heeb. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  20. ↑ Ramis interview, WABC-TV, via "Harold Ramis Says 'Ghostbusters 3' in 2011!". BloodyDisgustng.com. December 30, 2009. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  21. ↑ Honan, William H. (November 23, 1991). "Daniel Mann, 79, the Director Of Successful Plays and Films". The New York Times.
  22. ↑ Bacon, Shane (24 February 2014). "Remembering Harold Ramis and "Caddyshack"". Yahoo!. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  23. 1 2 Caro, Mark. "Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  24. ↑ Harold Ramis at Find a Grave
  25. ↑ "Statement from the President on the Passing of Harold Ramis". whitehouse.gov. 2014-02-25. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  26. ↑ Jordan Zakarin (2014-02-25). "President Obama Makes 'Caddyshack' Joke in Tribute to Harold Ramis". TheWrap. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  27. ↑ Wakeman, Gregory. "How Groundhog Day Ruined Bill Murray And Harold Ramis' Partnership". Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  28. ↑ "St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees: Harold Ramis". Stlouiswalkoffame.org. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Austin Film Festival Past Award Recipients". AustinFilmFestival.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  30. ↑ "Harold Ramis Honored by Writers Guild with Screen Laurel Award". Variety. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
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