30 Facts About Harold Ramis

Harold Allen Ramis was an American actor, comedian, director and writer.

Harold Ramis's films influenced subsequent generations of comedians, comedy writers and actors.

Harold Ramis graduated from Stephen K Hayt Elementary School in June 1958 and Nicholas Senn High School in 1962, both Chicago public schools, and in 1966 from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, where he was a member of the Alpha Xi chapter of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.

Harold Ramis later said of his time working there that it:.

Harold Ramis became associated with the guerrilla television collective TVTV, headed by his college friend Michael Shamberg, and wrote freelance for the Chicago Daily News.

Harold Ramis's newspaper writing led to him becoming joke editor at Playboy magazine.

Harold Ramis liked my stuff and he gave me a stack of jokes that readers had sent in and asked me to rewrite them.

Later, Harold Ramis became a performer on, and head writer of, the Canadian sketch-comedy television series SCTV during its first three years.

Harold Ramis was offered work as a writer at Saturday Night Live but chose to continue with SCTV.

Harold Ramis got involved after the mysterious death of his friend Peter Ivers, who had hosted Jove's underground show New Wave Theatre.

Flattery and Jove pitched him the idea for The Top, and Harold Ramis was instrumental in getting it on the air.

Harold Ramis got Bill Murray to host but, because Ghostbusters filming ran late, he did not make it to the taping.

Harold 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.

Harold 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.

In 1982, Harold Ramis was attached to direct the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

In 1984, Harold Ramis collaborated with Dan Aykroyd on the screenplay for Ghostbusters, which became one of the biggest comedy hits of all time, in which he starred as Dr Egon Spengler.

Harold Ramis reprised the role for the 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II.

In 2004, Harold 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.

Harold Ramis said in 2009 that he planned to make a third Ghostbusters film for release either in mid-2011 or for Christmas 2012.

Harold Ramis' daughter Mollie Israel was born in 1985 to him and director Amy Heckerling, while Heckerling was married to actor-director Neal Israel.

In 1989, Harold Ramis married Erica Mann, daughter of director Daniel Mann and actress Mary Kathleen Williams.

Harold 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".

Harold Ramis's pastimes included fencing, ritual drumming, acoustic guitar, and making hats from felted fleece; additionally, he taught himself to ski by watching skiers on television.

In May 2010, Harold Ramis contracted an infection that resulted in complications from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis and lost the ability to walk.

Harold Ramis died of complications of the disease on February 24,2014, at his home on Chicago's North Shore, at age 69.

Harold Ramis is buried at Shalom Memorial Park in Arlington Heights.

At that point, Harold Ramis had lost most of his ability to speak, so Murray did most of the talking over several hours.

In 2004, Harold Ramis was inducted into the St Louis Walk of Fame.

The 2016 film Ghostbusters, a reboot of the series Harold Ramis co-created and starred in, was posthumously dedicated to him.

Harold Ramis 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.