Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69
Best-known as an actor for 'Ghostbusters', 'Stripes', writer/director for 'Caddyshack', 'Groundhog Day'
Harold Ramis was one of Hollywoods most successful comedy filmmakers when he moved his family from Los Angeles back to the Chicago area in 1996. His career was still thriving, with Groundhog Day acquiring almost instant classic status upon its 1993 release and 1984s Ghostbusters ranking among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, but the writer-director wanted to return to the city where hed launched his career as a Second City performer.
There's a pride in what I do that other people share because I'm local, which in L.A. is meaningless; no one's local, Ramis said upon the launch of the first movie he directed after his move, the 1999 mobster-in-therapy comedy Analyze This, another hit. It's a good thing. I feel like I represent the city in a certain way.
Ramis, a longtime North Shore resident, was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, his wife Erica Mann Ramis said. He was 69.
Ramis serious health struggles began in May 2010 with an infection that led to complications related to the autoimmune disease, his wife said. Ramis had to relearn to walk but suffered a relapse of the vaculitis in late 2011, said Laurel Ward, vice president of development at Ramis Ocean Pictures production company.
Ramis leaves behind a formidable body of work, with writing credits on such enduring comedies as National Lampoons Animal House (which upon its 1978 release catapulted the film career of John Belushi, with whom Ramis acted at Second City), Stripes (1981) and Ghostbusters (in which Ramis also co-starred) plus such directing efforts as Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoons Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day and Analyze This.
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