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Harold Ramis dead at 69

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A

Alaskanbullworm

Member
Man this is hitting me hard. Ghostbusters was my life as a kid. He was one of the few actors/writers that I knew the name of at that age.

For anyone saying no Ghostbusters 3, the video game is a very good send off for him and I'm happy they were able to at least do something before something like this happened.

RIP Harold/Egon
 
R

Ruze789

Member
This was pretty damn sad to hear today. I enjoy a lot of his non-Ghostbusters movies, but GB has been one of my absolute favorite franchises since I was a kid. I've recently been watching the hell out of them with my 4 year old who also loves it and actually just started playing the video game last month too.

RIP Dr. Spengler.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
harold-ramis-w-twinkie.jpg

RIP
we will miss you
ghostbusters.gif
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
RIP. My wife and I were both sad about this.

We just watched Ghostbusters with our eldest for the first time a few months ago. :(
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
mattiewheels said:
The man was a genius. He either wrote or directed all the movies that defined comedy for their time. And a brilliant actor of course. What a formidable list this is:

SCTV
Animal House
Meatballs
Vacation
Caddyshack
Stripes
Ghostbusters
Back To School
Groundhog Day
Multiplicity
Analyze This
Click to expand...
Somehow I managed to miss the fact that Ramis directed National Lampoon's Vacation. Analyze This was also very good and I watched it a bunch back in the day. What a legendary comedic talent.
 
F

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
Me and my wife are currently watching Ghostbusters, and yup, it's as awesome as I remember. We'll probably move on to Groundhog Day (my personal favorite Ramis and Murray movie), Multiplicity, and a few more.

What a horrible day for her, she loves Ramis.
 
S

Scalpel Knight

Member
This is so horrible. I've taken this harder than most celebrity deaths in the past few years. He has left an indelible mark on cinema.
At least he will finally know the mysteries of the great beyond...
 
Kadin

Kadin

Member
I never saw this video of him talking about the possibility of Ghostbusters 3. Really sucks to hear him saying what it could be like and know now that it'll never happen. He was such a great director as well as a funny actor, definitely going to be very, very missed. :(
 
H

Herne

Member
Very sad to learn of this, he was an amazing director, writer and actor, and of course he gave us one of the greatest films of all time. I'll never forget my astonishment at seeing him in Orange County, where he played a very high college dean.

I think I'll watch Groundhog Day tonight in his memory.
 
C

Colin.

Member
Weird, not long after watching Stripes for the first time, I come across this news. Didn't like it, but was definitely a fan of other movies he was involved with. Especially Groundhog Day and Vacation.
 
A

Azure Dream

Member
I nearly went to a 24 hour Groundhog Day marathon locally this year, but I forgot it was coming up (I know, how could I forget the date...), and missed it. Loved that movie.

Some of the art in this thread, god damn, getting a bit choked up.
 
T

timetokill

Banned
Went and saw Groundhog Day in the theater like 10 days ago, as some theater was replaying it. I'd never gotten to see it on the big screen before.
One of my favorite movies of all time. It's incredible how it doesn't age, it's just so damn wonderful.

AniHawk said:
iirc it started over groundhog day. murray wanted it to be darker and ramis wanted it to be lighter. their fighting led to compromises that made the film what it was.
Click to expand...

Reading about all the things they "almost" did or "originally" did with that film before changing it is pretty mind-blowing. There were a TON of missteps they just barely missed. I remember hearing that they almost made the story about a literal curse from an ex-girlfriend, or the resolution involving killing the groundhog in its lair, etc. A lot of stupid shit.

But yeah, from what I understand Murray was obsessed with what the film was doing and would call Ramis a lot during off-days while they were making it, especially because it kept Murray's mind off of his pending divorce. It got to be so many calls that Ramis sent a writer to Murray's house to talk to him about the script, which I guess Murray found really offensive.

If their disagreements caused things like that to be removed, then we're all much better off for it.

It's interesting if indeed Ramis wanted it to be all that much lighter, though, considering he supposedly picked Murray for the film over Chevy Chase, Steve Martin and a few other guys because he thought the other potential actors were "too nice" for the role. That said they did shy away from some of the darker things they had considered, like murder and so on.
 
B

Bluth54

Member
So sad. Ghostbusters has been my favorite movie of all time since I was a little kid and Egon was such a great character.
 
R

richiek

steals Justin Bieber DVDs
Acorn said:
Wait, there was a rift between Murray and Ramis? Why? I thought it was Aykroyd that Murray had beef with.
Click to expand...

http://www.avclub.com/article/harold-ramis-29410

AVC: It’s been a few years since you’ve worked with Bill Murray. What do you think the experience will be like, working with him again on that film?

HR: I have no idea. We have no social relationship whatsoever, it’d be hard to predict. But you know, the encouraging thing is, he’s very elusive… I didn’t realize he’d pulled out of James Brooks’ new movie recently. They couldn’t nail it down, but I think he took them pretty far down the road before he disappeared, so now Jack Nicholson’s going to take the part. But he’s famous for that. He’s very elusive.

I’m the only one who talks about [our relationship]. He won’t tell you… [Pauses.] He’s a very private person. He doesn’t do serious interviews. Once in a while, but he’s not self-revealing. The most self-revealing thing I ever saw was never in the press or publicity, it was in Lost In Translation or Rushmore. [Laughs.] Those movies kind of defined a side of him the public is not aware of. I think if you looked at his career, he got tired of being the crazy, life-of-the-party guy. That’s quite a load to carry, and he carried it a bunch of times so successfully, and he just didn’t want to do it anymore, and started exploring this more adult, serious side of himself. That’s fine, I’d admired and respected it, and like his work in those films. I just had so little social contact with him that I don’t have any perspective on anything he does, thinks, or feels, and he gives no clues.
Click to expand...
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Adding to the helpful post right above, here is context from a column in The New Yorker back in 2004:
Offscreen, Ramis and Bill Murray were trapped in a cycle of personal strains. Murray’s marriage was breaking up, and he was behaving erratically—the whirling, unpredictable personality that Dan Aykroyd calls “the Murricane.” Ramis sent Rubin to New York to work with Murray on the script, because he was tired of taking his star’s 2 a.m. calls. Rubin says that when Ramis phoned him to check in, Murray would shake his head and mouth the words “I’m not here.” “They were like two brothers who weren’t getting along,” Rubin says. “And they were pretty far apart on what the movie was about—Bill wanted it to be more philosophical, and Harold kept reminding him it was a comedy.”

“At times, Bill was just really irrationally mean and unavailable; he was constantly late on set,” Ramis says. “What I’d want to say to him is just what we tell our children: ‘You don’t have to throw tantrums to get what you want. Just say what you want.’ ”

After the film wrapped, Murray stopped speaking to Ramis. Some of the pair’s friends believe that Murray resents how large a role Ramis had in creating the Murray persona. Michael Shamberg, a Hollywood producer who has known Ramis since college and who used to let Murray sleep on his couch, says, “Bill owes everything to Harold, and he probably has a thimbleful of gratitude.”
Click to expand...

There's more, so please read the whole thing.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
Wow, I can't believe I just found out about this new now :(

Many people will remember Harold Ramis as Egon from GhostBusters, but he was also in one of my favorite skit comedy shows of all time, SCTV. He also wrote so many iconic early 80's comedies... Caddyshack, Stripes, National Lampoon's Vacation (you know, the good one), and wrote and directed Groundhogs day.

The guy was an underrated comedian. RIP. :(
 
K

KalBalboa

Banned
Watched some of his directorial work last night.

To put my love of Harold's material into perspective, here's a photo of me and Dan Aykroyd from a few years back. I know I've posted this before on GAF, but it really hits the point home on how much Ghostbusters meant to me growing up.

8983402078_4d9bf08305_z.jpg
 
T

thenexus6

Member
Just finished Multiplicity , never even heard of it before. After Harold passed away yesterday I was on his IMDb and noticed it. Luckily it was okay netflix and I must say wow - I thought it was great! Michael Keaton does comedy so well love him in funny roles. Andie MacDowell is cute as always. Funny I have never heard of this movie, and its got a pretty low score on IMDb (if you care about things like that) but it was awesome! Definitely one to watch over and over through the years!
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
KalBalboa said:
To put my love of Harold's material into perspective, here's a photo of me and Dan Aykroyd from a few years back. I know I've posted this before on GAF, but it really hits the point home on how much Ghostbusters meant to me growing up.
Click to expand...

Dude, you look like a fucking Ghostbuster. You'd fit right in!

I met Ernie Hudson a few years back, really great guy. He was dressed in his GB uniform too.
 
N

nintendoman58

Member
I should watch Ghostbusters again in dedication of him. Such an amazing movie that he was in. Can't believe I just heard about this now :(

RIP.
 
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