Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69

[Chris_]

Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69

Harold Ramis was one of Hollywood’s 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 1984’s “Ghostbusters” ranking among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, but the writer-director wanted to return to the city where he’d launched his career as a Second City performer.

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 Lampoon’s 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 Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983), “Groundhog Day” and “Analyze This.”

Chicago Tribune

RIP.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Oh no!!! 

I met Harold Ramis a couple of times, and he was a very very kind person.  I'll share the story later, but now I'm a bit in shock.  RIP, Harold.

[njpines]

I was just going to post this.

Godspeed Dr. Spengler  

[Splashdown]

RIP.

I just watched the first half of Stripes yesterday.

[Airwolf]

Goodbye Egon.RIP.

[DefiantSix]

I remember his work on SCTV when I was a kid.

I'll miss the guy.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I shall recount this story in tribute to Mr. Ramis.  Not to be a name-dropper, but because as I said above, I had the opportunity to meet him a couple of times and I think it is illustrative of what a kind man he was.

I was fortunate enough to have a few opportunities to hob-nob with some of the elites during the time I lived in Chicago.  The former Mrs. Wiggum taught at a wealthy private school in the city, and we often got invited to fund-raisers, parties, etc. where you could run into business/political/media folks who were rather high up on the food chain.  We attended a fund raiser in the early 2000's and was introduced to Harold Ramis.  Rather than fawn over his celebrity status, we proceeded to chit-chat for 10-20 minutes.  I didn't talk about his movies, just kind of had an amusing conversation.  When we parted ways, I shook his hand and just stated something to the effect of "Pleasure to chat with you Harold and I've always enjoyed your work...enjoy your evening."

A month or two later, I was waiting in line for a take-out order at a very busy restaurant in the north suburbs.  I was fourth or fifth in line when all of a sudden I got a tap on the shoulder.  It was Harold Ramis, and he said "Hi Ralph, how are you?"  We again chatted for a few minutes until it was my turn to pay for my food.  I was absolutely floored that he remembered my name.  I'm sure he had met thousands of people over the years in Hollywood and various movie sets, but just the fact that he recalled meeting me was incredibly special.

[Chris_]

That's very cool.

Hell, I work with people all over the country and can't remember the names of some of the people in my own office building.

[Splashdown]

Great memories!

Of course you're memorable! You're one of the hottest "chicks" we know!

[wasp69]

Of course you're memorable! You're one of the hottest "chicks" we know!

Heh....