Harold Ramis

Harold Ramis died on Monday. Apparently, he had an autoimmune disease for several years, which would explain his lack of work for the last five years.

He was one of those people who are hard to categorize. His resume is almost entirely comedy, but as an actor/writer/director/producer, he only acts, writes, directs and produces at the same time on two movies – one of his most popular, Groundhog Day and one of his least, Year One. Those are also the only two movies he directs his own acting. As an actor, he almost always took smaller parts in movies his friends were making. His only lead roles were also movies he wrote, Stripes, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. There was no pattern to his career. A few times he was only the director. A few more times he was the director and writer. More often, he was only the writer. He was never only a producer without also being the director and writer.

On TV, he was an original writer/actor/producer on the first season of SCTV, and continued writing during the second season.


National Lampoon's Animal House
directed by John Landis
written by Chris Miller, Douglas Kenney, Harold Ramis
produced by Ivan Reitman
starring John Belushi, Peter Riegert, Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, Donald Sutherland, John Vernon, Stephen Furst, Tom Hulce, Kevin Bacon, Bruce McGill, Douglas Kenney, Sarah Holcomb, Martha Smith, Cesare Danova

Meatballs
directed by Ivan Reitman
written by Harold Ramis & Dan Goldberg
starring Bill Murray, Kate Lynch, Chris Makepeace, Harvey Atkin, Kristine DeBell

Caddyshack
directed by Harold Ramis
written by Harold Ramis, Brian Doyle-Murray, Douglas Kenney
starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Bill Murray, Sarah Holcomb, Michael O'Keefe, Brian Doyle-Murray

Stripes
directed by Ivan Reitman
written by Harold Ramis
starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, PJ Soles, Sean Young, Warren Oates, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, John Larroquette, Judge Reinhold, Bill Paxton

Heavy Metal
produced by Ivan Reitman
“So Beautiful & So Dangerous” starring John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis

Vacation
directed by Harold Ramis
written by John Hughes
starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid, John Candy, Christie Brinkley

Ghostbusters
directed & produced by Ivan Reitman
written by Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis
starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts

Back to School
written by Harold Ramis
starring Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, M Emmet Walsh, Adrienne Barbeau, Ned Beatty

Club Paradise
directed by Harold Ramis
written by Chris Miller, Harold Ramis, Brian Doyle-Murray
starring Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, Rick Moranis, Jimmy Cliff, Twiggy, Joanna Cassidy, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Brian Doyle-Murray, Joe Flaherty, Robin Duke, Mary Gross

Armed and Dangerous
written by Harold Ramis, James Keach, Brian Grazer
produced by Brian Grazer & James Keach
starring John Candy, Eugene Levy, Robert Loggia, Meg Ryan

Baby Boom
written & produced by Nancy Meyers
starring Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard, Harold Ramis, Sam Wanamaker, James Spader, Mary Gross

Stealing Home
directed & written by Steven Kampmann & William Porter
starring Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Harold Ramis, Blair Brown, Richard Jenkins, Helen Hunt

Caddyshack II
written by Harold Ramis & Peter Torokvei
starring Jackie Mason, Robert Stack, Randy Quaid, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Dyan Cannon, Dina Merrill

Ghostbusters II
directed & produced by Ivan Reitman
written by Harold Ramis & Dan Aykroyd
starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, Peter MacNicol, Max von Sydow

Rover Dangerfield
written by Rodney Dangerfield & Harold Ramis
starring Rodney Dangerfield, Dana Hill, Tress MacNeille

Groundhog Day
directed & produced by Harold Ramis
written by Danny Rubin & Harold Ramis
starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Brian Doyle-Murray, Harold Ramis, Stephen Tobolowsky, Marita Geraghty, Robin Duke

Airheads
directed by Michael Lehmann
starring Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Adam Sandler, Joe Mantegna, Michael McKean, Chris Farley, Ernie Hudson, Tracey Ullman, Harold Ramis

Love Affair
directed by Glenn Gordon Caron
written by Warren Beatty & Robert Towne
produced by Warren Beatty
starring Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Katharine Hepburn, Garry Shandling, Pierce Brosnan, Kate Capshaw, Harold Ramis

Stuart Saves His Family
directed by Harold Ramis
written by Al Franken
starring Al Franken, Laura San Giacomo, Vincent D'Onofrio, Shirley Knight, Julia Sweeney, Joe Flaherty

Multiplicity
directed & produced by Harold Ramis
written by Chris Miller, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Harold Ramis
starring Michael Keaton, Andie MacDowell, Richard Masur, Eugene Levy, Ann Cusack, Brian Doyle-Murray

As Good as It Gets
directed & produced by James L Brooks
written by Mark Andrus & James L Brooks
starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr, Yeardley Smith, Harold Ramis

Analyze This
directed by Harold Ramis
written by Kenneth Lonergan, Peter Tolan, Harold Ramis
produced by Paula Weinstein & Jane Rosenthal
starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri

Bedazzled
directed & produced by Harold Ramis
written by Larry Gelbart, Harold Ramis, Peter Tolan
starring Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley, Frances O'Connor, Orlando Jones, Brian Doyle-Murray

Analyze That
directed by Harold Ramis
produced by Paula Weinstein & Jane Rosenthal
written by Peter Tolan, Peter Steinfeld, Harold Ramis
starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Cathy Moriarty, Anthony LaPaglia

Orange County
directed by Jake Kasdan
written by Mike White
starring Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Harold Ramis, Jane Adams, Garry Marshall, Chevy Chase, Lily Tomlin

The Ice Harvest
directed by Harold Ramis
written by Richard Russo & Robert Benton
starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Randy Quaid, Oliver Platt

The Last Kiss
directed by Tony Goldwyn
written by Zach Braff & Paul Haggis
starring Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, Harold Ramis, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson

Knocked Up
directed, written & produced by Judd Apatow
starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow, Harold Ramis, Joanna Kerns

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
directed by Jake Kasdan
written & produced by Judd Apatow & Jake Kasdan
starring John C Reilly, Kristen Wiig, Jenna Fischer, Raymond J Barry, Margo Martindale, Tim Meadows, Harold Ramis

Year One
directed by Harold Ramis
written by Harold Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
produced by Harold Ramis & Judd Apatow
starring Jack Black, Michael Cera, June Diane Raphael, Juno Temple, Olivia Wilde, David Cross, Paul Rudd, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis