Harold Ramis was a writer, director, producer and actor whose body of work — including the television series SCTV and such feature films as Animal House, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day — made him one of the most admired and influential figures in contemporary American comedy. The tone and attitude of Ramis's work, especially the films starring his most frequent leading man, Bill Murray, melded irreverence and intelligence to draw laughter from lowbrow and highbrow sources with equal dexterity.
Harold Ramis was a writer, director, producer and actor whose body of work — including the television series SCTV and such feature films as Animal House, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day — made him one of the most admired and influential figures in contemporary American comedy. The tone and attitude of Ramis's work, especially the films starring his most frequent leading man, Bill Murray, melded irreverence and intelligence to draw laughter from lowbrow and highbrow sources with equal dexterity.
Born in Chicago, Ramis graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, and got his start in the late 1960s at Chicago's Second City theater troupe. He wrote and edited Playboy magazine’s “Party Jokes” section before and during his tenure with Second City. From Chicago, he moved to New York to work on the off-Broadway stage show The National Lampoon Show and The National Lampoon Radio Hour.
He broke into television in 1976 with SCTV, the sketch-based ensemble with a cast that included Rick Moranis, John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas. Ramis was the original head writer on the show, which had an enormous influence on the comedy scene and remains popular in reruns today.
Ramis left SCTV in 1978 to pursue a film career launched by Animal House, which he co-wrote with Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. Its success led to a succession of hit movies, which he either wrote, directed — or both — and sometimes acted in, as well. They included Caddyshack (his first directing credit), Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Back to School, Ghostbusters II, Baby Boom, Groundhog Day, Bedazzled, Analyze This and Year One.
On occasion, Ramis took acting roles in other people's films, including Stealing Home, Airheads, Love Affair, As Good As It Gets and Knocked Up.
Although he focused primarily on film, he occasionally returned to televison in the years following SCTV. His other TV projects included The Rodney Dangerfield Show: It's Not Easy Bein' Me and The Real Ghost Busters and Extreme Ghostbusters animated series. In addition, he directed four episodes of the long-running NBC comedy The Office.
Ramis died February 24, 2014, in Chicago. He was 69.
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