Harold Ramis

Early Career[]

Harold was first known as a writer in National Lampoon's Animal House. Harold directed National Lampoon's Vacation in 1983, starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. Harold's daughter Violet Ramis had a minor role in the movie. As Randy Quaid/Eddie Johnson's daughter in the movie Daisy Mable Johnson.

Film Roles[]

Harold was best known for his work on Meatballs, Caddyshack, Year One, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, and Stripes etc.

Passing[]

On February 24th, 2014, Mr. Ramis passed away due to complications from a rare disease Autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a condition he battled for four years. Ramis died Monday morning in his Chicago-area home and is survived by his wife, Erica Mann Ramis, three children and two grandchildren.^[1]

Trivia[]

For Ghostbusters, Ramis decided Egon would never smile per a description of him in the script as a "New Age Mr. Spock."^[2]
In The Real Ghostbusters episode "Take Two", Winston mentions Ramis' last name while reading off the cast of the movie being made about the Ghostbusters.^[3]
The Scoleri Brothers are very loosely based on the real-life Scoleri Brothers, who once robbed Ramis's father, Nate Ramis' store.^[4]
The scene of Oscar's kidnapping evolved from Ramis' initial idea about the baby walking like an adult.^[5]
Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis enjoyed the stunt scene of the Ghostbusters rappelling down into the Manhattan Museum of Art's restoration room and did it five times for fun.^[6]
John Melchior took a flight to Chicago and spoke with Ramis about committing to Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Ramis was somewhat reluctant at first but once he was sure that it was not going be a cheaply made game, then Melchior went to see Aykroyd. ^[7]
Melchior and the team went to the set of "The Office" and after some waiting, showed Ramis the demo of the game during a break from directing an episode.^[8]
For Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Ramis was credited as a writer but to be exact, he did rewrites of the original script by John Zuur Platten and Flint Dille. Aykroyd and Ramis mainly polished the tone of the dialogue and vernacular used.^[9]
During a debate about the Museum of (Super)Natural History Level, John Melchior called up Ramis for advice. At the time, Ramis was on the set of The Office directing an episode.^[10]
On page 12 of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1, H. Ramis was listed as one of the authors of the technical report.
In the Ghostbusters: Mass Hysteria hard cover collection, on page five, Ramis was referenced in Dan Aykroyd's introduction.
In Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #3, page 14, an eight pin board in the Proton Pack is named after Ramis.^[11]
A bust of Harold Ramis makes a cameo in Ghostbusters (2016 Movie). Ramis' bust is outside of Erin Gilbert's office at Columbia University. When Dean Harold Filmore was about to leave then said, "Never mind." a second time, the bust is in view.
- The bust was given to Erica Ramis, Harold's wife. She in turn gave it to the Ramis Film School at The Second City in Chicago. It resides in the bar. ^[12]
Ramis' son Daniel Ramis has a cameo as the Metal Head who gives Rowan North a high five in Chapter 8 of the 2016 movie.^[13]
On page 215 of Ghosts from Our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal (Three Rivers Press), Harold Ramis was thanked in the acknowledgment section.
Ramis is mentioned in the Introduction of Ghostbusters 101: Everyone Answers The Call TPB on page 2.
On page 2 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #3, one of the Ghostbusturtles has the first name of Harold Ramis.
On Cover B of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #4, the Harold Ramis bust from outside Dean Harold Filmore's office in the 2016 movie appears on the lower level.
On page 1 of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2, Bob Douglas mentions pledging to Delta Tau Chi. This was the name of the fraternity in "Animal House" which was co-written by the late Harold Ramis and directed by Ivan Reitman.
On page 4 of Ghostbusters Year One #2, Peter's hairstyle is based on Bill Murray's character Tripper in "Meatballs" (1979) which was directed by Reitman and co-written by Ramis. Egon's hairstyle is based on Ramis' character Russell in "Stripes" (1981) which was also directed by Reitman and co-written by Ramis.

References[]

↑ CNN 2/24/14
↑ Harold Ramis (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 01:02:48-01:03:14). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Harold Ramis says: "Well, just for you acting buffs out there. I'd made a decision not to smile in this entire movie. That's about as close to a smile as I get. For you Spengler fans, he was described in the script as a New Age Mr. Spock. I tried to play him that way."
↑ Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Take Two" (1986) (DVD ts. 06:20-06:24). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "Murray...Aykroyd...Ramis. What's that? A law firm?"
↑ Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 11. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The Scoleri brothers sequence was one of those nice discoveries. At one point we committed ourselves to having the Ghostbusters fight their way back to being Ghostbusters rather than starting out with them as successes. With this in mind, we were working toward a courtroom scene, but we did not know exactly what should happen there. Meanwhile, the ghosts themselves were very loosely based on the fact that my father was a storekeeper who was once robbed and assaulted by the Scoleri brothers. The whole point of our trial was that the legal system of New York was completely skeptical of the supernatural. At some point, the idea of the courtroom and the Scoleri brothers came together. We thought, what better way to reinstate the Ghostbusters than at the moment of their sentencing to have two ghosts appear in the courtroom? It was one of those nice discoveries that brings ideas together and says what you want to say. It also connected with the notion that negative human emotions have an impact. The judge is angry--a tyrant in his own courtroom--and he pays the price."
↑ Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 28-29. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The idea of having the baby out on the ledge was to offshoot of my having a baby walk like an adult. At one point, we were really considering doing that--but it would have involved either a stop-motion puppet or an adult in a baby suit. Neither of those approaches would have worked without it being in really dim light. As soon as Ivan thought about making a baby walk, he was not thrilled. It just seemed like too much--it made the baby too important."
↑ Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 42. Cinefex, USA. Ernie Hudson says: "The nice thing about Ghostbusters was that nobody held back, no matter what they were asked to do. Everybody was committed , having fun and giving one hundred percent. When we did the scene where we slide down the rope and landed in the restoration room, we had to go pretty high up in the rafters to slide down the rope. But Bill was there, Danny was there and so was Harold. That made it pretty hard not to commit. We were up there with our backpacks on, and I was thinking, 'Gee I don't know about this.' But Danny was all excited about it and Harold loved it so much that he went up and down five times."
↑ Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 6:05-6:15 10/4/19 Panelist says: "So the first thing I did was fly to Chicago, uh, to talk to Harold and convince him. Then he was somewhat reluctant to do it, uh, until we talked to Dan. And then he was interested enough for us to approach Dan."
↑ Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 6:29-6:37 10/4/19 Panelist says: "And then we went to The Office, uh, the set of The Office where Harold was directing an episode and we sat in the waiting room of The Office and we showed him the demo."
↑ New York Times "New Video Game? Who You Gonna Call?" 5/28/2009 Dan Aykroyd says: "They gave me the script. I took it. I rewrote it doing little tiny structural things, mostly bringing back the tone of the original dialogue and the vernacular - the terms, the idiom - but they really had it. Two-thirds of it was there. Then they gave it to Harold. He did the same thing."
↑ Playstation Blog "Inside the Development of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" 10/2/19 John Melchior says: "One time, there was a debate about the museum location. I called Harold, who was on the set of The Office directing an episode, and he called me back from his break to weigh in and provide guidance about what would best fit the world. Dan was also always there. He would regularly see the game and review the levels we were creating to see how they played into the canon of their creation."
↑ Ray Stantz (2015). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #3" (2015) (Comic p.14). Ray says: "It was a snap once we upgraded the Ramis Boards from a six-pin to an eight!"
↑ paulfeig Tweet 11/27/16
↑ paulfeig Tweet 10/3/16 Paul Feig says: "He's the one who high fives Rowan outside the concert & says "Ozzy rocks!" That's Harold's son Daniel."

Gallery[]

Selected Photos[]

Secondary Canon[]

[1] CNN 2/24/14

[2] Harold Ramis (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 01:02:48-01:03:14). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Harold Ramis says: "Well, just for you acting buffs out there. I'd made a decision not to smile in this entire movie. That's about as close to a smile as I get. For you Spengler fans, he was described in the script as a New Age Mr. Spock. I tried to play him that way."

[3] Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Take Two" (1986) (DVD ts. 06:20-06:24). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "Murray...Aykroyd...Ramis. What's that? A law firm?"

[4] Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 11. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The Scoleri brothers sequence was one of those nice discoveries. At one point we committed ourselves to having the Ghostbusters fight their way back to being Ghostbusters rather than starting out with them as successes. With this in mind, we were working toward a courtroom scene, but we did not know exactly what should happen there. Meanwhile, the ghosts themselves were very loosely based on the fact that my father was a storekeeper who was once robbed and assaulted by the Scoleri brothers. The whole point of our trial was that the legal system of New York was completely skeptical of the supernatural. At some point, the idea of the courtroom and the Scoleri brothers came together. We thought, what better way to reinstate the Ghostbusters than at the moment of their sentencing to have two ghosts appear in the courtroom? It was one of those nice discoveries that brings ideas together and says what you want to say. It also connected with the notion that negative human emotions have an impact. The judge is angry--a tyrant in his own courtroom--and he pays the price."

[5] Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 28-29. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The idea of having the baby out on the ledge was to offshoot of my having a baby walk like an adult. At one point, we were really considering doing that--but it would have involved either a stop-motion puppet or an adult in a baby suit. Neither of those approaches would have worked without it being in really dim light. As soon as Ivan thought about making a baby walk, he was not thrilled. It just seemed like too much--it made the baby too important."

[6] Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 42. Cinefex, USA. Ernie Hudson says: "The nice thing about Ghostbusters was that nobody held back, no matter what they were asked to do. Everybody was committed , having fun and giving one hundred percent. When we did the scene where we slide down the rope and landed in the restoration room, we had to go pretty high up in the rafters to slide down the rope. But Bill was there, Danny was there and so was Harold. That made it pretty hard not to commit. We were up there with our backpacks on, and I was thinking, 'Gee I don't know about this.' But Danny was all excited about it and Harold loved it so much that he went up and down five times."

[7] Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 6:05-6:15 10/4/19 Panelist says: "So the first thing I did was fly to Chicago, uh, to talk to Harold and convince him. Then he was somewhat reluctant to do it, uh, until we talked to Dan. And then he was interested enough for us to approach Dan."

[8] Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 6:29-6:37 10/4/19 Panelist says: "And then we went to The Office, uh, the set of The Office where Harold was directing an episode and we sat in the waiting room of The Office and we showed him the demo."

[9] New York Times "New Video Game? Who You Gonna Call?" 5/28/2009 Dan Aykroyd says: "They gave me the script. I took it. I rewrote it doing little tiny structural things, mostly bringing back the tone of the original dialogue and the vernacular - the terms, the idiom - but they really had it. Two-thirds of it was there. Then they gave it to Harold. He did the same thing."

[10] Playstation Blog "Inside the Development of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" 10/2/19 John Melchior says: "One time, there was a debate about the museum location. I called Harold, who was on the set of The Office directing an episode, and he called me back from his break to weigh in and provide guidance about what would best fit the world. Dan was also always there. He would regularly see the game and review the levels we were creating to see how they played into the canon of their creation."

[11] Ray Stantz (2015). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #3" (2015) (Comic p.14). Ray says: "It was a snap once we upgraded the Ramis Boards from a six-pin to an eight!"

[12] ulfeig Tweet 11/27/16

[13] ulfeig Tweet 10/3/16 Paul Feig says: "He's the one who high fives Rowan outside the concert & says "Ozzy rocks!" That's Harold's son Daniel."

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