Harold Ramis, an actor, director, and writer best known for his work in comedy classics like Ghostbusters, Stripes, Caddyshack, and (my personal favorite) Groundhog Day, died recently from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, according to his family. He was 69.Rico says a funny man, who'll be missed...
Here's the Chicago Tribune, Ramis' hometown newspaper, with more on the comedy legend and the impressive legacy he leaves behind:
Ramis' comedies were often wild, silly and tilting toward anarchy, but they also were cerebral and iconoclastic, with the filmmaker heeding the Second City edict to work at the top of one's intelligence. This combination of smart and gut-bustingly funny led a generation of comedic actors and filmmakers— including Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up), Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, the Austin Powers movies), Peter Farrelly (There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber), Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Orange County, both of which featured Ramis in small roles) and Adam Sandler (who starred in his own wacky golf comedy, Happy Gilmore)— to cite him as a key inspiration.With his round glasses lending a professorial air, Ramis would become the calm center of storms brewed by fellow actors, playing the bushy-haired, low-key wisecracker to Bill Murray's troublemaker in Stripes and being the most scientific-minded Ghostbuster. Later roles included the sympathetic doctor of James L. Brooks' As Good as It Gets (1997) and the Knocked Up (2007) dad, whose dialogue, Apatow said, was almost all improvised.
And Slate has the President getting in on the act:
It appears as though there's at least one copy of Caddyshack floating around the White House. Here is the statement President Obama released this morning on the passing of Harold Ramis, the comedy legend behind that classic and a whole slew of others (emphasis mine):
Michelle and I were saddened to hear of the passing of Harold Ramis, one of America’s greatest satirists, and like so many other comedic geniuses, a proud product of Chicago’s Second City. When we watched his movies – from Animal House and Caddyshack to Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day– we didn’t just laugh until it hurt. We questioned authority. We identified with the outsider. We rooted for the underdog. And through it all, we never lost our faith in happy endings. Our thoughts and prayers are with Harold’s wife, Erica, his children and grandchildren, and all those who loved him, who quote his work with abandon, and who hope that he received total consciousness.That last line, as any child who grew up quoting Caddyshack will tell you, is a nod to Bill Murray's great Dalai Lama speech from the movie:
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