Harold Ramis —writer, director, actor and comedy father figure — dies at 69
Published 10:31 am Tuesday, February 25, 2014
“Caddyshack.” ‘’National Lampoon’s Animal House.” ‘’Ghostbusters.” ‘’Groundhog Day.” ‘’Stripes.”
Those titles are some of the most beloved and widely quoted comedy classics of the last 30 years. They’re also Harold Ramis’ filmography.
Ramis, the writer-director-actor who quietly and often off-screen created an unparalleled and hugely influential body of laughs, died Monday. He was 69.
He suffered for several years from an autoimmune disease that caused inflammation and damage to his blood vessels, and died at his home in the Chicago suburbs, surrounded by family and friends, his talent agency said.
His death rattled a modern comedy world Ramis helped build. His legacy as a father figure to generations of comedians was appropriately captured in Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up,” in which Ramis was cast as Seth Rogen’s father, Apatow said, “because we all saw him as the dream dad.”