Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69

[MsDark]

Aw damn. I can't believe it! RIP

[sparkles]

This is so sad.

[Kathie_Moffett]

This completely sucks. He should have had a much longer life. Dammit.

[whitetigeress]

RIP
Thank you for your talent Mr. Ramis <3


*cue Ghostbusters theme*

[Patty Rox]

"Hey, we're walking"...




Thanks for the laughs Harold, ..RIP

[MohandasKGanja]

Harold Ramis was awesome. By the way, he wasn't gay, but he was willing to learn.

[card]

This is so heartbreaking. His production office was right by my store in Downtown Highland Park before he got so sick. He always remained true to Chicago and shot as many movies/scenes as he could around Chicagoland. He was just a regular guy dropping his son off to school not too long ago. He will be sorely missed. Didn't even realize he was that sick..... RIP Harold.

[tulip]

This makes me so sad.

[mjw]

Bill Murray, who worked with Harold Ramis on a half-dozen projects in the 1980s and 1990s, issued this statement to TIME through his lawyer in the wake of Ramis’ death on Monday morning: “Harold Ramis and I together did the National Lampoon Show off Broadway, Meatballs, Stripes, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day. He earned his keep on this planet. God bless him.”

Read more: Bill Murray Remembers Harold Ramis | TIME.com Bill Murray Remembers Harold Ramis | TIME.com

[Trixie]

^ Released a statement through his lawyer. Sad. Apparently he and Ramis hadn't spoken for over 20 years, after a falling out filming Groundhog Day. Found this from 2004. The entire article is pretty long, so I'm not posting it all but it's an interesting read on Ramis.

Annals of Hollywood: Comedy First : The New Yorker

Offscreen, Ramis and Bill Murray were trapped in a cycle of personal strains. Murray’s marriage was breaking up, and he was behaving erratically—the whirling, unpredictable personality that Dan Aykroyd calls “the Murricane.” Ramis sent Rubin to New York to work with Murray on the script, because he was tired of taking his star’s 2 a.m. calls. Rubin says that when Ramis phoned him to check in, Murray would shake his head and mouth the words “I’m not here.” “They were like two brothers who weren’t getting along,” Rubin says. “And they were pretty far apart on what the movie was about—Bill wanted it to be more philosophical, and Harold kept reminding him it was a comedy.”

“At times, Bill was just really irrationally mean and unavailable; he was constantly late on set,” Ramis says. “What I’d want to say to him is just what we tell our children: ‘You don’t have to throw tantrums to get what you want. Just say what you want.’ ”

After the film wrapped, Murray stopped speaking to Ramis. Some of the pair’s friends believe that Murray resents how large a role Ramis had in creating the Murray persona. Michael Shamberg, a Hollywood producer who has known Ramis since college and who used to let Murray sleep on his couch, says, “Bill owes everything to Harold, and he probably has a thimbleful of gratitude.”

Except for brief exchanges at a wake and a bar mitzvah, the two men haven’t talked in eleven years. “It’s a huge hole in my life,” Ramis says, “but there are so many pride issues about reaching out. Bill would give you his kidney if you needed it, but he wouldn’t necessarily return your phone calls.”

In early March, Ramis prevailed on Brian Doyle-Murray to ask his brother if he would take part in “The Ice Harvest.” Brian reported that Bill said no, thanks. When Ramis asked if Bill had said anything more, anything personal, Brian said that his brother hadn’t mentioned Ramis at all.

At around the same time, I reached Murray, after several attempts, and told him that I was writing about Ramis and would love to talk to him. “Really?” Murray said. It was hard to tell what he meant by that “really.” He suggested that I call back in a week. When I did, he said, “I’ve thought about it, and I really don’t have anything to say.”

[sluce]

I had no idea he has done all of these projects. He brought me many laughs over the years. Too bad about Bill Murray.

[misrule]

Awww, this gives me a major case of the sads. RIP Harold, you gave me some of my favourite movies, and some great laughs.

[Seth82]

[lizzybabe]

Loved his movies. I just watched Groundhog Day yesterday (for like the billionth time, lol).

There have been a lot of major Hollywood deaths already this past year.

[WhateverLolaWants]

One of my all time favorites. Loved him in everything he was ever in, and most projects he was involved in, writing, directing, acting or just contributing. Plus, by all accounts, he was a damned nice guy.

*sigh* At least he was immortalized in lego before he died. That had to be a big bucket list item. It would be for me.