Remembering Harold Ramis

http://thebestofwhatsaround.net/2014/02/25/remembering-harold-ramis-19 44-2014/

One of my hometown heroes passed away today and I’m really bummed about it. Harold Ramis died earlier today in Chicagoland at the age of 69, just way too soon.

Sadly, when I first found out at the office I turned to my buddy sitting at the desk next to me and said, “Dude, that really sucks. Harold Ramis died.”

He looked at me..tentatively.

“Who is that?” he asked.

‘REALLY!?’ I thought for a second…

“He was the nerdy ghostbuster, Egon!” I said. “But he did way more stuff than just Ghostbusters.”

And that’s when it dawned on me. Harold Ramis, though a legend, never really came across as one. Overall he was more in the background than the limelight. But that was who he was and what made him so great. You see, my coworker might not have known what Harold Ramis looked like or recognized his name BUT he knew Harold Ramis. How do I know? Because its impossible not to.

So let’s jump into a brief segment of Ramis 101:

Who has seen Ghostbusters?

If you haven’t then congratulations on coming out of your life long coma and I recommend you spend some time rehabilitating by renting this classic (It’s streaming right now on Netflix and Amazon Prime for free) and get acquainted with Venkman, Ray, Egon and Winston. For the rest of us who grew up in the 80′s and 90′s we know Ghostbusters was the defining comedy that started your life long love affair with Bill Murray, made you afraid to walk through library aisles alone and is probably the only time you’ve ever seen anything to suggest Stay Puft Marshmallows actually exist (Let’s be real here Jet Puffed marshmallows have a stranglehold on the marshmallow market and always have…if you ever see a bag of Stay Pufts on the shelf at the grocery store PLEASE buy it and save it for me. I will pay you back because in 26 years I have never seen them once). Then later, as we grew up a little bit and moved into the realm of PG-13 and R rated movies where films like Caddyshack, Animal House, Vacation, Stripes, Analyze This and Groundhog Day all transcended their release dates and became as funny and precious to us as they were to our parents years before.

So where am I going with all this besides proving that I probably need stronger ADD medication?

Well without that goofy looking Ghostbuster Egon, better known as Harold Ramis, comedy as we knew it growing up would have been vastly underwhelming.. A bold statement, but think about it: John Belushi’s foodfight with the Omega’s, Chevy Chase’s family vacation across country, Robert DeNiro’s therapy sessions with Billy Crystal, Rodney Dangerfield’s ‘triple lindy dive’ and some of the most defining moments of Bill Murray’s general awesomeness ever recorded on film. These were ALL vehicles given to us courtesy of Harold Ramis’s genius. As a writer, director and actor the man gave us a war chest of classics that past, present and future generations will continue to quote as the years roll by. If I raise kids, “Harold Ramis 101″ will be on the agenda as soon as mom think’s they are old enough or goes out of town for the weekend.

It’s been a rough month for Hollywood bookended by two huge losses in Philip Seymour Hoffman and now Harold Ramis. But we are fortunate men like these left behind a legacy that was bigger than their own lives and can continue to brighten each of ours anytime we watch their work. And trust me, we will continue to watch.

Growing up in Chicago I have always heard that Harold Ramis was probably one of the nicer guys in Hollywood. People in Chicago were proud to be associated with him and he continued to spilt time between L.A. and the north suburbs on & off until his death. I heard that again a lot today on WGN radio about how kind he was to those who knew him, famous and not famous. And I think that of all the compliments and recognition being thrown out on twitter and the various news outlets, nothing is better than that: “he was just one of the nicest guys around”.

Thinking about his body of work, I can’t really tell you for sure what my favorite Harold Ramis movie was, there are just too many. But I can tell you that as an actor Ramis’s turn as Russel Ziskey in the 1981 comedy Stripes costarring Bill Murray, is how I’ll remember him most. A very underrated actor on screen but the perfect compliment to Bill Murray in this film. I don’t think anyone else could have played the role better…



Check out his IMDB page, you’ll likely be surprised by his involvement in a few things you didn’t know about: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000601/