Harold Ramis - wikipedia Harold Ramis Harold Ramis Harold Ramis in October 2009 Harold Allen Ramis ( 1944 - 11 - 21 ) November 21, 1944 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. February 24, 2014 ( 2014 - 02 - 24 ) ( aged 69 ) North Shore, Illinois, U.S. Cause of death Complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis Alma mater Washington University in St. Louis Occupation Actor, director, writer, comedian Years active 1968 -- 2014 Home town Chicago, Illinois Spouse ( s ) Anne Plotkin ( m. 1967 ; div. 1984 ) Erica Mann ( m. 1989 ; his death 2014 ) Children Harold Allen Ramis ( November 21, 1944 -- February 24, 2014 ) was an American actor, director, writer, and comedian. His best - known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters ( 1984 ) and Ghostbusters II ( 1989 ) and Russell Ziskey in Stripes ( 1981 ) ; he also co-wrote those films. As a director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack ( 1980 ), National Lampoon 's Vacation ( 1983 ), Groundhog Day ( 1993 ), and Analyze This ( 1999 ). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, as well as a co-writer of Groundhog Day and National Lampoon 's Animal House ( 1978 ). The final film that he wrote, produced, directed and acted in was Year One ( 2009 ). Ramis ' films influenced subsequent generations of comedians and comedy writers. Filmmakers including Jay Roach, Jake Kasdan, Adam Sandler, and Peter and Bobby Farrelly have cited his films as among their favorites. Along with Danny Rubin, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for Groundhog Day. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Early years 2.2 National Lampoon, SCTV, and The Top 2.3 Film career 3 Personal life 3.1 Illness and death 4 Awards and honors 5 Collaborations 6 Filmography 6.1 Film 6.2 Television 6.3 Video games 7 References 8 External links Early life Ramis was born on November 21, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Ruth ( née Cokee ) and Nathan Ramis, who owned the Ace Food & Liquor Mart on the city 's far North Side. Ramis had a Jewish upbringing. In his adult life, he did not practice any religion. He graduated from Stephen K. Hayt Elementary School in June 1958 and Nicholas Senn High School in 1962, both Chicago public schools, and in 1966 from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was a member of the Alpha Xi chapter of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Afterward, Ramis worked in a mental institution in St. Louis for seven months. He later said of his time working there that it... prepared me well for when I went out to Hollywood to work with actors. People laugh when I say that, but it was actually very good training. And not just with actors ; it was good training for just living in the world. It 's knowing how to deal with people who might be reacting in a way that 's connected to anxiety or grief or fear or rage. As a director, you 're dealing with that constantly with actors. But if I were a businessman, I 'd probably be applying those same principles to that line of work. Career Early years Ramis began writing parodic plays in college, saying years later, `` In my heart, I felt I was a combination of Groucho and Harpo Marx, of Groucho using his wit as a weapon against the upper classes, and of Harpo 's antic charm and the fact that he was oddly sexy -- he grabs women, pulls their skirts off, and gets away with it ''. He avoided the Vietnam War military draft by taking methamphetamine to fail his draft physical. Following his work in St. Louis, Ramis returned to Chicago, where by 1968, he was a substitute teacher at schools serving the inner - city Robert Taylor Homes. He also became associated with the guerrilla television collective TVTV, headed by his college friend Michael Shamberg, and wrote freelance for the Chicago Daily News. `` Michael Shamberg, right out of college, had started freelancing for newspapers and got on as a stringer for a local paper, and I thought, ' Well, if Michael can do that, I can do that. ' I wrote a spec piece and submitted it to the Chicago Daily News, the Arts & Leisure section, and they started giving me assignments ( for ) entertainment features. '' Additionally, Ramis had begun studying and performing with Chicago 's Second City improvisational comedy troupe. Ramis ' newspaper writing led to his becoming joke editor at Playboy magazine. `` I called... just cold and said I had written several pieces freelance and did they have any openings. And they happened to have their entry - level job, party jokes editor, open. He liked my stuff and he gave me a stack of jokes that readers had sent in and asked me to rewrite them. I had been in Second City in the workshops already and Michael Shamberg and I had written comedy shows in college ''. Ramis was eventually promoted to associate editor. National Lampoon, SCTV, and the Top After leaving Second City for a time and returning in 1972, having been replaced in the main cast by John Belushi, Ramis worked his way back as Belushi 's deadpan foil. In 1974, Belushi brought Ramis and other Second City performers, including Ramis ' frequent future collaborator Bill Murray, to New York City to work on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. During this time, Ramis, Belushi, Murray, Joe Flaherty, Christopher Guest, and Gilda Radner starred in the revue The National Lampoon Show, the successor to National Lampoon 's Lemmings. Later, Ramis became a performer on, and head writer of, the late - night sketch - comedy television series SCTV during its first three years ( 1976 -- 1979 ). He was soon offered work as a writer at Saturday Night Live but chose to continue with SCTV. Characterizations by Ramis on SCTV include corrupt Dialing for Dollars host / SCTV station manager Maurice `` Moe '' Green, amiable cop Officer Friendly, exercise guru Swami Bananananda, board chairman Allan `` Crazy Legs '' Hirschman and home dentist Mort Finkel. His celebrity impressions on SCTV included Kenneth Clark and Leonard Nimoy. In 1984, Ramis executive produced a music / comedy / variety television show called The Top. The Producer was Paul Flattery and the Director was David Jove. Ramis got involved after the mysterious death of his friend Peter Ivers who had hosted Jove 's underground show `` New Wave Theater. '' He called Jove and offered to help. Flattery and Jove pitched him the idea for `` The Top, '' and Ramis was instrumental in getting it on the air. The show was a mixture of live music, videos, and humor. Performers on the show included Cyndi Lauper, who performed `` Girls Just Want to Have Fun '' and `` True Colors '' ; the Hollies, who performed `` Stop in the Name of Love '' ; and the Romantics, who performed their two hits at the time, `` Talking in Your Sleep '' and `` What I Like About You. '' Guest stars included Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. Ramis got Chevy Chase to host but, because Ghostbusters filming ran late, he did not make it to the taping. Chase came out dressed as a `` punk '' of the time and somehow got into a physical altercation with an audience member ( also a punk ) during the opening monologue. He immediately left the taping. Flattery and Jove carried on with the show. Ramis then got Andy Kaufman to fill in for Chase and recorded the host segments at a separate, later, session. It was to be the last professional appearance by Andy Kaufman before his death. The Top aired on Friday, January 27, 1984, at 7 pm. It scored a 7.7 % rating and a 14 % share. This represented a 28 % rating increase and a 27 % share increase over KTLA 's regularly scheduled Happy Days / Laverne and Shirley. Film career Ramis left SCTV to pursue a film career and wrote a script with National Lampoon magazine 's Douglas Kenney which would eventually become National Lampoon 's Animal House. They were later joined by a third collaborator, Chris Miller. The 1978 film followed the struggle between a rowdy college fraternity house and the college dean. The film 's humor was raunchy for its time. Animal House `` broke all box - office records for comedies '' and earned $141 million. Ramis next co-wrote the comedy Meatballs, starring Bill Murray. The movie was a commercial success and became the first of six film collaborations between Murray and Ramis. His third film and his directorial debut was Caddyshack, which he wrote with Kenney and Brian Doyle - Murray. It starred Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray. Like Ramis 's previous two films, Caddyshack was a commercial success. In 1982, Ramis was attached to direct the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize - winning book A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The film was to star John Belushi and Richard Pryor, but the project was aborted. In 1984, Ramis collaborated with Dan Aykroyd on the screenplay for Ghostbusters, which became one of the biggest comedy hits of all time, in which he also starred as Dr. Egon Spengler, a role he reprised for the 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II ( which he also co-wrote with Aykroyd ). His later film Groundhog Day has been called his `` masterpiece ''. His films have been noted for attacking `` the smugness of institutional life... with an impish good ( will ) that is unmistakably American ''. They are also noted for `` Ramis 's signature tongue - in - cheek pep talks ''. Sloppiness and improv were also important aspects of his work. Ramis frequently depicted the qualities of `` anger, curiosity, laziness, and woolly idealism '' in `` a hyper - articulate voice ''. Ramis also occasionally acted in supporting roles in acclaimed films that he did not write or direct such as James L. Brooks 's Academy Award - winning As Good as It Gets ( 1997 ) and Judd Apatow 's hit comedy Knocked Up ( 2007 ). In 2004, Ramis turned down the opportunity to direct the Bernie Mac - Ashton Kutcher film Guess Who, then under the working title `` The Dinner Party '', because he considered it poorly written. That same year, he began filming the low - budget The Ice Harvest, `` his first attempt to make a comic film noir ''. Ramis spent six weeks trying to get the film greenlit because he had difficulty reaching an agreement about stars John Cusack 's and Billy Bob Thornton 's salaries. The film received mixed reviews. In 2004, Ramis 's typical directing fee was $5 million. In an interview in the documentary American Storytellers, Ramis said he hoped to make a film about Emma Goldman ( even pitching Disney with the idea of having Bette Midler star ) but that none of the movie studios were interested and that it would have been difficult to raise the funding. Ramis said in 2009 he planned to make a third Ghostbusters film for release either in mid-2011 or for Christmas 2012. The film was eventually made and released in 2016. In this film a bronze bust can be seen of Ramis when Erin Gilbert leaves her office at Columbia University. Personal life Ramis was married twice and fathered three children. On July 2, 1967, he married San Francisco artist Anne Plotkin, with whom he had a daughter, Violet Ramis Stiel. Actor and Ghostbusters co-star Bill Murray is Violet 's godfather. Ramis and Plotkin separated in 1984 and later divorced. In 1989, Ramis married Erica Mann, daughter of director Daniel Mann and actress Mary Kathleen Williams. Together they had two sons, Julian Arthur and Daniel Hayes. Although Ramis maintained Humanist beliefs, Erica 's Buddhist upbringing was a huge influence on his philosophies for the rest of his life, and he became friends with the Dalai Lama. Ramis was a Chicago Cubs fan and attended games every year to conduct the seventh - inning stretch at Wrigley Field. His pastimes included fencing, ritual drumming, acoustic guitar, and making hats from felted fleece ; additionally, he taught himself skiing by watching skiers on television. Illness and death A memorial to Ramis appeared at the `` Ghostbusters firehouse ''. In May 2010, Ramis contracted an infection that resulted in complications from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis and lost the ability to walk. After relearning to walk he suffered a relapse of the disease in late 2011. He died of complications of the disease on February 24, 2014 at his home on Chicago 's North Shore, at age 69. A private funeral was held for him two days later with family, friends, and several collaborators in attendance including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, David Pasquesi, Andrew Alexander, and the widows of John Belushi and Bernard Sahlins. He is buried at Shalom Memorial Park in Arlington Heights. Upon Ramis ' death, President Barack Obama released a statement, saying : `` when we watched his movies -- from Animal House and Caddyshack to Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day -- we did n'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. '' He ended his statement by saying he hoped Ramis `` received total consciousness '', in reference to a line from Caddyshack. Ramis and longtime collaborator Bill Murray had a falling out during the filming of Groundhog Day. Shortly before Ramis ' death Murray visited him, and the two spoke for the first time in 21 years. Murray gave tribute to Ramis at the 86th Academy Awards. Ramis was paid tribute by Stephen Colbert on an episode of his show The Colbert Report. Colbert said that `` as a young, bookish man with glasses looking for a role model, I might have picked Harold Ramis ''. He ended the show by thanking Ramis. Awards and honors In 2004, Ramis was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. In 2005, he received the Austin Film Festival 's Distinguished Screenwriter Award. In 2010, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago Improv Festival. In 2015, the Writers Guild of America posthumously honored him with their lifetime achievement award, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement. In 2016, two years after his death, The Second City founded the Harold Ramis Film School, the first film school to focus solely on film comedy, in his honor. The 2016 film Ghostbusters, a reboot of the series Ramis co-created and starred in, was posthumously dedicated to him. A bust of his head appears in the film. Collaborations Ramis frequently collaborated with Ivan Reitman. He co-wrote National Lampoon 's Animal House, which Reitman produced, then co-wrote the Reitman - directed comedy Meatballs ; he co-wrote and appeared in the Reitman - directed films Stripes, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. Ramis also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1986 comedy Back to School, which starred Rodney Dangerfield, who had appeared in Caddyshack. SCTV ( 1976 -- 78 ) Meatballs ( 1979 ) Caddy - shack ( 1980 ) Stripes ( 1981 ) National Lampoon 's Vacation ( 1983 ) Ghost - busters ( 1984 ) Club Paradise ( 1986 ) Caddy - shack II ( 1988 ) Ghost - busters II ( 1989 ) Groundhog Day ( 1993 ) Stuart Saves His Family ( 1995 ) Multi - plicity ( 1996 ) Dan Aykroyd John Candy Chevy Chase Brian Doyle - Murray Robin Duke Joe Flaherty Eugene Levy Bill Murray Harris Yulin director -- Ivan Reitman Filmography Film Year Title Director Screenwriter Producer Executive producer Actor Role Notes 1978 National Lampoon 's Animal House Yes 1979 Meatballs Yes 1980 Caddyshack Yes Yes 1981 Stripes Yes Yes Russell Ziskey Heavy Metal Yes Zeke Voice, ( segment `` So Beautiful and So Dangerous '' ) Spacehunter : Adventures in the Forbidden Zone Yes Voice on Intercom Voice, Uncredited National Lampoon 's Vacation Yes Yes Car salesman Voice, Uncredited 1984 Ghostbusters Yes Yes Dr. Egon Spengler 1986 Back to School Yes Yes Club Paradise Yes Yes Armed and Dangerous Yes Baby Boom Yes Steven Bochner Caddyshack II Yes Stealing Home Yes Alan Appleby Ghostbusters II Yes Yes Dr. Egon Spengler 1991 Rover Dangerfield Yes Groundhog Day Yes Yes Yes Yes Neurologist Airheads Yes Chris Moore Love Affair Yes Sheldon Blumenthal 1995 Stuart Saves His Family Yes Multiplicity Yes Yes As Good as It Gets Yes Dr. Martin Bettes 1999 Analyze This Yes Yes 2000 High Fidelity Yes Rob 's Dad ( scenes deleted ) Bedazzled Yes Yes Yes 2002 Orange County Yes Don Durkett Analyze That Yes Yes The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest Yes I 'm with Lucy Yes Jack 2005 The Ice Harvest Yes 2006 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With Yes The Last Kiss Yes Professor Bowler 2007 Knocked Up Yes Ben 's Dad Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story Yes L'Chai 'm 2009 Year One Yes Yes Yes Yes Adam ( Final appearance ) Archie 's Final Project Yes Television Second City Television ( 1976 -- 1978 ) Delta House ( 1979 ) The Rodney Dangerfield Show : It 's Not Easy Bein ' Me ( 1982 ) The Top ( 1984 ) The Office ( 2007 -- 2010 ) Video games Year Title Role Notes 2009 Ghostbusters : The Video Game Dr. Egon Spengler Writer, Voice 2015 Lego Dimensions Dr. Egon Spengler Voice ( Archive Audio ) References ^ Jump up to : Friend, Tad ( April 19, 2004 ). `` Comedy First : How Harold Ramis 's movies have stayed funny for twenty - five years ''. The New Yorker. Retrieved August 28, 2007. Jump up ^ `` Awards Database -- Film : Original Screenplay ''. bafta.org. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 16 August 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` Harold Ramis Biography ( 1944 -- ) ''. FilmReference.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Ruth Cokee Ramis ( 1919 -- 2001 ) -- Find A Grave Memorial ''. Findagrave.com. Retrieved 2016 - 07 - 17. Jump up ^ Leopold, Todd ( February 24, 2014 ). `` Harold Ramis of ' Ghostbusters, ' ' Groundhog Day ' fame dies ''. CNN.com. Retrieved February 25, 2014. Asked by The New York Times about the existential questions raised by `` Groundhog Day '' -- and competing interpretations of the film 's meaning -- he mentioned that he did n't practice any religion himself. Jump up ^ Kuczynski, Alex. `` Groundhog Almighty '', The New York Times, December 7, 2003, via Kenyon College Department of Religious Studies Jump up ^ `` Chicago Public Schools Alumni : ' Senn, Nicolas Senn High School ' ''. Cpsalumni.org. Retrieved February 24, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Sacks, Mike. And Here 's the Kicker... : Conversations with Top Humor Writers About Their Craft Archived June 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. ( Writer 's Digest Books, July 2009 ). Online excerpt from Harold Ramis interview Jump up ^ `` Zeta Beta Tau -- Notable Alumni ''. Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity. Retrieved January 1, 2014. Jump up ^ Martin, Brett ( July 2009 ). `` Harold Ramis Gets the Last Laugh ''. GQ : 64 -- 67, 124 -- 25. Archived from the original on July 1, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2009. Jump up ^ Caldwell, Sara C., and Marie - Eve S. Kielson, So You Want to be A Screenwriter : How to Face the Fears and Take the Risks ( Allworth Press, 2000 ), p. 75. ISBN 1 - 58115 - 062 - 8, ISBN 978 - 1 - 58115 - 062 - 9 ^ Jump up to : Lovece, Frank, `` Ramis ' realm : Comedy creator surveys career from Second City to ' Year One ' '', Film Journal International online, June 12, 2009 Jump up ^ Patinkin, Sheldon. The Second City : Backstage at the World 's Greatest Comedy Theater ( Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 2000 ) ISBN 1 - 57071 - 561 - 0, ISBN 978 - 1 - 57071 - 561 - 7. ^ Jump up to : Martin, Douglas ( February 24, 2014 ). `` Harold Ramis, 69, Dies ; Alchemist of the Hilarious ''. The New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2014. Jump up ^ Karp, Josh ( 2006 ). A Futile and Stupid Gesture : How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. Chicago Review Press. p. 219. ISBN 1 - 55652 - 602 - 4. Jump up ^ Caldwell, Kielson, p. 77 Jump up ^ Saito, Stephen `` 20 Movies Not Coming Soon to a Theater Near You '', Section : `` A Confederacy of Dunces '', Premiere, no date Jump up ^ `` ' Ghostbusters 3 ' in Theaters by Christmas 2012 ! ''. Bloody Disgusting. Jump up ^ Wolgamott, L. Kent ( April 15, 2004 ). `` An ' exceedingly dangerous woman ' : Emma Goldman 's story ''. Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. Archived from the original on June 4, 2004. Jump up ^ Abrams, Brian ( December 28, 2009 ). `` Ramis on ' Ghostbusters 3 ' : ' Plans to Shoot Next Summer and Release in 2011 ' ''. Heeb. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2014. Jump up ^ Ramis interview, WABC - TV, via `` Harold Ramis Says ' Ghostbusters 3 ' in 2011 ! ''. BloodyDisgustng.com. December 30, 2009. Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 24. Jump up ^ E Television Online : `` Harold Ramis ' Daughter Speaks Out : Stop Using My Dad as an Excuse to Hate the New ' Ghostbusters ' '' by John Boone July 14, 2016 Jump up ^ Honan, William H. ( November 23, 1991 ). `` Daniel Mann, 79, the Director of Successful Plays and Films ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Bacon, Shane ( February 24, 2014 ). `` Remembering Harold Ramis and `` Caddyshack '' ``. Yahoo !. Retrieved February 24, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Caro, Mark. `` Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69 ''. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 25, 2014. Retrieved February 24, 2014. Jump up ^ Harold Ramis at Find a Grave Jump up ^ `` Statement from the President on the Passing of Harold Ramis ''. whitehouse.gov. February 25, 2014. Retrieved 2016 - 07 - 17. Jump up ^ Jordan Zakarin ( February 25, 2014 ). `` President Obama Makes ' Caddyshack ' Joke in Tribute to Harold Ramis ''. TheWrap. Retrieved 2016 - 07 - 17. Jump up ^ Wakeman, Gregory. `` How Groundhog Day Ruined Bill Murray And Harold Ramis ' Partnership ''. Retrieved May 28, 2015. Jump up ^ http://thecomicscomic.com/2014/02/25/stephen-colbert-and-jon-stewart-pay-tribute-to-the-late-great-harold-ramis/ Jump up ^ `` St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees : Harold Ramis ''. Stlouiswalkoffame.org. Retrieved February 24, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Austin Film Festival Past Award Recipients ''. AustinFilmFestival.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Harold Ramis Honored by Writers Guild with Screen Laurel Award ''. Variety. Retrieved January 19, 2014. Jump up ^ Anderson, Melissa ( July 10, 2016 ). `` Busted Flat : All - Too - Normal Activity Dominates the ' Ghostbusters ' Remake ''. Retrieved August 14, 2017. External links Harold Ramis on IMDb Henkel, Guido. `` Anatomy of a Comedian : Harold Ramis '', DVD Review, August 6, 1999 Garfinkel, Perry. `` And If He Sees His Shadow... '', Lion 's Roar, July 2009 Meatballs Movie Website The films of Harold Ramis, Hell Is For Hyphenates, April 30, 2014 Films directed by Harold Ramis Caddyshack ( 1980 ) National Lampoon 's Vacation ( 1983 ) Club Paradise ( 1986 ) Groundhog Day ( 1993 ) Stuart Saves His Family ( 1995 ) Multiplicity ( 1996 ) Analyze This ( 1999 ) Bedazzled ( 2000 ) Analyze That ( 2002 ) The Ice Harvest ( 2005 ) Year One ( 2009 ) Awards for Harold Ramis BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay Paul D. Zimmerman ( 1983 ) Woody Allen ( 1984 ) Woody Allen ( 1985 ) Woody Allen ( 1986 ) David Leland ( 1987 ) Shawn Slovo ( 1988 ) Nora Ephron ( 1989 ) Giuseppe Tornatore ( 1990 ) Anthony Minghella ( 1991 ) Woody Allen ( 1992 ) Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin ( 1993 ) Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary ( 1994 ) Christopher McQuarrie ( 1995 ) Mike Leigh ( 1996 ) Gary Oldman ( 1997 ) Andrew Niccol ( 1998 ) Charlie Kaufman ( 1999 ) Cameron Crowe ( 2000 ) Jean - Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant ( 2001 ) Pedro Almodóvar ( 2002 ) Tom McCarthy ( 2003 ) Charlie Kaufman ( 2004 ) Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco ( 2005 ) Michael Arndt ( 2006 ) Diablo Cody ( 2007 ) Martin McDonagh ( 2008 ) Mark Boal ( 2009 ) David Seidler ( 2010 ) Michel Hazanavicius ( 2011 ) Quentin Tarantino ( 2012 ) Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell ( 2013 ) Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness ( 2014 ) Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer ( 2015 ) Kenneth Lonergan ( 2016 ) London Film Critics ' Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year Steve Tesich ( 1980 ) Colin Welland ( 1981 ) Costa - Gavras and Donald E. Stewart ( 1982 ) Ruth Prawer Jhabvala ( 1983 ) Philip Kaufman ( 1984 ) Alan Bennett ( 1985 ) Woody Allen ( 1986 ) Alan Bennett ( 1987 ) David Mamet ( 1988 ) Christopher Hampton ( 1989 ) Woody Allen ( 1990 ) David Mamet ( 1991 ) Michael Tolkin ( 1992 ) Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin ( 1993 ) Quentin Tarantino ( 1994 ) Paul Attanasio ( 1995 ) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen ( 1996 ) Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland ( 1997 ) Andrew Niccol ( 1998 ) Alan Ball ( 1999 ) Charlie Kaufman ( 2000 ) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen ( 2001 ) Andrew Bovell ( 2002 ) John Collee and Peter Weir ( 2003 ) Charlie Kaufman ( 2004 ) Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco ( 2005 ) Peter Morgan ( 2006 ) Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ( 2007 ) Simon Beaufoy ( 2008 ) Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche ( 2009 ) Aaron Sorkin ( 2010 ) Asghar Farhadi ( 2011 ) Michael Haneke ( 2012 ) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen ( 2013 ) Wes Anderson ( 2014 ) Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer ( 2015 ) Kenneth Lonergan ( 2016 ) VIAF : 67535489 LCCN : n86146100 ISNI : 0000 0001 1474 1940 GND : 129068675 SUDOC : 078618614 BNF : cb13898805p ( data ) BIBSYS : 98041237 BNE : XX1535387 IATH : w67p9p11 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harold_Ramis&oldid=817379642 '' Categories : 1944 births 2014 deaths 20th - century American male actors 21st - century American male actors Jewish American comedians American people of Jewish descent American male comedians American male film actors American film directors American male screenwriters American male television actors American television writers BAFTA winners ( people ) Deaths from vasculitis Disease - related deaths in Illinois Jewish American male actors Male actors from Chicago Washington University in St. Louis alumni Jewish American writers Film directors from Illinois Male television writers Comedians from Illinois Writers from Chicago Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2014 Find a Grave template with ID same as Wikidata Use mdy dates from May 2017 Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles with hCards All articles with vague or ambiguous time Vague or ambiguous time from February 2014 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Asturianu Български Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Latina Lëtzebuergesch Malagasy Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Occitan Plattdüütsch Polski Português Română Русский Scots Simple English Slovenčina Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog Türkçe Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 28 December 2017, at 00 : 50. 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Question: who played egon in the original ghostbusters movie
Answer: Harold Allen Ramis