Harold Ramis dies aged 69 | Hacker News Reader

Harold Ramis dies aged 69

bbc.co.uk

165 pointsrb2e42 comments

I reckon Harold Ramis is one of those guys where it's okay to make jokes about his death because doing so is actually a better way of remembering him than being all sad and miserable.

So... I'm looking forward to Ghostbusters 3 even more now! One question, though: Are ghost actors eligible for Oscars nominations?

Hell they have to chase him as a ghost cameo.

Let it go, man. He's gone to the great laser containment grid in the sky.

Yeah, but to really honor him, the jokes should be funny.

I actually laughed out loud.

This reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head

A while back I read an article using Groundhog Day as an example how we can never have perfect information in an economic system.

"The movie Groundhog Day (1993) illustrates the importance of the Mises-Hayek paradigm as an alternative to equilibrium economics by illustrating the unreal nature of equilibrium theorizing."

http://archive.mises.org/5546/the-economics-of-groundhog-day...

> The ability of this fictional character to relive a single day points to vital issues in economics. Perfectly competitive equilibrium requires perfect information. Ignorance leads to errors that put the ideal state of equilibrium out of reach. Ignorance and error exist due to perpetual change. In a world where everything stays the same — except our knowledge of previous days — we can approach perfection.

And it makes sense too! I mean, I already knew that practically every religion out there somehow manages to turn it into an example of teaching X or scripture Y, but if even economists can relate it to their field you know you have something special.

I think I want to cry. As Egon, he was an idol for me when I was a kid--some kind of amazing nerd superhero. I wanted to be that smart and cool. RIP.

His character in Ghostbusters 2 was a tech role model for me too. The idea that science and engineering could solve practical problems was eye-opening as a kid.

Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day are both truly great films with an astonishing influence on American culture. He'll be missed, but never forgotten.

This man was a legend! He wrote/directed/produced/started in some of the most icon comedy films every (love me some Stripes). Its strange that he was able to slip under the radar. I think he liked it that way.

Harold seemed like a great guy. Always smiling. Always willing to give the funny lines to everyone else.

I hope he gets the coverage that he deserves. He truly was one of the greats!

I know this sounds a bit selfish of me, but I kinda wish there was a third Ghostbusters movie (ya ya ya, the game was the "3rd" movie). It would've been great to see him in a suit again and to be praised for the amazing films he brought to us.

R.I.P. Mr. Ramis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igfRYtwpQyU

He did fly under the radar. He was one of my favorites. I'd always talk about him, but few knew who he was. But seeing the memorials on twitter and the net, I see many others recognized him. RIP Russell Ziskey. You will be sorely missed.

What a bummer. It's nearly impossible to overstate his impact on modern Hollywood comedy.

Groundhog Day blew my mind. There was something so dark about the idea that Bill Murray's character couldn't even kill himself to escape the cycle, and also the idea of how lonely it would be to have eternity but no one to share it with. I can't think of another comedy that was so thought provoking.

Agreed 100%. Not just comedy, but culture. It's amazing to me that "Groundhog Day" has entered American English as an idiom meaning something unpleasant repeating itself from this movie. An incredible accomplishment by Ramis, Murray, and everyone else involved in the film.

Near the end of the article, it said that Ramis was visited recently by Bill Murray, from whom he'd been estranged for years. I wonder what that was all about, given their history together?

There was some animosity as a result of Groundhog day I think. Creative difference I believe.

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.”

From the New Yorker profile of Ramis, which is worth reading in its entirety: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/04/19/040419fa_fact3?c...

It would be interesting to see a remake of Groundhog Day, but as a dark drama instead of a comedy.

Me too. But I think it'd likely have been a worse movie, overall.

I guess I'm the only one who thought of it as a black comedy. Doesn't Bill Murray's character kill himself several times? Hasn't he been trapped in the day for the equivalent of several lifetimes? Sounds amazingly awful.

apparently the scriptwriter had the Murray character visit the library each day and read one word on one page of a book, as a way of marking time in a world where nothing could be written down. The first drafts had him finish the library - thousands of years in the same day.

RIP

I read that Ramis demanded Murray hire an assistant because he wouldn't take his calls and would constantly be late to set. Murray ended up hiring a deaf person who only knew how to speak in american sign language...just to mess with 'em.

Groundhog Day is one of my favorite films of all time. I think it's really Important that when trapped in his lonely cycle Murray finally settles on taking care of others as perfectly as he can. Beautiful.

I could literally watch that movie over and over and over..

Left this in another thread, but here's the definitive profile of Ramis, by Tad Friend of The New Yorker. It examines the how and why Ramis's movies have stayed so funny for so many years. The author has unlocked it for the next 24 hours:

https://www.byliner.com/tad-friend/stories/comedy-first?AFID...

Here as well, unlocked indefinitely:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/04/19/040419fa_fact3?c...

As I understand it, on his deathbed, he received total consciousness.

Which is nice.

You left out that he has that going for him.

"So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet..."

Now I have to commence a Ramis Remembrance Week. He provided me many laughs over the decades for which I gladly give him a mulligan for Caddyshack II. RIP, funny man!

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ramis#Writing

Please join me in straightening a Slinky in honor of a truly great actor and director.

Sad news. He directed one of my favourite movies Groundhog Day. RIP.

As a little kid, Egon was my hero. RIP.

Dr. Spengler was my favorite ghostbuster when I was a kid and when I watched the movie last weekend.

This makes me sad, Harold made me laugh so very hard and I will always remember him for that.

Horrible news.

Today's passing of Ramis added to the passing of John Hughes in '09, means the two powerhouses of the Golden Age of cinematic comedy (70's, 80's and early 90's) are gone.

Thanks for the laughs, Harold.

Hughes. Ramis. We are starting to lose what might be, for all its diversity, be called a significant "generation" of filmmakers. Certainly significant for the generation that grew up with and a bit on their work, and for the generations of filmmakers who have followed them.

Feels like a transition -- or the defining final notes for such transition.

He was involved in some of my favorite movies: Animal House, Caddy Shack, and Groundhog Day. He will be missed.

Kids: we need to talk about Stripes!

LEGEND

Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, sure... but he was great on SCTV as well.

I won't forget Harold.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com