Harold Ramis died early Monday morning, and the world got a lot less funny.
Ramis, 69, is best known for writing and starring in 1984 flick “Ghostbusters,” and writing and directing iconic comedies including “Caddyshack,” “Groundhog Day” and “Analyze This.” He also wrote “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and directed “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” His most recent film was “Year One,” with Jack Black and Michael Cera, in 2009.
Ramis suffered from health issues since 2010, and passed of complications from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, his wife, Erica Mann Ramis, told the Chicago Tribune. The illness is a rare disease that causes extreme swelling of the blood vessels.
A surgery in 2010 left Ramis learning how to walk again, but he never recovered from a relapse in 2011, Mann Ramis said.
Fans in NYC created an impromptu memorial to Ramis Monday, leaving a small collection of flowers and candles outside the “Ghostbusters” firehouse, TriBeCa’s Hook & Ladder 8. Also on the ground was a pack of Twinkies, a snack used by Ramis’ “Ghostbusters” character Egon Spengler to illustrate New York City’s psychic energy.
“We were going to come here today anyway,” said Kim Ryalls, 53, on vacation from Sheffield, England with her boyfriend. A staunch Ramis fan, she learned of the actor-filmmaker’s death while at a bar around the corner from the firehouse, she said, which “makes this even more poignant.”
He died in his Chicago home surrounded by family.
With Cari Romm
