Harold Ramis biography

Behind the scenes, Ramis worked with Aykroyd on the film's script. All three actors participated in the 1989 sequel.

Comedy Career

Ramis continued to write or co-write a number of other comedic screenplays, including Back to School (1986) starring Rodney Dangerfield, Club Paradise (1986) starring Robin Williams, and Armed and Dangerous (1986) starring John Candy and Eugene Levy. Back to School did okay commercially, but both Club Paradise (which he also directed) and Armed and Dangerous were box office disappointments.

Maturing as a writer and director, Ramis created a more sophisticated comedy, Groundhog Day (1993). The film starred Bill Murray as a weather reporter sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the Groundhog Day festivities there and ends up forced to relive that day over and over again. Along for the ride is his producer (Andy McDowell) and his cameraman (Chris Elliott). While very humorous, the film also shows the transformation of Murray's character.

As a director, Ramis tackled more comedies in the late 1990s with mixed results. Both Stuart Saves His Family (1995) and Multiplicity (1996) were critical and commercial duds. With Analyze This (1999), Ramis helped create a smart comedy about a gangster (Robert De Niro) and his psychiatrist (Billy Crystal). He co-wrote the screenplay in addition to serving as the film's director and he took on these roles again for the film's 2002 sequel Analyze That.

Recent Years

More recently, Ramis has continued to act, write, and direct for a variety of projects. He appeared as Seth Rogen's father in the comedy smash Knocked Up (2007) and had a small role in the musical biopic spoof Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) starring John C. Reilly. For the ancient world comedy Year One, Ramis served as the project's director and co-writer. He even has a small role in the film, which stars Jack Black and Michael Cera.

Ramis has been married to Erica Mann since 1989. The couple has two sons, Julian and Daniel. Ramis also has a daughter, Violet, from his first marriage to Anne Plotkin.

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