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Harold Ramis has died.


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A sweet man. Took him to see Clifton Chenier at a high school in south Central LA. Nobody there recognized him. (This was after we'd made Stripes but before

Ghostbusters.)

When I first heard the news this morning I thought of you, I figured you knew him.

My Mother took me to see Stripes in the theater when I was 11, I've been a fan of Ramis ever since. A sad loss.

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There's a nice appreciation of him in, of all places, the opinion page of tomorrow's Wall St Journal (and Back To School is one of my favorite films):

The world seems a little less amusing after Monday's death of filmmaker Harold Ramis. A famous face to moviegoers because he often shared the screen with great comedic actors, Ramis made his greatest contributions as a writer. He wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for a generation's worth of classic comedies.

From "Animal House" to "Analyze This," from "Ghostbusters" to "Groundhog Day," Ramis kept Americans laughing from the late 1970s until his death Monday morning at age 69 of complications from vasculitis. For a decade or two after the 1980 release of "Caddyshack," which he co-wrote, it could seem almost impossible to communicate with young American males without a working knowledge of the film and its memorable lines. See Bill Murray's famous riff on caddying for the Dalai Lama nearby. Other hits included "Back to School," "Meatballs" and "Stripes."

Ramis was rarely a winner at entertainment-awards shows. He simply succeeded at entertainment. Except for "Groundhog Day," his films rarely impressed critics, but they were celebrated by moviegoers. So perhaps it is strangely appropriate that he died the week before the movie industry prepares for its annual Oscar celebration of films that may or may not have much of an audience. If moviegoers had been able to vote, they would have handed Ramis a wall full of trophies.

"Acting is all about big hair and funny props," he once said. "All the great actors knew it. Olivier knew it. Brando knew it." What we know is that the work of Harold Ramis is still making Americans laugh.

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Yeah, SCTV was where I first knowingly encountered him (come to find out he was on some of National Lampoon records, but the name meant nothing to me then)., so SCTV is my first instinctual thought when hearing the name.

I always dug him, not just his lines, but everything, timing, voice, face, body language, everything. He was one of those guys you sensed just knew funny, as both instinct and as science.

He will be missed. RIP, and thanks.

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As a kid growing up in Canada, I watched SCTV religiously. Harold Ramis was an unbelievably talented writer and producer, and his acting chops were a whole lot better than he ever gave himself credit for. He left an impression on me well before Ghostbusters and Stripes ever came along.

RIP Mr. Ramis, and thanks for all the laughs you've given us. Somewhere you and John Candy are wailing it up!

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As a kid growing up in Canada, I watched SCTV religiously. Harold Ramis was an unbelievably talented writer and producer, and his acting chops were a whole lot better than he ever gave himself credit for. He left an impression on me well before Ghostbusters and Stripes ever came along.

RIP Mr. Ramis, and thanks for all the laughs you've given us. Somewhere you and John Candy are wailing it up!

No doubt joined by Gilda Radner and John Belushi. I first saw Harold, Belushi and Gilda along with Bill Murray, Brian Doyle Murray and Joe Flaherty in" The National Lampoon Show on Broadway". Sadly half of them are now gone.

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Wow! Thanks. I didn't know about this and have no memory of doing this interview.

It was just posted on Esquire's site on Monday, but it wasn't clear how recent the interviews were. Also had me wondering if the piece had been put together some time ago in preparation for the 30th anniversary of the film's release and they decided to publish it now when Ramis died.

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