Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Harold Ramis, Star of ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Groundhog Day,’ Dies at 69

Harold Ramis, Jewish comedian, writer, actor and director, died in his Chicago home earlier today. He was 69 years old.

The recipient of numerous awards for his acclaimed films, Ramis was known for films like “Ghostbusters,” “Groundhog Day,” “Analyze This. His Hollywood breakthrough came in 1978 when he co-wrote “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” Other writing credits include “Stripes” (1981), “Ghostbusters” (1984) and “Ghostbusters II” (1989), in which he also co-starred. He made his directorial debut in 1980 with “Caddyshack.”

Ramis reportedly suffered from vasculitis, an autoimmune disease that destroys the blood vessels, according to the Chicago Tribune. He recovered after a May 2010 flare up but suffered a relapse of the disease in late 2011.

He passed away at 12:53 a.m. in his North Shore home, surrounded by his family, the Tribune reported.

“His creativity, compassion, intelligence, humor and spirit will be missed by all who knew and loved him,” his agent said in a written statement.

News of his death rattled Hollywood, with many colleagues, friends and admirers taking to Twitter to share their shock and grief, and pay tribute to his work.

He is survived by three children, his wife Erica and two grandchildren.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.