---
name: "Harold Ramis"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/harold-ramis"
fi1m_id: "harold-ramis"
imdb_id: "nm0000601"
tmdb_id: 1524
wikidata_id: "Q286890"
roles: ["Writer","Director","Actor"]
born: "21 November 1944"
died: "24 February 2014"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 12
average_fi1m_score: 61
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-04T19:32:48.521442+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Harold Ramis

## Identity

Harold Ramis

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/harold-ramis
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** harold-ramis
- **IMDb ID:** nm0000601
- **TMDB ID:** 1524
- **Wikidata ID:** Q286890
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ramis, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q286890, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000601/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1524

Writer and director. Born 21 November 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Died 24 February 2014.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Director, Actor
- **Born:** 21 November 1944, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Died:** 24 February 2014
- **Active:** 1980–2024
- **Also known as:** Harold Allen Ramis, هارولد رامیس
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 12: 4 acting, 3 directing, 4 writing, 1 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Bill Murray](https://film.one/person/bill-murray.md), [Ivan Reitman](https://film.one/person/ivan-reitman.md), [Brian Doyle-Murray](https://film.one/person/brian-doyle-murray.md), [Chevy Chase](https://film.one/person/chevy-chase.md), [Dan Aykroyd](https://film.one/person/dan-aykroyd.md), [Rodney Dangerfield](https://film.one/person/rodney-dangerfield.md), [Sigourney Weaver](https://film.one/person/sigourney-weaver.md)
- **BAFTA Film Awards:** 1 BAFTA (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 61, as writer, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 70 (5), 1990s 82 (2), 2000s 77 (1), 2010s 64 (1), 2020s 61 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 57 to 56 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Genres:** Comedy 4, Fantasy 3, Adventure 2, Action 1
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $727m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ramis, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q286890, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000601/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1524

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Groundhog Day*](https://film.one/film/groundhog-day.md) (88), [*As Good as It Gets*](https://film.one/film/as-good-as-it-gets.md) (77), [*Stripes*](https://film.one/film/stripes.md) (70)
- **Netflix:** [*Ghostbusters*](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters.md) (80)
- **Peacock:** [*The Office*](https://film.one/tv/the-office-2005.md) (77)
- **Apple TV:** [*Back to School*](https://film.one/film/back-to-school.md) (72)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*National Lampoon's Vacation*](https://film.one/film/national-lampoons-vacation.md) (70)
- **Tubi:** [*Ghostbusters II*](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-ii.md) (60)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Harold Ramis

> Harold Ramis's gift, as Egon Spengler on screen and as writer and director of *Groundhog Day* behind it, was for putting a rule-bound man next to Bill Murray and letting the friction do the work. When they were in step, we recommend the result gladly.

In *Ghostbusters* (1984) Harold Ramis stands slightly behind the argument. Bill Murray's Venkman refuses to sound impressed by anything, Dan Aykroyd's Stantz believes everything, and Ramis's Egon Spengler answers both with an exactness that makes the nonsense sound like a laboratory result. He is the straight man, and he plays it so quietly that it takes a second viewing to notice how much of the film's rhythm depends on him. The three sound like colleagues who have shared an office for years, and that ease is what we recommended the film for.

He came out of Second City improvisation and SCTV, and the writing came first: *National Lampoon's Animal House* (1978), slobs against the college, then *Caddyshack* (1980), his first film as director, slobs against the golf club. *Ghostbusters* put him in front of the camera and *Ghostbusters II* (1989) put him there again, in a script he and Aykroyd wrote as the first film with the names changed. We found it amiable and never once necessary. Its one good scene, Spengler and Stantz drilling into First Avenue at night and finding a river of slime beneath, is his own character at his most useful, and the film hardly uses it.

*Groundhog Day* (1993) is the one that lasts. With Danny Rubin he took a premise that could have made a sketch and found 101 minutes in it, most of them about Murray's Phil Connors being made to endure other people. Ramis directs with restraint; John Bailey's camera stays on Murray's face, so a small change of expression alters a scene we have already watched twice. We laughed at Phil's impatience and then felt slightly ashamed of recognising it, and Ramis leaves that ugliness visible under the joke rather than tidying it away. He said at the time that his comedy training went against sentimentality and that "the one thing we never wanted to do was cross that line into syrup." He mostly kept to it, though George Fenton's score is sweeter than the performances need and Andie MacDowell's Rita gets less room than Phil.

The weakness was there from the start. The *Ghostbusters* screenplay is thin whenever the central trio is not talking, and the people around them exist because the next stretch requires them. After *Analyze This* (1999), the later films, *Year One* (2009) among them, are generally thought to lean on formulas he had already used, which is a charge the second *Ghostbusters* invites too. His acting in other people's films was small: a doctor in James L. Brooks's *As Good as It Gets* (1997), and he directed on *The Office* (2005), neither of which gave us cause to single him out.

What he had was a way of standing next to anarchy and giving it a shape, as a writer and as the man in the glasses holding the meter. Start with *Groundhog Day*, then the first *Ghostbusters*, and stop there.

## Biography

Harold Ramis was an American actor, writer and director known for his work in comedy films. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career with the Second City improvisational troupe before becoming head writer and performer on the television series SCTV.

He co-wrote National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and went on to direct Caddyshack (1980). Ramis wrote, directed and produced Groundhog Day (1993), in which he also appeared in a supporting role, and he played Dr. Bettes in As Good as It Gets (1997). Other notable credits include writing and acting in Ghostbusters (1984) and directing Analyze This (1999). He shared a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for Groundhog Day.

Ramis died in 2014.

*Sources: imdb.com, theguardian.com, cnn.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (12)

### Performed in (4)

- *As Good as It Gets* (1997), Fi1m 77, as Dr. Bettes — [page](https://film.one/film/as-good-as-it-gets.md)
- *Ghostbusters II* (1989), Fi1m 60, as Dr. Egon Spengler — [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-ii.md)
- *Ghostbusters* (1984), Fi1m 80, as Dr. Egon Spengler — [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters.md)
- *Stripes* (1981), Fi1m 70, as Russell Ziskey — [page](https://film.one/film/stripes.md)

### Directed (3)

- *The Office* (2005), Fi1m 77, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-office-2005.md)
- *Groundhog Day* (1993), Fi1m 88, as Neurologist — [page](https://film.one/film/groundhog-day.md)
- *National Lampoon's Vacation* (1983), Fi1m 70, as Car salesman (voice) (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/national-lampoons-vacation.md)

### Wrote (4) — the average rests on these

- *Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire* (2024), Fi1m 52, Original Film Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-frozen-empire.md)
- *Ghostbusters: Afterlife* (2021), Fi1m 55, as Dr. Egon Spengler (archive footage) (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-afterlife.md)
- *Ghostbusters* (2016), Fi1m 64, Characters — [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-2016.md)
- *Back to School* (1986), Fi1m 72, Screenplay, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/back-to-school.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution...* (2026), Fi1m 77, as Self (archive footage) — [page](https://film.one/film/you-had-to-be-there-how-the-toronto-godspell-ignited-the-comedy-revolution.md)

## Complete filmography (49)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire* (2024), Original Film Writer — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-frozen-empire.md)
- *Ghostbusters: Afterlife* (2021), as Dr. Egon Spengler (archive footage) (uncredited) · Original Film Writer — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-afterlife.md)
- *The Movies That Made Us* (2019), series, as Dr. Egon Spengler (archive footage)
- *Ghostbusters* (2016), Characters — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-2016.md)
- *Year One* (2009), as Adam · Screenplay, Director, Producer
- *My Suicide* (2009), Executive Producer
- *Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story* (2007), as L'Chaim
- *Knocked Up* (2007), as Ben's Dad
- *The Last Kiss* (2006), as Professor Bowler
- *I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With* (2006), Executive Producer
- *The Ice Harvest* (2005), Director
- *The Office* (2005), series, Director — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-office-2005.md)
- *Stork Day* (2004), Original Film Writer
- *Analyze That* (2002), Director, Screenplay
- *I'm with Lucy* (2002), as Jack
- *The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest* (2002), Executive Producer
- *Orange County* (2002), as Don Durkett
- *Bedazzled* (2000), Screenplay, Director, Producer
- *Analyze This* (1999), Director, Screenplay
- *As Good as It Gets* (1997), as Dr. Bettes — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/as-good-as-it-gets.md)
- *Multiplicity* (1996), Director, Producer
- *Stuart Saves His Family* (1995), Director
- *Love Affair* (1994), as Sheldon Blumenthal
- *Airheads* (1994), as Chris Moore
- *Groundhog Day* (1993), as Neurologist · Director, Producer, Screenplay — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/groundhog-day.md)
- *Rover Dangerfield* (1991), Story Developer, Story
- *The Earth Day Special* (1990), as Elon Spengler
- *Ghostbusters II* (1989), as Dr. Egon Spengler · Screenplay, Characters — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters-ii.md)
- *The Best of SCTV* (1988), Writer
- *Stealing Home* (1988), as Alan Appleby
- *Caddyshack II* (1988), Screenplay, Characters
- *Baby Boom* (1987), as Steven Buchner
- *Meatballs III: Summer Job* (1986), Characters
- *The Real Ghostbusters* (1986), series, Creator
- *Armed and Dangerous* (1986), Screenplay
- *Club Paradise* (1986), Director, Screenplay
- *Back to School* (1986), Screenplay, Executive Producer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/back-to-school.md)
- *On the Scene with the Ghostbusters* (1984), Actor
- *Ghostbusters* (1984), as Dr. Egon Spengler · Screenplay — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/ghostbusters.md)
- *National Lampoon's Vacation* (1983), as Car salesman (voice) (uncredited) · Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/national-lampoons-vacation.md)
- *Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone* (1983), as Voice (Uncredited)
- *The Rodney Dangerfield Show: It's Not Easy Bein' Me* (1982), Writer
- *Heavy Metal* (1981), as Zeke (voice)
- *Stripes* (1981), as Russell Ziskey · Screenplay — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/stripes.md)
- *SCTV Network 90* (1981), series, Writer
- *Caddyshack* (1980), Director, Writer
- *Meatballs* (1979), Writer
- *Animal House* (1978), Writer
- *Second City Television* (1976), series, Writer

## Gallery

- ![This file is a derivate work of the above named images to illustrate the cast of the 1984 supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters.](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-71873fb700fa.png) This file is a derivate work of the above named images to illustrate the cast of the 1984 supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters. — File:Annie Potts Emmys.jpg by Alan Light
File:Bill Murray 1989 (cropped).jpg by Mxbndr
File:Dan Aykroyd on set of MTV Music Television NYC.jpg by Bernard Gotfryd
File:Sigourney Weaver.jpg by Alan Light
File:HaroldRamisOct2009.jpg by Justin Hoch
File:10.17.09ErnieHudsonByLuigiNovi.jpg by Nightscream, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Ghostbusters_1984_Cast_Collage_2.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![This file is a derivate work of the above named images to illustrate the cast of the 1984 supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters.](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-edeb19d3c76c.png) This file is a derivate work of the above named images to illustrate the cast of the 1984 supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters. — File:Annie Potts Emmys.jpg by Alan Light :File:Bill Murray Cannes 2019.jpg by Georges Biard :File:Dan Aykroyd cropped.jpg by Rnunezart :File:Sigourney Weaver by Gage Skidmore.jpg by Gage Skidmore :File:HaroldRamisOct2009.jpg by Justin Hoch :File:10.17.09ErnieHudsonByLuigiNovi.jpg by Nightscream, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Ghostbusters_1984_cast.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![This file is a derivate work of the above named images to illustrate the cast of the 1989 supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters II.](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-7def5d5f3c72.png) This file is a derivate work of the above named images to illustrate the cast of the 1989 supernatural comedy film Ghostbusters II. — File:Rick Moranis at the 62nd Academy Awards.jpg by Alan Light :File:Bill Murray Cannes 2019.jpg by Georges Biard :File:Dan Aykroyd cropped.jpg by Rnunezart :File:Sigourney Weaver by Gage Skidmore.jpg by Gage Skidmore :File:HaroldRamisOct2009.jpg by Justin Hoch :File:10.17.09ErnieHudsonByLuigiNovi.jpg by Nightscream, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Ghostbusters_1989_Cast.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Harold Ramis at a Hudson Union Society event in October 2009.](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-8352e3b91e67.jpg) Harold Ramis at a Hudson Union Society event in October 2009. — Justin Hoch photographing for Hudson Union Society, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/HaroldRamisOct2009.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Harold Ramis](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-10d4ac154299.jpg) Harold Ramis — Image via TMDB
- ![Harold Ramis](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-3cde3ac91962.jpg) Harold Ramis — Image via TMDB
- ![The Harold Ramis memorial which appeared in front of Hook & Ladder 8 (the "Ghostbusters Firehouse") on the day of his death. (2014)](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-4d984f3c04ec.jpg) The Harold Ramis memorial which appeared in front of Hook & Ladder 8 (the "Ghostbusters Firehouse") on the day of his death. (2014) — Rob T Firefly, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Harold_Ramis_memorial.jpg/1280px-Harold_Ramis_memorial.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Harold Ramis tribute outside of Ghostbusters Headquarters](https://film.one/media/person/82365/gallery-3108d4256e74.jpg) Harold Ramis tribute outside of Ghostbusters Headquarters — Kim, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Harold_Ramis_tribute_outside_of_Ghostbusters_Headquarters_-_Flickr_-_TheGirlsNY.jpg/1280px-Harold_Ramis_tribute_outside_of_Ghostbusters_Headquarters_-_Flickr_-_TheGirlsNY.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won

- 1994: Best Original Screenplay (won), for *Groundhog Day*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Earle Grey Award 1995: Earle Grey Award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/harold-ramis