Zo juist is bekend gemaakt dat de Amerikaanse acteur en regisseur Harold Rammis op 69 jarige leeftijd na enig ziekte bed. Rammis is vooral bekend bij het grote publiek als Dr.Egon Spengler in de cult film Ghostbusters. Het oudere publiek als mijzelf kent hem uiteraard nog van de screwball komedies als Stripes (1981), het briljante Caddy Shack (1980) en natuurlijk Meatballs uit 1979 waar hij vaak met andere cult acteur Bill Murray speelde. Ook was Harold Rammis vaak achter de camera te vinden waar hij velen komedies regisseerde. Je kan dan ook wel stellen dat dit een zwarte dag is voor ons nerd, geeks en film fans.

Harold Ramis was one of Hollywood's most successful comedy filmmakers when he moved his family from Los Angeles back to the Chicago area in 1996. His career was still thriving, with "Groundhog Day" acquiring almost instant classic status upon its 1993 release and 1984's "Ghostbusters" ranking among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, but the writer-director wanted to return to the city where he'd launched his career as a Second City performer.

"There's a pride in what I do that other people share because I'm local, which in L.A. is meaningless; no one's local," Ramis said upon the launch of the first movie he directed after his move, the 1999 mobster-in-therapy comedy "Analyze This," another hit. "It's a good thing. I feel like I represent the city in a certain way."

Ramis, a longtime North Shore resident, was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, his wife Erica Mann Ramis said. He was 69.

Ramis' serious health struggles began in May 2010 with an infection that led to complications related to the autoimmune disease, his wife said. Ramis had to relearn to walk but suffered a relapse of the vaculitis in late 2011, said Laurel Ward, vice president of development at Ramis' Ocean Pictures production company.