Harold Ramis

Born: November 1944
Where: Chicago, USA

Ramis's unconvential route to renowned comedy director took in landing his first job at Playboy magazine where he eventually became an assistant editor.

During his time there he persevered with his interest in the arts and in 1969 Ramis secured his start in comedy with Chicago's famed Second City improvisational theatre troupe.

In 1974, he left Playboy and moved to New York to write and perform in The National Lampoon Show with fellow Second City graduates Bill Murray and John Belushi.

Two years later the comedian had made a name for himself in the industry and became the head writer and a regular performer on SCTV, the successful American TV comedy series.

Ramis achieved his Hollywood breakthrough, when he co-wrote the blockbuster comedy National Lampoon's Animal House, produced by Ivan Reitman.

He and Ivan later teamed up in many successful joint ventures such as Meatballs, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II.

Ramis's directorial debut was with Caddyshack, followed by National Lampoon's Vacation.

His first performance as an actor in a film that he neither produced nor wrote was in Baby Boom, opposite Diane Keaton.

Next came the highly successful Groundhog Day with Bill Murray followed by Airheads and his most high profile on screen appearances in the Oscar-winning As Good As It Gets.

He directed and co-wrote Analyze This with Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal and the less successful, Bedazzled with Brendan Fraser and Liz Hurley.

Recently, Ramis re-teamed with De Niro and Crystal to make Analyze That and appears in I'm With Lucy with Monica Potter.