To honor the memory of the beloved Chicago filmmaker Harold Ramis on the 10th anniversary of his passing, Harry Caray’s Tavern on Navy Pier is hosting a Celebration of Life on Friday, with Harold’s widow, Erica Mann Ramis, joined by a number of cast members from Ramis’ “Groundhog Day” (1993), including Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned Ryerson), Marita Geraghty (Nancy Taylor), Brian Doyle-Murray (Buster Green), David Pasquesi (the psychiatrist) and Robin Duke (Doris the waitress).
In separate Zoom conversations, I spoke with Duke, Tobolowsky and Geraghty for this mini-oral history about their experiences with the “Groundhog Day” shoot in northwest suburban Woodstock and the film’s lasting impact.
The making of the movie
Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned Ryerson): We shot nine different scenes (of Ned greeting Murray’s Phil Connors on the street) and in the final film I think there’s five. One of the tricky things was, the day had to be the same meteorologically. In Woodstock, it could have been rain, sleet, snow, sun, anything. Harold settled on a kind of gloom, so we had to be ready at a moment’s notice to shoot again when the weather fit.
On the first day of shooting, Bill looks out at this crowd of 500 people watching us. I’m scared to death. And he goes, “Stephen, you know what? These people need Danishes. Come with me.” And we went into this bakery, he pulls out a wad of cash, gives me boxes of donuts and Danishes, and we go back out and he starts tossing them out to the crowd and everybody’s cheering. Bill Murray in one second had turned what could be a contentious relationship with a town that’s been taken over by a movie into fellowship. I know people complain about Bill, about this and that, but he was brilliant. Brilliant. And he brought the whole town onto our side. It was fantastic.
Marita Geraghty (Nancy Taylor): Looking back on “Groundhog Day,” it was such a pleasant experience for me. When I found out later there was conflict (between Ramis and Murray), well, I did not see or experience any of that. I had the loveliest time on the set. My parents were living in Glen Ellyn at the time, so I would drive from ‘Gobblers Knob’ to their house and have dinner sometimes. It was all great fun.
Robin Duke (Doris the waitress): Harold had seen me perform a scene at Second City in Chicago and he hired me from that for “Club Paradise,” so I had known him for quite a while. I think he chose people because they were grounded in their characters. That’s something that I learned at Second City — to be funny and real at the same time. I remember Bill saying to me that it was a bonus for the film that I could do that, to be both funny AND real.
The characters
Tobolowsky: You know, the first mistake a lot of young actors make is I think they’ll look at a role like Ned and say like, “Well, I’ve got to be crazy.” But Ned doesn’t seem himself that way. He was nothing in high school. But now he’s something. He’s an insurance salesman, and he does very well, and he has a life and he’s helping people.
Duke: There’s a pivotal scene where Phil is in the diner, and he talks about the lives of everyone there. Doris, worked there since she was 17, dreams of going to Paris. He never would have paid attention to these people before, but now he sees them every day and has come to know things about [them]. That’s interesting, isn’t it? “Groundhog Day” becomes this reminder about being kind, improving yourself, to keep trying.
Geraghty: Each of Nancy’s scenes had a little bit of their own tone. She’s not as giddy when she’s having her coffee. She’s more of a grown-up. And then she’s ready to party on Gobblers Knob and has kind of a bouncy energy.
She’s obviously pretty naive to think that this person she just met on Gobblers Knob is madly in love with her. But I did think that she had her own, you know, sense of boundaries or purity. There was actually another scene I had with Bill, but I understand why they took it out. I had a bar scene with Bill, and he was playing the same tricks that he played on Rita. If they had kept that, it would have made him seem more tawdry. Like, he’s doing the same thing with all the ladies, you know. So I can see why they lost it.
The aftermath
Tobolowsky: It’s so funny. When we did the (2020 ‘Groundhog Day’-themed) Super Bowl commercial, the night before, we got together and Bill said, “Stephen, do you remember the first day of shooting?” And I go, “Bill, it’s emblazoned in my brain.” He says, “Because I don’t remember any of it. Can you tell me what happened?” And we sat down at a table, and I told him the story about the Danish and he was going like, “Man, that sounds great.”
Geraghty: Harold was just so lovely and warm to work with … (In the years since “Groundhog Day”) I’ve seen Stephen, but not anyone else. I stopped acting. I taught science for 20 years. After I filed for divorce I just did a thing that I thought was a much nicer schedule for my kids. At the time, I was doing more episodic TV work, so it’s a very jumbled schedule. I loved acting, but I always loved family more, and harmony was always kind of more important to me. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody.
Duke: It’s such a great, smart, thoughtful film. It’s one of those movies where you might catch it on TV halfway through, maybe near the end, but hey, you watch it. Even though you missed the beginning, it doesn’t matter.
Tobolowsky: I was at this party at a producer’s house, and Harold had brought his guitar, and he was sitting in the front yard under a tree. And I sat beside him and said, “Harold, this question keeps popping up: How long is Bill trapped in this town and this same day?” And he said, “Well, Stephen, he’s trapped 10,000 years. … (The Buddhists) believe that it takes 10,000 years to perfect the human soul.” And that is the real story of “Groundhog Day,” the perfection of the human soul.
I’d do anything to honor that man, Harold Ramis. If you take a look at all the things in popular culture that he’s given to us, from “Caddyshack” to “Stripes” to “Groundhog Day.” It’s going to be so much fun to kind of see everybody on the cast. And I’m so happy that so many people are going to be there because we were very much a team.
“Groundhog Day” is streaming on AMC+ and Philo, and AMC will air the film in a marathon from 10 a.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday. For details on Woodstock’s annual “Groundhog Days” events, go to woodstockgroundhog.org.
