Ghostbusters Actors You Might Not Know Passed Away

"Ghostbusters" began with Dan Aykroyd's story, initially set in space with him and Jim Belushi battling the supernatural, but when director Ivan Reitman and writer Harold Ramis joined the spirited affair, they brought the idea more down to earth, literally. Reitman had said, "My psychological approach was to keep the picture a comedy and not get sidetracked by the special effects. I wanted the effects to be the best anyone had ever seen, but also wanted them to work as characters in a comedy."

When released on June 7, 1984, audiences were scared straight, and nervously laughed away their fears as our four beloved "Ghostbusters" — Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, and Zeddemore — saved New York from things that go bump (and slime you) in the night. The comedy was a monster quotable hit of that summer and ended up being the fifth-highest-grossing summer film of the 1980s, as well as comedies of all time. It was even nominated for two Academy Awards, for best visual effects and original theme song (its video was also directed by Reitman). It spawned a sequel, a cartoon, endless video games, knock-offs, and more recently, an all-female version, and a passing of the baton to the next generation with 2021's "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."

"Ghostbusters" is forever, but some of those who helped make sure that "magic did occur" in the franchise are unfortunately no longer with us. So let's look back and salute the "Ghostbusters" actors you might not know passed away.

Manhattanite David Margulies had long been making a name for himself as a character actor on his hometown island, debuting off-Broadway in 1958, working with James Earl Jones in a 1973 Broadway production of "The Iceman Cometh," and alongside Woody Allen in the 1976 Blacklist drama "The Front." He is best known for playing the skeptical — but open-eared — Ed Koch-esque Mayor of New York in "Ghostbusters" and its sequel. He didn't even have a name in the script, but recalled in a 2019 documentary that Bill Murray's "inspired notion" was that his character and the archbishop were on a first-name basis, with Murray casually adding: "and your name is Lenny." Margulies was more than happy to play the straight man, sticking to the script, while his comedian co-stars improvised their lines.

Margulies performed on Broadway 14 times, including the shows "Angels in America" and "Brighton Beach Memoirs," and he also co-starred in the 1986 film version. He additionally raised his brows in the films "All That Jazz," "Dress to Kill," "9 ½ Weeks," "Running on Empty," "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," and "Celebrity," and was a legal eagle as Tony Soprano's lawyer Neil Mink on "The Sopranos" and in various roles on "Law & Order." In his later years, he worked in regional theater, including with Steve Martin, and portrayed Elie Wiesel in the TV miniseries "Madoff."

Margulies died of cancer in 2016, at age 78.

Chicagoan Tom McDermott landed on Broadway in 1942, continuing to work on stage and screen in a career that lasted over six decades (marrying his one-time co-star, Mary Hayden, along the way, in a marriage that lasted 61 years). One of his early key roles was playing Permes Lykos on the trailblazing sci-fi series "Captain Video," which The New York Times noted was "a precursor of Mr. Spock on the later 'Star Trek' series."

He is perhaps best known to mainstream audiences for playing Mike, the Archbishop chummy with the Mayor in "Ghostbusters." He provides needed spiritual guidance for the impending "disaster of biblical proportions," saying, it's "a sign from God ... but don't quote me on that."

McDermott also dressed up as a man of the cloth as Friar Francis in Joseph Papp's 1972 production of "Much Ado About Nothing," and as a minister in the Whoopi Goldberg film "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

His final role was as Francis Nurse in the Daniel Day-Lewis-starring "Crucible" in 1996. McDermott died from prostate cancer in that same year, at age 83.

When the Mayor needed to weigh all his options with the paranormal activity engulfing New York City, he brought in his trusty fire and police commissioners to tell it like it is.

John Ring not only played that fire commissioner in "Ghostbusters," but actually reprised his role for the sequel, only to see his scene cut from the final film. That wasn't even the first time he played a fire commissioner in a movie starring Dan Aykroyd — first reporting for duty in "The Blue Brothers." Ring also played a fire chief in "Lean On Me," a police chief in "Amityville II: The Possession," and multiple roles in episodes of "New York Undercover" and "Law & Order." He also worked for Local 560 as a Teamster.

Ring passed away in 2014, at age 82.

Like Ring, Norman Matlock also played the same role in "The Blues Brothers" as he did in "Ghostbusters," a police commissioner. Matlock also appeared as a "Taxi Driver" alongside Robert DeNiro, in "Fort Apache the Bronx," "Kojak: The Prince of Justice," consecutive Spike Lee films "Crooklyn" and "Clockers", and Sidney Lumet's "Night Falls on Manhattan." The UPenn philosophy major was a track star, a teacher, an author of 3 plays, and a studio singer.

Matlock died in 2015, at age 90.

When Wilhelm von Homburg, heavy in make-up, scared audiences as the painting come to life Vigo the Carpathian in "Ghostbusters II," people wanted to know more about him, but there were few answers at the time. Many didn't know his real voice wasn't used in the final movie, having been dubbed over by Max von Sydow — including von Homburg himself, who reportedly found out at a screening and stormed out in response.

Born Norbert Grupe, he immigrated to America and wrestled professionally with his father Richard as the tag team the Vikings. They later called themselves the Von Homburg brothers, and then Norbert embarked on a boxing career as "Prince" Wilhelm von Homburg. He became a swaggering, flamboyant hero back in West Germany, and was known as "the German answer to Muhammad Ali" and "the Beatle boxer," before retiring in 1970.

Along the way, von Homburg booked some acting gigs: in a 1964 episode of "Gunsmoke," as a background player in Alfred Hitchcock's "Torn Curtain," and for Werner Herzog's 1977 film "Stroszek" (Herzog compared him to "a German Mike Tyson"). It would be almost a decade later before he resurfaced in Hollywood as one of Hans Gruber's "Die Hard" terrorists, followed by playing Vigo in 1989. More roles followed, including "The Package," "The Silence of the Hams," and in a bit of inspired casting, as the vegetative former boxer who gives a town a name in "Diggstown."

Writer and director Gerd Kroske made a documentary about him called "Der Boxprinz" ("The Boxing Prince"), calling it "the last will and testament of a loner." It was released in 2002, but von Homburg did not live to see the finished product, as he died from prostate cancer in 2004 at age 63.

Playing a mother in movies and TV shows from the '80s and '90s was something Mary Ellen Trainor excelled at, having ruled the roost in "The Goonies," "The Monster Squad," "Amazing Stories," "Roswell," and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose." One of her less celebrated mother's days at the office was playing the "Brownstone Mother" in "Ghostbusters II," who hired Stantz and Zeddemore to face her 4-foot nightmares — children at a birthday party. Said party even got referenced in the Bobby Brown lead single "On Our Own," from the soundtrack.

Trainor met writer-director Robert Zemeckis on the set of Spielberg's 1979 film "1941" (also starring Dan Aykroyd), and they were married a year later (they divorced after 20 years of marriage). Her first movie was Zemeckis' "Romancing The Stone," and the two would collaborate on several others, including "Back to the Future Part II," "Death Becomes Her," and "Forrest Gump." She is also one of the rare people to appear in both "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard," playing police psychologist Stephanie Woods in all four "Lethal" films, and her "Die Hard" reporter, Gail Wallens, showed up in another film also written by Steven E. de Souza, 1991's "Ricochet." A year prior to "Ghostbusters II," she teamed up with Bill Murray and her "Lethal Weapon" director Richard Donner for "Scrooged."

Trainor died of complications from pancreatic cancer in 2015, at age 62.

Fun fact: Trainor's college roommate was Kathleen Kennedy, who she recommended taking a job with Steven Spielberg, and the rest is movie magic history.

True, he wasn't an actor — but it's impossible to imagine "Ghostbusters" without the man that Hollywood studios knew for several decades as the man to call when it came to comedy.

Ivan Reitman's early success in Hollywood can be attributed to two truly creative collaborators, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. Reitman produced "Animal House," and got Ramis to pledge his writing support, signing him up to help counsel his summer camp comedy "Meatballs," which helped to make Bill Murray a star. Two years later, the trio shot for the stars with the militaristic merriness of "Stripes," and after that, proton-packed in the laughs for 1984's "Ghostbusters." Looking back, Reitman said, "mixing genres, particularly with comedy, core of comedy, science fiction comedies, are particularly hard to do because one of the genres has to weaken the other. And we happened to get away with it."

Reitman was born in Komarno, Czechoslovakia and his family fled when he was 4, eventually making it to Canada. His post-"Ghostbusters" hits enlisted the help of another European immigrant, one known more for blowing things up, not bowling over audiences with laughter. Enlisting Arnold Schwarzenegger to play against type, together they made the strong comedies "Twins," "Kindergarten Cop," and "Junior." Schwarzenegger remembered Reitman as "a great director and friend: he could see something in you that other people didn't, and he could help you show the rest of the world." At the time of Reitman's death, the two were reportedly in pre-production on a long-gestating "Twins" sequel entitled "Triplets."

In addition to directing, Reitman was a prolific producer, working on "Space Jam," "Private Parts," and the 2009 film directed by his son Jason, "Up In The Air." That film was nominated for Best Picture, earning the senior Reitman his first and only Academy Award nomination. Ivan passed the "Ghostbusters" torch off to his son years later, serving as a producer on his "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."

Upon his father's passing on February 12, 2022, at age 75, Jason said in tribute: "He came from a family of survivors and turned his legacy into laughter ... please enjoy his movies and remember his storytelling gifts. Nothing would make him happier."