Director and producer Ivan Reitman has died at the age of 75. Reitman is best known as the director of many popular comedies in the 1970s and 1980s, including 1979's Meatballs, 1981's Stripes, and of course 1984's Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel. Ivan Reitman was arguably more prolific as a producer, with some of his credits including 1978's Animal House, 1981's Heavy Metal, and 2003's Old School.
With his last directorial credit being 2014's Draft Day, Ivan Reitman passed the torch somewhat to his son Jason Reitman, acting as producer on the latter's films including 2009's Up in the Air and most recently the legacy sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Ivan Reitman is also survived by his daughter Catherine Reitman, an actress and star of the popular CBC television series Working Moms.
Ivan Reitman was born in Komarmo, Czechoslovakia in 1946, but he grew up in Toronto and took music and drama at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he began making short films and produced his 1973 debut feature Cannibal Girls in nine days for only $12,000.
Despite Ivan Reitman being based in California at the time of his death, the family still has a connection to Toronto and owned the plot of land that now houses the TIFF Bell Lightbox, with the area being designated “Reitman Square” in honour of the family at the time of the building's opening in 2010.
Ivan Reitman will most definitely be missed.
Select clips from Ivan Reitman's filmography
Animal House (1978) – Producer
Meatballs (1979) – Director
Stripes (1981) – Director
Ghostbusters (1984) – Director
Old School (2003) – Executive Producer
Draft Day (2014) – Director
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) – Producer
