Peter Venkman

Peter Venkman, PhD is a fictional character from the Ghostbusters franchise. He appears in the films Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and in the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters. In those four live action films, he was portrayed by Bill Murray, and was voiced in the animated series first by Lorenzo Music and then by Dave Coulier. Dan Aykroyd originally wrote the script with John Belushi in mind to play the role of Peter but Belushi died of a drug overdose on March 5, 1982, leading Murray to get the role. Peter is a parapsychologist, initially a skeptic on the paranormal despite being a scientist on the subject, and the leader of the Ghostbusters. In 2008, Peter Venkman was selected by the magazine Empire as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time, described by Empire's Nick de Semlyen as "the ultimate New York hero: cynical, sarcastic, secretly sweet-natured", "a man possessed by manic spontaneity, with a wont to twirl in circles around a public concourse or declare undying love for a woman he's just met", and the "most popular" character played by Murray.