Phil Hartman

Phil Hartman

Philip Edward Hartmann (September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998), better known as Phil Hartman, was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States in 1958. After graduating from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands like Poco and America. Hartman joined the comedy group The Groundlings in 1975 and there helped comedian Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman. Hartman co-wrote the screenplay for the film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and made recurring appearances as Captain Carl on Reubens' show Pee-wee's Playhouse. Hartman garnered fame in 1986 when he joined the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. He won fame for his impressions, particularly of President Bill Clinton, and he stayed on the show for eight seasons. Given the moniker "The Glue" for his ability to hold the show together and help other cast members, Hartman won a Primetime Emmy Award for his SNL work in 1989. In 1995, after scrapping plans for his own variety show, he starred as Bill McNeal in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio. He voiced various roles on The Simpsons, most notably Lionel Hutz from seasons 2–9 and Troy McClure from seasons 2–10. Other Simpsons characters included Lyle Lanley, Mr. Muntz and minor characters. He also had roles in the films Houseguest, Sgt. Bilko, Jingle All the Way, Small Soldiers and the English dub of Kiki's Delivery Service. Hartman had been divorced twice before he married Brynn Omdahl in 1987; the couple had two children together. However, their marriage was fractured, due in part to her drug use. On May 28, 1998, Brynn Hartman shot and killed Hartman while he slept in their Encino, Los Angeles home, then killed herself several hours later. In the weeks following his death, Hartman was celebrated in a wave of tributes. Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly opined that Hartman was "the last person you'd expect to read about in lurid headlines in your morning paper [...] a decidedly regular guy, beloved by everyone he worked with." Hartman was posthumously inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2012 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.

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