Phil Hartman (born as Philip Edward Hartmann) (September 24,
1948 – May 28, 1998) was a
Canadian-American Emmy
Award-winning actor, voice artist, comedian, graphic artist, a writer,
the idea man for Blasto.
He first came to widespread attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s for his roles on the sketch comedy show
Saturday Night Live, afterwards going on to motion pictures, frequent roles
on the long-running FOX animated series The Simpsons, and a
major part as "Bill McNeal" on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio.
Early life
Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada to
Doris M. and Rupert L. Hartmann. His family emigrated to the United States in 1957, and
Hartman attended Westchester High School and Cal State Northridge in Los Angeles,
California, becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in the early-1990s. The exact timing of his switch from "Hartmann" to
"Hartman" is unknown, but all of his acting credits after 1986 were billed under the surname "Hartman".
Career
Early career
Looking for what he described as "a psychological release valve," he joined the California-based comedy group The Groundlings in
1975 . Hartman met comedian Paul Reubens while working with the group and the two became
friends, often writing and working on material together. One such collaboration was the character of Pee-wee Herman and the script of the feature film Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Hartman also met Jon Lovitz
while with The Groundlings. Hartman was fluent in German and a video circulated once of him doing a standup routine in the language.
Hartman worked part time as a graphic artist, including designing album covers for popular rock
bands. Hartman's covers include:
- Contrary to popular belief Phil Hartman did not create Steely Dan's 1977 album
Aja
Television career
In 1986, Hartman joined the cast of NBC's popular variety show Saturday Night Live and stayed for eight seasons, which was a record at the time. Hartman was
known for his impressions, which included former president Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra, Telly Savalas, Ed McMahon, Michael
Caine, Jack Nicholson, Barbara Bush,
Burt Reynolds, Phil Donahue, and former president
Bill Clinton, which was perhaps his best-known impression. His other Saturday Night
Live characters included Frankenstein's monster and Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. He returned twice to host the show following his 1994 departure.
Also in 1986, Hartman reprised his role as Captain Carl, one of Pee-wee Herman's close friends and famed sea captain in the first season of Pee-wee's Playhouse. He left after the 13th episode. He also lent his voice to the cartoon
version of Dennis the Menace, playing Henry Mitchell (Dennis'
father) and long suffering neighbor George Wilson.
From 1991 to 1998, Hartman provided the voices for a number of characters on the popular
animated series The
Simpsons, including dubious attorney Lionel
Hutz, B-movie actor Troy McClure, Bart's "bigger
brother" Tom, and slippery monorail shyster Lyle Lanley. In the episode "Selma's
Choice," he lent his voice to five different characters, including McClure and Hutz. He also voiced Bill Clinton
In 1994, Hartman left SNL. His last scene on Saturday Night Live consisted of him consoling Chris Farley (who was dressed as his Matt Foley character). Hartman's next project was to be a self-titled
network variety show; after Dana Carvey announced plans for his own variety show, Hartman
instead cast his eye on a more standard sitcom. In 1995, he became one of the stars of the NBC sitcom NewsRadio, where he portrayed fatuous radio news
anchor Bill McNeal. Many have attributed the cancellation of the show to Hartman's death, citing that the humor was thrown off
balance despite the casting of Lovitz (who replaced Hartman). Ironically, in two episodes of NewsRadio Hartman's character
was one of only two to survive tragedies. In the show, Bill makes mention several times of a girlfriend who is unstable and who
tries to kill him.
Hartman was appearing in a cliffhanger on the series 3rd Rock from the Sun at the time of his death. His character did not appear in the second
episode of the cliffhanger.
Secondary film roles
Hartman's filmography includes often secondary or supporting roles in such feature films as Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Greedy,
Houseguest, Coneheads,
Three Amigos, Stuart Saves His
Family (voice only), Sgt. Bilko, So I Married an Axe Murderer, CB4,
Jingle All The Way and Small
Soldiers, the last of which would become his final silver screen appearance and was thus dedicated to him. His last
role was in the English version of Hayao
Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service, where he provided the voice of
Jiji the cat. The English dub of the movie was also dedicated to his memory.
Personal life
Hartman married Gretchen Lewis in 1970, and divorced at an unknown point, before 1982.[1] In 1982 he married his second wife Lisa Strain, the marriage lasted three
years with the couple divorcing in 1985.[1] Hartman
married Brynn Omdahl on November 25 1987,[1] Brynn having become pregnant
on the pair's third date.[2] Together they had two
children, Sean Edward Hartman (born 1989) and Birgen Anika Hartman (born 1992).[1] Brynn was said to be jealous of Hartman's success. She made comments to
Hartman's Saturday Night Live co-star Jan Hooks that maybe Hooks and Phil were married "on some other level."[2] A friend recalled that Brynn Hartman "had trouble controlling her anger. ... She got attention by losing her temper."[3]
Death
On May 28 1998, Hartman was murdered by his wife
Brynn Hartman in his Encino,
Los Angeles County, California home. While he slept, Brynn entered his bedroom with a revolver and fatally shot him multiple times in and around the head. Brynn was intoxicated at the time.[4][5] She subsequently drove to the home of her friend Ron Douglas and, after confessing to the
murder,[4] fainted. After she regained consciousness, the pair drove back to Hartman's house in separate cars, where
Douglas saw Hartman's body.[5] Douglas then phoned
emergency services and admitted to the call operator that he initially did not believe Brynn's story until he had seen Phil's
body.[4] On arrival, the police attempted to
remove the Hartmans' two young children and Douglas from the premises. While this was happening, Brynn entered the bedroom and
committed suicide by shooting herself once through the temple.[6] At the time, an unnamed neighbour of the Hartmans told a CNN reporter that the couple had been experiencing marital problems: "It's been building, but I didn't think it
would lead to this."[6] However, Steve Guttenberg commented that the pair were "a very happy couple, and they always had the appearance
of being well-balanced."[6] Phil Hartman directed
in his will that his body be cremated, and his ashes were scattered over Santa Catalina
Island's Emerald Bay.[5]
The children are now being raised in Edina, Minnesota, by Brynn's sister Katharine
Wright and her husband Mike, who have no children of their own.[5] As guardians of Sean and Birgen, the pair were awarded $50,000 per Phil Hartman's will.[5] In May 2000, the Hartman children were awarded more than
$10,000 each in a wrongful death suit. Hartman's will stipulated that each child will receive a third of their inheritance when
they reach age 25, or obtain a bachelor's degree from a four-year accredited university. They get half their inheritance when
they turn thirty, and the remainder of Hartman's assets when they turn 35.[5] The total amount of Hartman's estate was estimated at $1.23 million.[5]
Blame
Los Angeles police stated that Hartman's murder was due to a "domestic
discord" between the couple.[7] At the time of the murder,
Brynn Hartman was known to have been taking the antidepressant drug Zoloft, which was cited
as the cause of her actions.[8] A
wrongful-death suit was filed by Brynn's brother, Gregory Omdahl, against the drug's manufacturer, Pfizer Inc., and her psychiatrist Arthur Sorosky, who prescribed the product.[8]
Response
Hartman was mourned greatly in Hollywood. NewsRadio produced a special episode where the cast tearfully mourned the death of Hartman's on-screen
counterpart. Jon Lovitz joined the show in his place and stayed with it until its ultimate
cancellation. Lovitz had been a member of the improvisional troupe The Groundlings
alongside Hartman, in addition to working together on Saturday Night Live for four seasons, and had also worked with
Hartman when they both had cameos in the 1986 comedy Three Amigos. Lovitz and
Hartman's former SNL colleagues—Jan Hooks, Kevin Nealon,
Victoria Jackson, and Mike Myers—also gave
him an emotional remembrance at the SNL 25th Anniversary show in 2000. Hartman's nickname, coined by Adam Sandler, according to Jay Mohr's book Gasping for Airtime was "Glue," because of his
way of working well with everyone, and keeping many episodes together. Hartman was widely praised for his efforts to help new
writers and cast members, as well as his professionalism on and off the set. Many people gave tributes to Hartman.
Kathy Griffin recalled when she showed up at The
Groundlings Los Angeles theater to learn about their classes, she had no
idea what to expect, until she was referred to one of its kindly cast members, of which was Hartman, who gave her a tour of the
theater. Don Ohlmeyer said that Hartman "was blessed with a tremendous gift for creating
characters that made people laugh. But more importantly, everyone who had the pleasure of working with Phil knows that he was a
man of tremendous warmth, a true professional and a loyal friend."[6] Steve Guttenberg expressed his shock at Hartman's death, and Steve
Martin called him "a deeply funny and very happy person".[6]
Out of respect, the writers on The Simpsons retired Hartman's characters, rather
than finding another voice actor.[9] The episode
"Bart the Mother" marked his final appearance on the show, and was dedicated to him. On
audio commentary tracks accompanying The Simpsons DVD releases, the appearance of a Hartman character uniformly evokes
heartfelt praise from the show's production staff. A number of major Simpsons players talk at length about their
experience with Hartman as a rare combination of professionalism, effortless comedic facility, friendliness, and decency.
Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein stated that they used
Hartman as much as they possibly could in their seasons, as they were such big fans of him.[10] It was noted by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, that his voice
acting could produce "the maximum amount of humour" out of any line he was given.[9] Before his death, Hartman had expressed an interest in making a
live action film about Troy McClure, with many of The Simpsons production staff
stating that they would have loved to help create it.[11]
At the time of his death, Hartman was preparing to voice Zapp Brannigan, a character
on Groening's other animated series Futurama, which was written specifically for
him.[12] After he died, the lead character in
Futurama, Philip J. Fry, was named in Hartman's honor.[12] Billy West took over the role.
West's original audition characterization formed the basis for Brannigan's voice, but by coincidence his portrayal bears many
similarities to Hartman's own vocal stylings. West later admitted that he purposefully tweaked Zapp's voice to better match
Hartman's portrayal out of respect.[12]
Hartman was posthumously nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Bill McNeal in
NewsRadio,[13] but lost out to actor
David Hyde Pierce. Upon learning Hartman did not win the award, NewsRadio
co-star Dave Foley joked, "What's this guy gotta do to win an Emmy?"
Hartman ranks #1 in Maxim's Top Ten SNL performers. According to the book, "Live from New York: A Uncensored History of
Saturday Night Live" a favorite pastime of most current SNL writers is to come up with their "dream cast", it is said that Phil
Hartman is the only performer who makes the list every single time.
Filmography
References
- ^ a b c d Phil Hartman. Notable Names Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ a b Phil Hartman. Rotten Library. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ "Hartman's friends, fans ask:
'What went wrong?'", CNN, 1998-05-29. Retrieved on 2007-08-16.
- ^ a b c Cocaine, Margaritas, Zoloft and
Saturday Night Live's Phil Hartman. Morbidly Hollywood. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Police say Hartman's wife told friends
about shooting", CNN, 1998-06-02. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
- ^ a b c d e "Phil Hartman, wife die in apparent
murder-suicide", CNN, 1998-05-28. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
- ^ "Police: 'Domestic discord' behind Hartman slayings", CNN,
1998-05-28. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
- ^ a b "Suit puts 'mind-altering' drug on trial", Nami Scc. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
- ^ a b Groening, Matt. Interview with Terry
Gross. Fresh
Air. National Public Radio. WHYY,
Philadelphia. 2004-12-29. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
- ^ Weinstein, Josh; Oakley, Bill; Silverman, David; Goldblum, Jeff.
(2006). The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "A Fish
Called Selma" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Oakley, Bill. (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD
commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c
- ^ Joyce Millman. "blue glow", Salon, 1998-06-23. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
External links
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