Phil Hartman

Phil Hartman

Philip Edward Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic designer. Hartman co-wrote the film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and made recurring appearances as Captain Carl on Paul Reubens’s show PEE-wees Playhouse. In 1986, Hartman joined the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he won fame for his impressions. In 1995, he starred as Bill McNeal in the sitcom NewsRadio after declining his return to SNL. In 1998, his wife shot and killed him, later committing suicide. He was posthumously inducted into the Canada and Hollywood Walks of Fame in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

About Phil Hartman in brief

Summary Phil HartmanPhilip Edward Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic designer. Hartman co-wrote the film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and made recurring appearances as Captain Carl on Paul Reubens’s show PEE-wees Playhouse. In 1986, Hartman joined the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he won fame for his impressions and stayed for eight seasons until 1994. In 1995, he starred as Bill McNeal in the sitcom NewsRadio after declining his return to SNL. He also voiced various characters on The Simpsons, and had minor roles in the films Houseguest, Sgt. Bilko, Jingle All the Way, and Small Soldiers. In 1998, his wife shot and killed him, later committing suicide. He was posthumously inducted into the Canada and Hollywood Walks of Fame in 2012 and 2014, respectively, respectively. His first movie appearance was in 1978’s Stunt Rock, an Australian film directed in Los Angeles by Brian Trenchard-Smith. In the late 1970s, he made his first television appearance on an episode of The Dating Game, where he winning, but the woman missed the date. He married Brynn Omdahl in 1987, with whom he had two children. His marriage was troubled by Brynn’s drug use, domestic violence, and Phil’s frequent absence from home. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on September 24, 1998, at the age of 48.

He is survived by his wife, two children, and two step-children. The couple had no children of their own, but had one step-grandchild, who is now in his late 20s. He leaves behind a wife and three step-great-grandchildren, all of whom were born in the U.S. and one of whom is in his native Canada. He had a son and a daughter with his second wife, who died of cancer in 2010. He has a son with his third wife, Jennifer, and a step-daughter with whom she has a daughter, who was born in 2011. He and his wife had a daughter together in 2012, but she died in a car accident in July 2013. His son and daughter-in-law were married in November 2013, and have a son together in February 2014, and he has a stepson with his fourth wife, Christina. He left behind a son, Michael, who lives in New York City and a son who lives with his wife in San Francisco. He worked as a graphic artist and designed album covers for bands including Poco and America, as well as advertising and the logo for Crosby, Stills & Nash. In 1975, he joined the comedy group The Groundlings. He later became one of the cast members of The Groundling and by 1979 become one of its stars. He wrote the script of the 1985 feature film The Next Movie & Chong’s Next Movie. In 1981, he had a cameo role on The Peewee Herman Show.