Phil Hartman

Phil Hartman
Hartman in character as Chick Hazard, Private Eye, c. 1978
Born	Philip Edward Hartmann (1948-09-24)September 24, 1948 Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Died	May 28, 1998(1998-05-28) (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Homicide by gunshot
Citizenship	Canada United States
Alma mater	California State University, Northridge (BA)
Occupations	Actor comedian screenwriter graphic designer
Years active	1969–1998
Television	Saturday Night Live
Spouses	Gretchen Lewis ​ ​ (m. 1970; div. 1972)​ Lisa Strain ​ ​ (m. 1982; div. 1985)​ Brynn Omdahl ​ (m. 1987)​
Children	2

Philip Edward Hartman (né Hartmann; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and his family moved to the United States when he was ten years old. After graduating from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands including Poco and America. In 1975, Hartman joined the comedy group the Groundlings, where he helped Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman. Hartman co-wrote the film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and made recurring appearances as Captain Carl on Reubens' show Pee-wee's Playhouse.

In 1986, Hartman joined the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) as a cast member, and stayed for eight seasons until 1994. Nicknamed "Glue" for his ability to hold the show together and help other cast members, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his SNL work in 1989. He also starred as Bill McNeal in the sitcom NewsRadio, voiced Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure on The Simpsons, and appeared in supporting roles in the films Houseguest, Sgt. Bilko, Jingle All the Way, and Small Soldiers.

After two divorces, Hartman married Brynn Omdahl, with whom he had two children, in 1987. Their marriage was troubled due to Phil's busy work schedule and Brynn's drug including alcohol abuse. In 1998, while Phil was sleeping in his bed, Brynn shot and killed him, and later killed herself. In the weeks following his murder, Hartman was celebrated in a wave of tributes. Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly wrote 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".^[1] He was posthumously inducted into the Canada and Hollywood Walks of Fame in 2012 and 2014, respectively.