Phil Hartman Bio Info

Phil Hartman Bio

Philip Edward Hartman was born on September 24, 1948, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. He spent most of his childhood in Connecticut and Southern California. He was the fourth of eight children born to Rupert Hartmann, a building supplies salesman, and his wife Doris.
Hartman went to California State University for graphic design. He eventually went to to design many album covers for rock bands, including Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
In 1975, his career took a different turn when he decided to join "The Groundlings", a L.A. based comedy troupe specializing in improv. While there, he met up with other comedians, including Paul Reubens and Jon Lovitz. Before moving on to Saturday Night Live, Hartman appeared on Pee-Wee's Playhouse as "Captain Carl," and co-wrote the 1985 film, Pee- Wee's Big Adventure. A year later, in 1986, Phil joined the cast of SNL, where he remained for eight seasons. Along with Kevin Nealon, he shares the record for the longest SNL/i> stay. He became known for his impersonations of Bill Clinton, Ed McMahon and Frank Sinatra. But eventually, Hartman left SNL to pursue other avenues.
In 1995 Phil was cast on the NBC comedy, NewsRadio as the slightly bizarre news anchor Bill McNeal. The show was critically acclaimed and welcomed by fans. However the show had trouble finding a comfortable place in the network lineup and so was moved around so much it was often difficult to find. It came close to being canceled many times but always managed to stay afloat. Only recently, the network announced that it would once again renew the troubled sitcom.
While working on NewsRadio he also worked on Fox's series, The Simpsons. He voiced several characters, including attorney Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure. Hartman also began appearing in several films, such as Greedy, Sgt. Bilko, So I Married an Axe Murderer and Jingle All The Way.
On May 28th, 1998, Phil Hartman was found dead in his home, 15 miles west of Los Angeles at 6:00 am. Police found him after responding ti a 911 call reporting gunshots. The 49 year-old actor was found in bed and had been dead some time before the police arrived. His wife Brynn Hartman and the couple's two children were in the building. While police were removing the children, Mrs. Hartman shot herself. Police approached it as a mured/suicide, with Brynn the chief suspect in the murder of her husband.