Philip Edward Hartman was a Canadian and American comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, 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. 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. After leaving SNL in 1994, Hartman starred as Bill McNeal in the sitcom NewsRadio. He also voiced Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure on The Simpsons, and appeared in the films Houseguest (1995), Sgt. Bilko (1996), Jingle All the Way (1996), and Small Soldiers (1998).
After two divorces, Hartman married Brynn Omdahl in 1987, with whom he had two children. Their marriage was troubled due to Phil's busy work schedule and Brynn's substance abuse and domestic violence. 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". He was posthumously inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2012 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.
