September 24, 1948 - May 28, 1998

"Goodbye, my friend, goodbye."
~Phil Hartman

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Created by one of our visitors - thanks Catherine!
From Wikipedia
Phil Hartman was a graphic artist, writer, actor and comedian born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. In 1975, he joined the California-based comedy group The Groundlings. Hartman met Paul Reubens while working with the Groundlings, 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 also worked part time as a graphic artist, including designing album covers for popular rock bands, as well as designing the logo for the band Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

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 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 and Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer. He returned twice to host the show following his 1994 departure and was honored at the show's 25th anniversary special in 1999 by the members of the cast who had started their careers on the show the same year: Jan Hooks, Mike Myers, Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon, Jon Lovitz, and Victoria Jackson.

Also in 1986, Hartman was chosen to play the role of Captain Carl, one of Pee-Wee Herman's close friends and famed sea captain in the first season of Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

From 1991 to 1998, Hartman also provided the voices for a number of characters on the popular animated series, The Simpsons, including ambulance-chasing attorney Lionel Hutz and B-movie actor Troy McClure. In the episode "Selma's Choice," he lent his voice to three different characters, one of which being the aforementioned Hutz. Shortly before his death he was offered the job of voicing the character of Zapp Brannigan on Futurama. The character was later voiced by Billy West in a vocal style similar to Hartman's. In 1994, Hartman left SNL and worked on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio until his death in 1998.

Hartman's filmography also includes feature roles, often secondary or supporting, including Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Houseguest, Coneheads, Stuart Saves His Family (voice only), Sgt. Bilko, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Jingle All the Way and Small Soldiers. He also provided the voice of Jiji the cat in the English version of Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.

Hartman died on May 28, 1998 in his Encino, California home, shot by his wife, Brynn, as he slept; she then turned the gun on herself later that morning. The reasons for the murder-suicide are unknown. NewsRadio produced a special episode where the cast sincerely and tearfully mourned the death of Hartman's on-screen counterpart. The Simpsons retired his characters, rather than finding another voice actor. He was getting ready to do the voice of several characters on Matt Groening's animated series Futurama. After he died, the lead character, Philip J. Fry, was named in his honor. Hartman was posthumously nominated for an Emmy Award for his role on NewsRadio.