Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman was a Canadian actor and comedian. He was a recurring guest star on The Simpsons, frequently voicing Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure.His characters were retired when he was murdered by his third wife.
Personal Life
Born as Philip Edward Hartmann, he was born in Brantford, Ontario on September 24, 1948. He was one of eight children to Roman Catholics Doris and Rupert Hartmann. Rupert was a building material salesman. When Hartman was ten, his family immigrated to Connecticut, United States before moving to the West Coast, where he attended Westchester High School. They gained American citizenship in 1990. He went on to study art at Santa Monica City College, but dropped out in 1969 to become a roadie for a rock band. He went on to studying graphic arts at California State University, Northridge in 1972. While there, he created his own graphics arts business and created over 40 album covers. He had his first television appearance in 1979 on The Dating Game. While working alone, he amused himself with "flights of voice fantasies". He started to develop his talent by attending evening comedy classes.
Career
He joined improvastional comedy group The Groundlings in 1975 - while watching one of their performances and impulsively climbed on stage and joined in with the cast. He met Paul Reubens, and began collaborating with him. They created Pee-wee Herman, and developed the stage show, which also aired on HBO, The Pee-wee Herman Show. In the show, Hartman played Captain Carl, as well as in the children's show Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Notable episodes
- Bart Gets Hit By a Car as Lionel Hutz
- Homer vs. Lisa and the 8'th Commandment as Troy McClure
- Marge vs. the Monorail as Lyle Lanley
- Brother From the Same Planet as Tom
- Marge in Chains as Lionel Hutz
- The Simpsons 138'th Episode Spectacular as Troy McClure
- A Fish Called Selma as Troy McClure and Fat Tony
- The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase as Troy McClure
- Realty Bites as Lionel Hutz (final appearance)
- All Singing, All Dancing as Lyle Lanley
- Bart the Mother as Troy McClure (final appearance)
Final appearances
"Realty Bites" was Hartman's last apppearance as Lionel Hutz. "Bart the Mother" was his last appearance as Troy McClure and his last appearance in the show, which aired posthumously. "All Singing, All Dancing" was his last produced appearance, airing a season earlier, and only using clips of Lyle Lanley from "Marge vs. the Monorail.
Characters
