Phil Hartman

Acting

Phil Hartman

Born 1948-09-24 · Brantford, Ontario, Canada

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 in 1987, with whom he had two children. However, their marriage was troubled due to his busy work schedule and her drug and alcohol abuse. In 1998, while Hartman was sleeping in his bed, Omdahl 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 the Canada and Hollywood Walks of Fame in 2012 and 2014.

Acting credits

Spaceballs poster
6.9

When the nefarious Dark Helmet hatches a plan to snatch Princess Vespa and steal her planet's air, space-bum-for-hire Lone Starr and his clueless sidekick fly to the rescue. Along the way, they meet Yogurt, who puts Lone Starr wise to the power of "The Schwartz." Can he master it in time to save the day?

Spaceballs

1987

Jingle All the Way poster
6.1

Howard Langston, a salesman for a mattress company, is constantly kept busy at his job, disappointing his son. After he misses his son's karate exposition, Howard vows to make it up to him by buying an action figure of his son's favorite television hero for Christmas. Unfortunately for Howard, it is Christmas Eve, and every store is sold out of Turbo Man. Now, Howard must travel all over town and compete with everybody else to find a Turbo Man action figure.

Jingle All the Way

1996

Small Soldiers poster
6.6

When missile technology is used to enhance toy action figures, the toys soon begin to take their battle programming too seriously.

Small Soldiers

1998

Quick Change poster
6.7

With the aid of his girlfriend, Phyllis Potter, and best friend, Loomis, Grimm enters a Manhattan bank dressed as a clown, creates a hostage situation and executes a flawless robbery. The only thing left for the trio to do is make their getaway out of the city and to the airport. It sounds simple enough, but it seems that fate deserts them immediately after the bank heist. One mishap after another conspires to keep these robbers from reaching freedom.

Quick Change

1990

The Pagemaster poster
6.4

Rich knows a lot about accidents. So much so, he is scared to do anything that might endanger him, like riding his bike, or climbing into his treehouse. While in an old library, he is mystically transported into the unknown world of books, and he has to try and get home again.

The Pagemaster

1994

¡Three Amigos! poster
6.3

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.

¡Three Amigos!

1986

Coneheads poster
5.5

A pair of aliens arrive on Earth to prepare for invasion, but crash instead. With enormous cone-shaped heads, robotlike walks and an appetite for toilet paper, aliens Beldar and Prymatt don't exactly blend in with the population of Paramus, N.J. But for some reason, everyone believes them when they say they're from France.

Coneheads

1993

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 poster
6.1

An LA detective is murdered because she has microfilm with the recipe to make cocaine cookies. Two cops partner to find and stop the fiends before they can dope the nation by distributing their wares via the 'Wilderness Girls' cookie drive.

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1

1993

Ruthless People poster
6.6

Sam Stone hates his wife Barbara so much that he wants her dead. He's ecstatic when she's taken by a duo of kidnappers who want $500,000 ransom in exchange for her life. Fully intending to ignore every one of the kidnappers' demands in the hopes that they do him a favor and murder her for him, the two confused kidnappers have to figure out how they're going get their money, and what they're going to do with the overbearing Barbara.

Ruthless People

1986

Sgt. Bilko poster
5.9

The US army is known for churning out lean mean fighting machines intent on protecting our great nation. Sergeant Ernie Bilko is the leader of a ragtag group of the sorriest soldiers ever to enlist in the armed forces.

Sgt. Bilko

1996

Greedy poster
6.2

Meet the McTeagues. They've come to stake a claim in their wealthy uncle's will… only he's not dead yet!

Greedy

1994

The Brave Little Toaster poster
6.9

A group of dated appliances, finding themselves stranded in a summer home that their family had just sold, decide to seek out their eight year old 'master'.

The Brave Little Toaster

1987

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Phil Hartman poster
7.7

Classic Saturday Night Live skits featuring the hilarious Phil Hartman.

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Phil Hartman

1998

Amazon Women on the Moon poster
5.9

Centered on a television station which features a 1950s-style sci-fi movie interspersed with a series of wild commercials, wacky shorts and weird specials, this lampoon of contemporary life and pop culture skewers some of the silliest spectacles ever created in the name of entertainment.

Amazon Women on the Moon

1987

The Women of SNL poster
5.2

A look back at some of the funniest female characters and sketches in SNL's 39-year history.

The Women of SNL

2010

So I Married an Axe Murderer poster
6.1

Just after a bad breakup, Charlie MacKenzie falls for lovely butcher Harriet Michaels and introduces her to his parents. But, as voracious consumers of sensational tabloids, his parents soon come to suspect that Harriet is actually a notorious serial killer -- "Mrs. X" -- wanted in connection with a string of bizarre honeymoon killings. Thinking his parents foolish, Charlie proposes to Harriet. But while on his honeymoon with her, he begins to fear they were right.

So I Married an Axe Murderer

1993

Pee-wee's Big Adventure poster
6.5

The eccentric and childish Pee-wee Herman embarks on a big adventure when his beloved bicycle is stolen. Armed with information from a fortune-teller and a relentless obsession with his prized possession, Pee-wee encounters a host of odd characters and bizarre situations as he treks across the country to recover his bike.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure

1985

Jumpin' Jack Flash poster
6.1

Terry works for a bank, and uses computers to communicate with clients all over the world. One day, she gets a strange coded message from an unknown source. After decoding the message, Terry becomes embroiled in an espionage ring. People are killed, and Terry is chased. Throughout, she remains in contact with this mysterious person, who needs Terry's help save his life.

Jumpin' Jack Flash

1986

Blind Date poster
6.0

When bachelor Walter Davis is set up with his sister-in-law's pretty cousin, Nadia Gates, a seemingly average blind date turns into a chaotic night on the town. Walter's brother, Ted, tells him not to let Nadia drink alcohol, but he dismisses the warning and her behaviour gets increasingly wild. Walter and Nadia's numerous incidents are made even worse as her former lover David relentlessly follows them around town.

Blind Date

1987

Fletch Lives poster
6.0

Fletch is a fish out of water in small-town Louisiana, where he's checking out a tumbledown mansion he's inherited. When a woman he flirts with turns up dead, he becomes a suspect and must find the killer and clear his name.

Fletch Lives

1989

CB4 poster
6.1

A "rockumentary", covering the rise to fame of MC Gusto, Stab Master Arson, and Dead Mike: members of the rap group "CB4". We soon learn that these three are not what they seem and don't appear to know as much about rap music as they claim... but a lack of musical ability in an artist never hurts sales, does it? You've just got to play the part of a rap star...

CB4

1993

Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special poster
6.9

A TV special celebrating the 25th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. Before a celebrity audience, many of the former cast members and guest hosts return to perform their signature monologues and present a look back at some of the best comedy skits and musical numbers of the past two and a half decades.

Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special

1999

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror poster
6.0

Includes the following episodes from the Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror V, Treehouse of Horror VI, Treehouse of Horror VII, and Treehouse of Horror XII.

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror

2003

An SNL Thanksgiving poster
NR

Hope you've got an appetite for a buffet of Thanksgiving-themed SNL sketches from the past 50 years, from musical tributes to commercial parodies to dinners that go horribly, hilariously wrong to cat adoption events filled with sexual tension. Don't miss A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving, which compiles two hours of the best SNL sketches about and inspired by the holiday.

An SNL Thanksgiving

2024

Behind the camera