Comedian and actor Phil Hartman was fatally shot by his wife, Brynn Hartman, in his sleep at their Encino, California home on May 28, 1998; she then died by suicide hours later.
Phil Hartman (born Philip Edward Hartmann, September 24, 1948) was a Canadian-American comedian, actor, and graphic designer known for eight seasons on Saturday Night Live, his role as Bill McNeal on NewsRadio, and voicing Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure on The Simpsons. In 1987 he married former model and aspiring actress Brynn Omdahl (born Vicki Jo Omdahl, April 11, 1957). They had two children together. According to Wikipedia's account of Hartman's life, the marriage experienced difficulties, with Brynn reportedly frustrated by her inability to match Hartman's career success, and she was reported to have been jealous and at times verbally or physically abusive, including a documented threat made toward Hartman's ex-wife. She struggled with alcohol and narcotics dependency and entered rehabilitation multiple times; Hartman on several occasions removed their children from the household during her drug- and alcohol-related outbursts.
On the evening of May 27, 1998, Brynn visited an Italian restaurant in Encino, California, with a producer and writer who described her as being "in a good frame of mind" at the time. After returning home, Brynn and Hartman had a heated argument, following which Hartman went to bed. Some time before 3:00 a.m. on May 28, 1998, Brynn entered his bedroom and, as he slept, shot him once between the eyes, once in the throat, and once in the upper chest with a .38-caliber revolver. Hartman was 49 years old. At the time, Brynn was taking the antidepressant Zoloft, had been drinking alcohol, and had recently used cocaine.
Brynn then drove to the home of a friend, Ron Douglas, and confessed to the killing, though he did not initially believe her. They returned together to the house, where she confessed a second time to another friend by phone. Upon viewing Hartman's body, Douglas called 9-1-1 at 6:20 a.m. Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived and removed Douglas and the Hartmans' two children from the home while Brynn locked herself in the bedroom; she died by suicide via gunshot shortly afterward, at age 40. The LAPD attributed Hartman's death to "domestic discord" between the couple.
In the aftermath, Brynn's brother filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 1999 against the manufacturer of Zoloft and against Brynn's psychiatrist, who had provided her with samples of the antidepressant; the manufacturer later settled the suit without admitting wrongdoing. The Hartmans' two children were subsequently raised by Brynn's sister and brother-in-law. Both Hartman and Brynn were cremated, and their ashes were scattered over Santa Catalina Island's Emerald Bay, with a cenotaph later installed at a cemetery in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Brynn's birthplace.
Hartman was remembered widely in entertainment media as a well-liked colleague; NewsRadio dedicated an episode to his memory, and The Simpsons retired the characters he voiced rather than recasting them. He was posthumously inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2012 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.
Comedian and actor Phil Hartman was fatally shot by his wife, Brynn Hartman, in his sleep at their Encino, California home on May 28, 1998; she then died by suicide hours later.
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