Photo: Paul Hartmann / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Phil Hartman is my favorite kind of comedian: the one who makes everyone else funnier. His Saturday Night Live colleagues called him the glue, and that nickname says everything about a performer whose ego never got in the way of the sketch. I love that he started as a graphic designer making album covers; you can feel that craftsman's discipline in how precisely he built every character he voiced and played. His death in 1998 remains one of comedy's most painful losses, but what endures is the lesson he embodied, that generosity rather than spotlight-hunger is what makes comic talent immortal.
Overview
Philip Edward Hartman (né Hartmann; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) 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.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Phil Hartman
- Name (Japanese)
- フィル・ハートマン
- Reading
- ふぃる・はーとまん
- Born
- September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Rat
- Origin
- Brantford, Ontario, Canada
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- comedian / screenwriter / graphic designer / voice actor / television actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Redondo Union High School
- University
- California State University, Northridge
Awards & achievements
- 1989 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series
- 2012 Canada's Walk of Fame
- 2014 star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Comedian — see all → · Screenwriter — see all → · More people from Canada →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.