It sadly seems to be the way it always goes: there has to be some darkness hiding behind the laughter. That’s definitely true of Saturday Night Live, which has endured its fair share of controversies and scandals over its 50 years on screens.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy to befall an SNL cast-member has to be the shocking murder-suicide which saw a gifted and much-loved comedian and actor lose his life at the peak of his career and comic talents. Even over a quarter-century later, the star in question has never been forgotten and fans are left bereft imagining what else he might have achieved in his career if the awful events of May 28, 1998 never transpired.
Phil Hartman’s death, explained: Why did his wife shoot him and then herself?
The SNL cast-member in question is Phil Hartman. To paraphrase one of his most iconic characters, you may remember him from such roles as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz on The Simpsons, as well as memorable supporting parts in 1990s family film favorites Jingle All The Way and Small Soldiers.
Hartman is best known in the comedy business, however, for his incredible eight-year stint on SNL, from 1986 to 1994. Hartman was immensely popular with his co-stars, so much so that they nicknamed him “The Glue,” due to his uncanny ability to hold any joke, scene, and the whole show together with his sharp talent and professionalism.
Unfortunately, in his private life, things were much more troubled. His wife, model/actress Brynn Omdahl, with whom he shared two children, suffered from drug and alcohol abuse issues and by the late 1990s their marriage had become strained due to Omdahl’s addictions and Hartman’s busy career keeping him away from home.
On the evening on May 27, Hartman and Omdahl got into a “heated” argument, after which the former went to bed. It’s known that Omdahl had gone out for drinks with a friend that night and had also taken the antidepressent Zoloft and some cocaine. Around 3am that night, Omdahl approached her sleeping husband and shot him three times with a .38 caliber handgun — one in between the eyes, once in the throat, and once in the chest.
Omdahl immediately drove to the house of Ron Douglas, a friend of the couple, and confessed what she had done, but he didn’t believe her until they returned to the Hartmans’ and saw the evidence for himself. The police were called, but while Douglas and the officers were escorting the Hartmans’ two young children — aged 6 and 9 — from the premises, Omdahl retreated into a bathroom and shot herself.
Many who knew the Hartmans were naturally shocked by the tragic turn of events. The woman Omdahl had been for drinks with that night even noted how she had been “in a good frame of mind” just hours prior. Those who had witnessed the couple together behind closed doors, however, spoke to how Omdahl had trouble controlling her temper. She once threatened to kill Hartman’s two ex-wives and, as Hartman’s lawyer told the LA Times in 1998, “Phil said he had to… restrain her at times.”
In a piece titled “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” published in the wake of his untimely death, Entertainment Weekly‘s Dan Snierson noted 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.”
The Simpsons immediately retired Hartman’s characters and has never recast them in the years since. SNL, meanwhile, aired a commemorative episode celebrating his countless contributions to the show on June 13, 1998. In 2014, Hartman was posthumously awarded a well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
