Why Phil Hartman’s Murderer Was Featured in the ‘Saturday Night Live’ Opening Montage With Him
When Saturday Night Live alum Phil Hartman recorded his part for the show’s opening montage, his eventual murderer sat right across from him in the shot.
Who killed Hartman? And why was that person in the SNL opening credits?
Phil Hartman died in a murder-suicide carried out by his wife, Brynn
Tragically, Hartman died in a murder-suicide at the hands of his third wife, Brynn. She was experiencing substance abuse and addiction, combining alcohol and antidepressants. Friends and family said this triggered eruptive episodes, according to Biography.
On May 28, 1998, following an outburst and argument, Brynn killed Phil Hartman, then called friends to confess to the crime. She died by suicide in the hours after.
Phil Hartman invited his wife, Brynn, to visit ‘Saturday Night Live’
The couple met in 1986 and married the following year. It was the third marriage for Phil Hartman, but the first in which he had kids. Their two children were 9 and 6 at the time of the tragedy.
Friends told ABC News that Brynn had aspirations of becoming an actor, and some said she hoped her marriage might help. Phil is a sketch comedy icon, still beloved for his late-night impressions on SNL between 1986 and 1994. Alum Julia Sweeney said Brynn would visit on set and noted, “She didn’t go somewhere to fade into the background.”
According to a former SNL writer, Dawna Kauffman, Brynn was featured in the opening credits with Phil when he was on the show. The clip shows him sitting at a restaurant booth with a blonde, but you probably wouldn’t be able to guess it was Brynn if you didn’t already know.
Kauffman said Brynn attempted to turn to the camera to have her face featured against the director’s wishes. So, in the clip used in the credits, the back of her head faces the camera, but her earring is still swinging from the movement of turning.
Success at ‘Saturday Night Live’ put stress on the marriage between Phil and Brynn Hartman
According to people who knew the couple before the tragedy, Phil’s SNL success stressed the marriage in some ways. He was a creative type but also reclusive, sources said, and he sometimes withdrew emotionally.
“My sense of Phil was that he was really two people,” his second wife, Lisa Jarvis, told ABC. “He was the guy who wanted to draw and write and think and create and come up with ideas. He was the actor [and] entertainer, and then he was the recluse.”
On the other hand, some said Brynn liked being the center of attention. And she could be jealous to a scary extent. Jarvis revealed that when she sent the couple a congratulatory note on the birth of their son, she received a surprising reply.
“I got back a letter that was hair-curling, fury, rage, and [a] death threat from Brynn,” Jarvis said. “The gist of it was, ‘Don’t ever f***ing get near me or my family or I will hurt you. I never want to hear from you…never, ever, ever come near us or you will really be sorry.’”
Notably, Cassandra Peterson, better known as Elvira, said she tried to talk Phil out of the marriage. “[Brynn] put a serious damper on our friendship. I had a hard time continuing to have a relationship with Phil,” she told Mr. ShowBiz (per CNN).
How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 or 1-800-273-8255. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line.
