Brynn Hartman
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Brynn Hartman (11 April 1958 - 28 May 1998) was the wife of actor Phil Hartman. She grew up in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Her maiden name was Vicki Omdahl.
Hartman acted in small roles on television and film, playing a waitress in the Elijah Wood vehicle North and a Venusian on 3rd Rock from the Sun. She met her husband Phil Hartman while working as a Catalina swimsuit model.
In 1998, she shot dead her husband Phil Hartman, before killing herself.
Phil Hartman's divorce attorney Steven Small stated in a CNN article that Brynn's anger management problems may have contributed to the bloody murder-suicide. According to a 1998 People Online article, Brynn's alcoholism and addiction to cocaine also contributed. Both members of the couple were unhappy, and accused the other of not allowing a divorce.
According to an article on www.FranksReelReviews.com, Brynn combined cocaine, drinking and Zoloft at the Hollywood restaurant, Buca di Bepo. Small stated that the couple had an argument concerning Brynn's drug addiction and the divorce when she returned home, according to the PeopleOnline article. Around 2 or 3 a.m., she shot Phil while he slept. After shooting Phil, she drove to her friend Ron Douglas's house. She confessed the crime to him, but he did not believe her. At 6:20, she drove back to her house with Douglas, who called 911. As the police arrived to escort their children, Sean Hartman and Birgen Hartman, out of the house, she went to the bedroom where Phil's body lay, shot herself in the head, and died.
A bitter and sad reminder that encapsulates her doomed relationship with Phil Hartman can be seen during the opening credit sequence of Saturday Night Live from the early 1990's. She is the blonde who is having dinner with Hartman in the credits. Rumor has it the single shot required several retakes, because Brynn kept turning around to get some face time.
External links
- A CNN account of the deaths (http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9805/28/hartman.obit/)
- A CNN article about the reasons behind her actions (http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9805/29/hartman.death.folo/)