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The daughter of Phil Hartman shared a sweet message to mark what would have been her father’s 74th birthday on Saturday.
In a (naturally comedic) tweet, Birgen Hartman wrote, “My dad’s 74th birthday today! Thanks for the personality disorder!” With the message, she included two pictures of the beloved actor dressed up as a cat for a comedy sketch.
She added in another tweet, “(Joking – @realjonlovitz told me I thought I was a cat until I was like 4).” Lovitz, 65, was one of Hartman’s dearest friends.
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The beloved stage, screen and TV actor, best known for his iconic work on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, died May 28, 1998, at age 49. His wife, Brynn, fatally shot Hartman before she committed suicide. The couple’s two children grew up outside the public eye.
In a rare comment about her father, Birgen told The Hollywood Reporter in November 2017 how much fans’ love for his work meant, specifically in that case related to The Simpsons.
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“It’s great that people still love and remember my dad’s characters on The Simpsons,” she told THR. “Even after 20-plus years, I still see people quoting Lionel Hutz or sharing Troy McClure memes. The fact that those characters have carried themselves into the modern day and have remained relevant is just so cool to see, and I think my dad would have been proud of that.”
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In addition to his legendary work on SNL, The Simpsons and NewsRadio, Hartman appeared in a slew of films, including So I Married an Axe Murderer, Greedy, Houseguest, Sgt. Bilko, Small Soldiers and the holiday classic, Jingle All the Way, in which he co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.
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Hartman also co-wrote Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Before SNL, Hartman was a member of the comedy group The Groundlings, where he met and helped Paul Reubens develop his Pee-wee Herman character.
