Money Down! They're Making A Film Biopic About The Man Who Voiced Troy McClure

We were only talking about the Phil Hartman a couple of days ago on The Sliced Pan and now we hear the greats news that Jason Priestly - of 90210 fame - is making a film biopic about the great comedian.

You may remember Phil from such characters as Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz aqnd Lyle Lanley on The Simpsons but he was a huge comedian in the US during the 80s and 90s, as a star of Saturday Night Live and the sitcom NewsRadio.

The film will explore the life of Hartman, including his untimely death in 1998 when he was murdered by his wife in their LA home.

Hartman had a reputation as one of the nicest men in show-business; a reputation typified by a lovely anecdote from his co-star in NewsRadio, Maura Tierney. Last year she told a tale of a falling out she had with her colleague Joe Rogan, on the set of the show:

I do remember one thing he said to me. Joe Rogan was being so fucking mean to me one day — and mostly we were all friends, but Joe could be a weirdo — and I was sort of upset about it, so I was just sitting over in the corner. And Phil came over and put his arm around me, and he said, "You know, I just want to tell you you're loved." Isn't that really nice? I know you expected me to tell some wacky story about Phil, but he was like that, too. He just put his arm around me and said that. He was so sweet. He was a really nice man.

Joe Rogan is of course better known nowadays for his work with the UFC.

Hartman actually voiced a lot of other characters in The Simpsons that I had not realised. These included The Cable Guy, Johnny Tight Lips, God, Horst (The German who bought the power plant) and Fat Tony in one of the episodes.

That episode was a Fish Called Selma, which ironically enough featured Selma marrying Troy McClure.