Phil Hartman

Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor and comedian, most notable for his work on , who was the original voice of Zapp Brannigan. During the 1990s, he also became a semi-regular performer on The Simpsons.

Because of his extremely positive reputation among Simpsons cast and crew, when Matt Groening was developing the characters for Futurama, Zapp was created specifically for Hartman. But Matt Groening says that Hartman insisted on auditioning for Zapp’s voice anyway and “he came in, and of course he nailed the part”.

Tragically, Phil Hartman was murdered on May 28, 1998 by his wife Brynn at age 49, just a few weeks after the audition. No dialogue had been recorded, and so the part was given to Billy West. In tribute, Zapp’s voice was modeled in the same style that Phil Hartman had intended for the character, and Philip J. Fry gained his first name in honor of Hartman.