If you don't recognise his face then you'll definitely recognise his voice, because Phil Hartman was the fella behind some of The Simpsons best characters, including Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz. He also appeared in a bunch of films, including Jingle All the Way and he was a regular on Saturday Night Live.

What you might not know is the tragic circumstances surrounding his death. Aged just 49, Phil was shot and killed by his wife, Brynn Hartman, before she turned the gun on herself in a devastating murder suicide, which left their two young children as orphans.

Phil Hartman

Phil and his wife, Brynn. Credit: PA

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The incident, which took place in LA in 1998, shocked America, with friends of Phil saying he was the least likely person to be involved in something like this. Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly said at the time he was 'beloved by everyone he worked with'.

Friends of the couple said that the marriage was 'fractured', and this was partly down to his wife's drug use. She had been in rehab several times, but no one would have guessed it would end in such tragedy.

Credit: Fox

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On the evening of the 27 May, 1998, Brynn started an argument with Phil. During the argument, Phil threatened to leave her if she used drugs again. Afterwards the argument, he went up to bed, alone. At around 3am, Brynn crept into the bedroom and shot him twice in the head with a handgun from point-blank range. She'd been drinking and had taken cocaine.

She drove to the house of her friend, Ron Douglas, and confessed the murder to him. Ron initially refused to believe Brynn, but they both went back to the house. Once inside he saw Phil's body and immediately called the police. Officers arrived on the scene and started to get the two children and Ron out of the house.

While they were escorting one of the children outside they heard a gunshot. Police rushed back inside the property to find that Brynn, who had locked herself in the bedroom, had committed suicide by shooting herself in the mouth.

The two children, who were aged just nine and six at the time, were unhurt and ended up in the custody of Brynn's sister.

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After his death, Phil was given a star at both Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.