Misplaced Pages

Harry Shearer

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 167.206.19.12 (talk) at 21:54, 3 December 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 21:54, 3 December 2006 by 167.206.19.12 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Harry Shearer
File:Shearer.jpgHarry Shearer
BornHarry Julius Shearer

Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American comedic actor and writer.

Biography

Personal life

Shearer was born in Los Angeles, California of Austrian Jewish descent on his father's side and of Polish Jewish descent on his mother's. Since 1993, Shearer has been married to singer-songwriter Judith Owen.

Career

He began his career as a child actor in 1950s movies (The Robe) and television (The Jack Benny Program). Shearer also played Eddie Haskell in the pilot episode of the TV series Leave It to Beaver. Shearer was later a member of Los Angeles radio comedy group The Credibility Gap, 1968–1974, and regular on Saturday Night Live in 1979–1980 and 1984–1985, leaving for good midseason in January 1985 over "creative differences." When reached for comment over the nature of his departure, Shearer replied "I was creative; they were different". Shearer co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in Rob Reiner's 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap with Michael McKean and Christopher Guest; the three of them also collaborated on the acclaimed 2003 spoof A Mighty Wind, which was written by Guest and Eugene Levy, and directed by Guest.

Shearer's television work also includes two specials for Cinemax, "It's Just TV", and "This Week Indoors" (co-created with Merrill Markoe) and "The Magic of Live". He directed the entire six-episode cable series, "The History of White People in America", co-created by Martin Mull and Allen Rucker, as well as the two-hour feature finale of the series, "Portrait of a White Marriage". He also co-wrote and directed Paul Shaffer's fantasy special for HBO, "Viva Shaf Vegas" (with Shaffer and Tom Leopold). His first theatrical feature, which he wrote and directed, was "Teddy Bears' Picnic", a dark comedy loosely based on the workings of Bohemian Grove (of which Shearer is a member), the secret retreat of the elite.

Shearer has three books published, "Man Bites Town" (a collection of his Los Angeles Times Magazine columns), "It's the Stupidity, Stupid", and "Not Enough Indians", a comic novel about Native Americans and gambling.

Shearer is probably best known for his prolific work as a voice actor on The Simpsons (1989 to present), where he provides voices for Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Julius Hibbert, Dr. Marvin Monroe, Lenny Leonard and Principal Seymour Skinner, McBain/Rainier Wolfcastle, among others. He was one of three Simpsons voice actors to guest star on the show Friends ("The One With the Fake Monica"); the other two were Dan Castellaneta and Hank Azaria. He also appeared in Godzilla with Hank Azaria, which had a cameo appearance from Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson.

In a 2004 interview, Shearer stated that he thought the show was declining in quality with each passing season (starting in its fourth season). He rated the last three seasons (at the time being seasons 13, 14 and 15) as "the worst yet". He did admit that he had not watched older episodes that much, being focused on the recent ones.

Since 1983 Shearer has been the host of the public radio comedy/music program Le Show on Santa Monica NPR affiliated radio station KCRW. The show is podcast and airs on public radio stations throughout the country. He is the regular announcer for TV Land and since May 2005 has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. Shearer has homes in both Santa Monica, California and the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. According to a telephone call on Ask Mr. KABC, his house survived Hurricane Katrina.

Harry Shearer is currently recording for a BBC Radio 4 sitcom with Brian Hayes called Not Today, Thank You. He plays a character named Nostrils, a man so ugly he can't stand to be in his own presence. He resides in washed up radio presenter Brian Hughes' (played by Hayes) garage (in the house belonging to his grandmother), sometimes appearing in other rooms of the house. On October 30, 2006, he appeared on Graham Norton's Bigger Picture in the UK.

Recurring Characters on SNL

  • Tom Clay, a spokesperson for several fake commercials on SNL
  • Vic Raker, a Weekend Update commentator

Celebrity Impersonations on SNL

Filmography

File:Mighty wind.jpg
Shearer in A Mighty Wind.
File:Derek Smalls.jpg
Shearer as Derek Smalls.

Bibliography

  • Shearer, Harry (1993). Man Bites Town. St Martins Press. ISBN 0-312-08842-6.
  • Shearer, Harry (1999). It's the Stupidity, Stupid : Why (Some) People Hate Clinton and Why the Rest of Us Have to Watch (Library of Contemporary Thought). Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-43401-3.
  • Shearer, Harry (2006). Not Enough Indians. Justin, Charles and Company. ISBN 1-932112-46-4.

External links

Categories: