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Harry Shearer

Harry Shearer

Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943, Los Angeles, California) is an American comedic actor and writer who began his career as a child actor in 1950s movies (The Robe) and television (The Jack Benny Program). Shearer played Eddie Haskell in the pilot for the TV series Leave It to Beaver.

Shearer was later a member of Los Angeles radio comedy group The Credibility Gap, 19681974, and regular on Saturday Night Live in the 19791980 and 1984-1985 seasons. 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 HBO 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 the secret retreat of the elite, Bohemian Grove.

Shearer has two books published, "Man Bites Town" (a collection of his Los Angeles Times Magazine columns) and "It's the Stupidity, Stupid".

Shearer is probably best-known for his prolific voiceover work on The Simpsons (1989 to date), where he does the voices of Montgomery Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy and Principal Seymour Skinner, among others. Since 1983 Shearer has been the host of the public radio comedy/music program Le Show. He was one of three Simpsons vocalists to guest star on the show Friends. The other two are Dan Castellaneta and Hank Azaria.

Filmography

  • (1986) (TV)
  • (1986) (TV)
  • Viva Shaf Vegas (1986) (TV)
  • The History of White People in America (1985) (TV)
  • This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
  • The Right Stuff (1983)
  • Million Dollar Infield (1982) (TV)
  • "Likely Stories, Vol. 1 " (1981) TV Series
  • One Trick Pony (1980)
  • Loose Shoes (1980)
  • Animalympics (1980)
  • "Saturday Night Live" (1979-1980, 1984-1985)
  • The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979)
  • The T.V. Show (1979) (TV)
  • Real Life (1979)
  • Cracking Up (1977)
  • American Raspberry (1977)
  • (1976) (TV)
  • The Robe (1953) (uncredited)
  • Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) (uncredited)

External links

Last updated: 05-07-2005 16:45:21
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04