New Hartman story -- autopsy results and comments about Brynn

[Steve Timko]

Contented Hartman family image covered anger, some friends say
By LYNN ELBER
AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As contradictory stories emerged Friday about
Phil Hartman's marriage and his wife's alleged emotional demons, there
was one overwhelming truth: two children were orphaned by the
murder-suicide of a ``happy couple.''
``I don't think the little girl can comprehend what happened,
except for the fact she's never going to see her mommy and daddy
again,'' said Joel Diamond, a longtime friend of actor-comedian Phil
Hartman and his wife, Brynn.
Diamond, a record producer, said he and his wife, Andrea,
regularly socialized with the couple and arranged play dates between
their 5-year-old daughter and Birgen Hartman, 6.
Birgen and her brother, 9-year-old Sean, were in the family's
Encino house when Mrs. Hartman apparently shot her husband around 6:30
a.m. PDT Thursday. She killed herself as police, responding to reports
of gunfire, scooped the children to safety.
Police were withholding comment on the case, police Officer
Eduardo Funes said Friday, noting that rumors were rampant.
Autopsies performed Friday showed that Hartman died of multiple
gunshot wounds to the head; his wife died of a single, self-inflicted
shot to the head, coroner's spokesman Scott Carrier said. Tests for
drugs and alcohol were not expected for a week to 10 days, Carrier
said.
Outside the Hartmans' gate, a small shrine of flowers, candles and
notes was spread out on the sidewalk in front of the Hartman home.
``Brynn and Phil. I miss you so much. We love you forever. Both of
you in our hearts. Love, Quin and Curt,'' read one note.
Judee Regan, 30, dropped off a basket of yellow daisies. She said
they were for the Hartmans' children. ``I have two children of my own
and I feel really bad that something like this can happen,'' she said
with a catch in her voice.
Before the Hartman children were released to the custody of family
members Thursday, the Diamonds tried to comfort them with a brief
visit to a park, Joel Diamond said.
``I was on the swings with Sean, and it was so sad. I asked him,
``Is there anyplace I can take you? Can I take you to Disneyland, can
I take you somewhere?'
``He said 'It's really very nice of you, but my mommy promised,
she was telling me how many places we're going to be going. I don't
think we'll be able to go now.' Then he started to cry,'' Diamond
said.
To Diamond, who said he dated Brynn Hartman years ago, the
Hartmans seemed a happy couple despite their different interests.
Hartman, 49, focused on his work as an actor, appearing in the
sitcom ``NewsRadio,'' contributing voices to ``The Simpsons'' animated
series and working in movies, while Mrs. Hartman, 40, was a devoted
mother and wife, a ``wonderful, upbeat person,'' he said.
There were suggestions of pain, Mrs. Diamond said.
``Brynn had called me a few times. She said she wanted to talk and
she sounded like she had a lot on her mind,'' she told station KCAL-TV
on Friday.
``I know that she wrestled with some addictions,'' Mrs. Diamond
said. ``And it seemed that she was doing OK with it. She was
struggling with this and I suspected that she was winning the war and
so I didn't want to talk about it unless she wanted to talk about
it.''
Others say they were aware of more turmoil in the Hartman home.
``She had trouble controlling her anger,'' Steve Small, a Northern
California attorney who handled Hartman's 1985 divorce and stayed in
touch with the actor, told the Los Angeles Times.
``She got attention by losing her temper,'' said Small, adding
that the two had separated more than once. ``Phil said he had to ...
restrain her at times.''
An unidentified family friend told the Daily News of Los Angeles
that Mrs. Hartman had been in a Malibu rehabilitation center five
months ago. Since then, in the past couple of weeks, she had returned
to cocaine use and she and Hartman had argued about it, the friend
said.
Another report said Hartman was ready to end his marriage.
``The marriage had gone sour and he told her he was leaving,'' the
New York Post wrote, quoting an unidentified NBC publicist who knew
the actor. ``He had a new romance in his life. That apparently was too
much for her and she snapped.''
Mrs. Hartman ``buried her pain by drinking,'' one of Mrs.
Hartman's friends, Barbara Field, told the TV show ``Hard Copy.''
``Her marriage was in trouble. It had been for some time,'' she
said. ``There were many moments in her life when she was feeling
desperate.''
Many others, however, saw only a successful actor enjoying a
contented family life.
``I have a plane. I have a boat. I have a great house. I have a
great family. In fact I have everything I ever wanted,'' film director
Joe Dante recalled Hartman telling him recently. ``It feels great.''
``They were always a very happy couple,'' said actor Steve
Guttenberg, a longtime friend of Hartman's.
Honorary Encino Mayor Ronnie Schell, who had known the couple for
nine years, said Mrs. Hartman seemed healthy and upbeat.
``She was a very healthy-looking person. I've been around people
on cocaine and there was no hint of it here,'' Schell said.
One woman said a friend received a panicked phone call from Brynn
before dawn Thursday, asking her to come over. When she got there, she
couldn't get through the gate, so she used her cellular phone to call
but misdialed and got another friend.
``She said, 'Brynn, Brynn, I'm here at the gate,''' according to
Linda Markley, the woman who received the call. ``And I said, No, It's
Linda, and she hung up right away.''
Hartman won fame with his impersonations of President Clinton,
Frank Sinatra and other celebrities on ``Saturday Night Live'' and
played a radio anchor on NBC's ``NewsRadio,''
Mrs. Hartman, whose given name was Vicki Omdahl, grew up in the
small northwestern Minnesota town of Thief River Falls. She moved to
Hollywood with dreams of a modeling career, changed her name and
married Hartman in 1987.
``We're still in shock,'' her mother, Constance Omdahl of Thief
River Falls, told the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald. Mrs. Omdahl declined
to comment when reached by The Associated Press.
Joel Diamond said he was unsurprised that the Hartman children
were left unharmed in the tragedy.
``Brynn would never hurt the children. But, then again, she killed
Phil. I could never have imagined in a zillion years she would do
this,'' Diamond said.