Harry Shearer

Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943, in Los Angeles, California) is an American comedic actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, musician, author, radio host, director and producer. Shearer is famous for playing the voices of many characters for The Simpsons (1989 to present).

Harry Shearer
Shearer in 2019
Born	Harry Julius Shearer (1943-12-23) December 23, 1943 (age 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, musician, author, radio host, director, producer
Years active	1953–present
Notable work	Ned Flanders, Montgomery Burns, Waylon Smithers, Seymour Skinner in The Simpsons Derek Smalls in This is Spinal Tap Science Vessel in Starcraft
Spouse(s)	Penny Nichols (m. 1974–1977; divorced) Judith Owen (m. 1993–present)
Website	http://www.harryshearer.com

Shearer was a child actor. He acted on the Jack Benny radio program.^[1]

Shearer was a member of the Credibility Gap comedy group. The radio stations KRLA and later KPPC broadcast the Credibility Gap.^[2] He performed on the Pop Chronicles music documentary.^[3][4]

Shearer portrayed Derek Smalls in the 1984 comedy movie This is Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner directed this movie.^[5]

Shearer speaks the voices for many characters on The Simpsons cartoon. Some of the characters he plays are Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, and Ned Flanders.^[6]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1953	Abbott and Costello Go to Mars	Boy	Uncredited
	The Robe	David	Uncredited
1977	American Raspberry	Trucker's friend
	Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope	Captain Khurgee (voice)	Uncredited
	Cracking Up	Various characters	Credited as part of "The Credibility Gap"
1979	Real Life	Pete	Also co-writer
	The Concorde ... Airport '79	Jeffrey Marx	Uncredited
	The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh	Murray Sports
1980	Animalympics	Keen Hacksaw/Mayor of Animal Olympic Island/Burnt Woody/Mark Spritz
	Loose Shoes	Narrator
	One Trick Pony	Bernie Wepner
1983	The Right Stuff	NASA Recruiter
1984	This Is Spinal Tap	Derek Smalls	Also co-writer, composer and musician
1987	Flicks	Narrator
1988	Plain Clothes	Simon Feck
	My Stepmother Is an Alien	Voice of Carl Sagan
1990	Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School	Announcer	Short film
1991	Blood and Concrete: A Love Story	Sammy Rhodes
	Oscar	Guido Finucci
	Pure Luck	Monosoff
	The Fisher King	Ben Starr
1992	A League of Their Own	Newsreel announcer
1993	Wayne's World 2	Handsome Dan
1994	I'll Do Anything	Audience Research Captain
	Little Giants	Announcer Littbarski
	Speechless	Chuck
1997	My Best Friend's Wedding	Jonathan P.F. Ritt
	Waiting for Guffman	N/A	Composer
1998	Godzilla	Charles Caiman
	Almost Heroes	Narrator
	The Truman Show	Mike Michaelson
	Small Soldiers	Punch-It
1999	EDtv	Moderator
	Encounter in the Third Dimension	Narrator
	Dick	G. Gordon Liddy
2000	Catching Up with Marty DiBergi	Derek Smalls	Short film
	Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big	Additional voice
2001	Haiku Tunnel	Orientation leader
	Out There	Dr. Gerard
	Haunted Castle	Mr. D Mephisto
2002	Teddy Bears' Picnic	Joey Lavin	Also writer, director and executive producer
2003	A Mighty Wind	Mark Shubb
2005	Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School	Promo announcer
	Chicken Little	Dog announcer
2006	For Your Consideration	Victor Allan Miller
2007	A Couple of White Chicks at the Hairdresser	Marc Gavin
	The Simpsons Movie	Various characters
2010	The Big Uneasy	Narrator	Also Director and producer
2011	Flood Streets	Actor/Voice/Executive Producer

Television

Year	Series	Role	Notes
1953, 1955	The Jack Benny Program	Jack Benny, as a child	Episode 4.2: "Jack as a Child" Episode 5.12: "Jack Takes the Beavers to the Fair"
1955	The Donald O'Connor Show	Himself	Episode 1.7
1955	It's a Great Life	Terry	Episode 2.4: "The Paper Drive"
1955	Death Valley Days	Unnamed character	Episode 4.2: "The Valencia Cake"
1956	Private Secretary	Chuckie Wills, shoeshine boy	Episode 4.16: "The Little Caesar of Bleecker Street"
1957	General Electric Theater	Timmy	Episode 5.28: "Cab Driver"
	Leave It to Beaver	Frankie Bennett	Pilot: "It's a Small World"
	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Street Kid	Episode 2.31: "The Night the World Ended"
1976	Serpico	Hippy	TV film/Pilot: "The Deadly Game"
1976–82	Laverne & Shirley	Various characters	Appeared in six episodes; also co-wrote episode 1.12: "Hi, Neighbor"
1979	The T.V. Show	Various characters	Pilot; also writer, producer and composer
1979–80, 1984–85	Saturday Night Live	Various characters	Appeared in 32 episodes; also co-wrote 39 episodes
1981	Likely Stories, Vol. 1	Various characters	TV film; also co-wrote
1982	Million Dollar Infield	Jack Savage	TV film
1985	The History of White People in America	Rabbi	TV film; also director
1986	Viva Shaf Vegas	Rabbi	TV film; also director, writer and executive producer
	The History of White People in America: Volume II	Rabbi	TV film; also director
	Spitting Image: Down And Out In The White House	Additional voice	Pilot/TV special
1987	Spitting Image: The Ronnie and Nancy Show	Additional voice	TV special
	Down and Out with Donald Duck	Additional voices	TV special
1988	Portrait of a White Marriage	Unnamed character	TV film; also director
	Miami Vice	FBI Agent Timothy Anderson	Episode 4.12: "The Cows of October"
	Merrill Markoe's Guide to Glamorous Living	Unnamed character	TV special
1989–present	The Simpsons	Ned Flanders, Charles Montgomery Burns, Waylon Smithers, Seymour Skinner and various other characters	Longest-running role
1990	The Golden Girls	George H. W. Bush	Episode 5.26: "The President's Coming! The President's Coming! Part 2"
	Hometown Boy Makes Good	Unnamed character	TV film
	Murphy Brown	Chris Bishop	Episode 3.1: "The 390th Broadcast"
1991	Sunday Best	Various characters
1993	Dream On	Steve	Episode 4.6: "Home Sweet Homeboy"
	L.A. Law	Gordon Huyck	Episode 8.6: "Safe Sex"
	Animaniacs	Ned Flat	Episode 1.40: "Fair Game/Puppet Rulers"
1994	Ellen	Ted	Episode 2.9: "The Trainer"
1995	Sliders	Radio DJ	Episode 1.1: "Pilot"; uncredited
	Friends	Dr. Baldharar	Episode 1.21: "The One with the Fake Monica"
	The Show Formerly Known as the Martin Short Show	Mr. Blackwell	TV special
	Frontline	Larry Hadges	Episode 2.10: "Changing the Face of Current Affairs"
1996	State of the Union: Undressed	Newt Gingrich	TV special
	Chicago Hope	Nowhere man	Episode 3.7: "A Time to Kill"
1997	Tracey Takes On...	Ronald Littleman	Episode 2.12: "Race Relations"
	ER	John Smythe	Episode 3.19: "Calling Dr. Hathaway"
	The Visitor	Louis Faraday	Episode 1.1: "Fear of Flying"
1998	George & Leo	Unnamed character	Episode 1.17: "The Poker Game"
1999	Seven Days	Walter Landis	Episode 1.19: "EBE's"
	Just Shoot Me!	Larry Fenwick	Episode 4.1: "A Divorce to Remember"
1999–2001	Jack & Jill	Dr. Wilfred Madison	Appeared in four episodes
2000–01	Dawson's Creek	Principal Peskin	Episodes 4.8: "The Unusual Suspects" and 4.22: "The Graduate"
2001	That's Life	Dean	Episode 2.9: "Oh, Baby!"
2002	The Agency	The President	Episode 1.14: "The Gauntlet"
2003	MADtv	Mark Shubb	Episode 8.21
2009	Never Mind the Buzzcocks	Himself	Series 23 Episode 6
2012	Nixon's the One	Richard Nixon	TV special
2012	Have I Got News For You	Himself	Series 44 Episode 5
2014	The Kumars	Himself	Sky1 Sitcom
2014	Outnumbered	Mr Johnson	Series 5 Episode 5

Music video

Year	Song	Role	Artist
1990	"Do the Bartman"	Seymour Skinner	Nancy Cartwright

Video games

Year	Game	Role
1996	Blazing Dragons	Sir Burnevere, Sir George's Valet
1996	The Simpsons Cartoon Studio	Various characters
1997	Virtual Springfield	Various characters
1998	StarCraft	Science Vessel
2001	The Simpsons Wrestling	Various characters
2001	The Simpsons: Road Rage	Various characters
2002	The Simpsons Skateboarding	Various characters
2003	The Simpsons: Hit & Run	Various characters
2005	Chicken Little	Dog announcer
2007	The Simpsons Game	Various characters
2012	The Simpsons: Tapped Out	Various characters

Other websites

• Harry Shearer's official site
• archived Harry Shearer site
• Harry Shearer's blog at the Huffington Post
• Harry Shearer Archived 2006-05-05 at the Wayback Machine at Voice Chasers Archived 2020-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Harry Shearer 'takes aim' with "Not Enough Indians" Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine (video of an appearance at Cody's Books, Berkeley, CA Nov 26, 2006)
• Harry Shearer on The Hour
• Scene Missing Magazine Interviews Harry Shearer^{[permanent dead link]}

References

1. Plume, Kenneth. "Interview with Harry Shearer (Part 1 of 4) – feature – at IGN". Movies.ign.com. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
2. Deming, Mark. "The Credibility Gap > Biography". allmusic. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
3. Show 34 - Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders. [Part 2] : UNT Digital Library
4. Gilliland, John (1969). "E-J — University of North Texas Libraries" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu.
5. Rabin, Nathan. "Harry Shearer | Animation | Interview". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
6. "Welcome to The Simpsons.com". Thesimpsons.com. Retrieved 2009-12-28.