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).

Shearer was a child actor.  He acted on the Jack Benny radio program.

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

Shearer portrayed Derek Smalls in the 1984 comedy movie _This is Spinal Tap_. Rob Reiner directed this movie.

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.

### Film

|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Year|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Film|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Role|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"|1953|_Abbott and Costello Go to Mars_|Boy|Uncredited||||
|_The Robe_|David|Uncredited||||||
|rowspan="3"|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"||||||
|rowspan="3"|1979|_Real Life_|Pete|Also co-writer||||
|_The Concorde ... Airport '79_|Jeffrey Marx|Uncredited||||||
|_The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh_|Murray Sports|||||||
|rowspan="3"|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||||||
|rowspan="2"|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|||||
|rowspan="4"|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||||||
|rowspan="3"|1994|_I'll Do Anything_|Audience Research Captain|||||
|_Little Giants_|Announcer Littbarski|||||||
|_Speechless_|Chuck|||||||
|rowspan="2"|1997|_My Best Friend's Wedding_|Jonathan P.F. Ritt|||||
|_Waiting for Guffman_|N/A|Composer||||||
|rowspan="4"|1998|_Godzilla_|Charles Caiman|||||
|_Almost Heroes_|Narrator|||||||
|_The Truman Show_|Mike Michaelson|||||||
|_Small Soldiers_|Punch-It|||||||
|rowspan="3"|1999|_EDtv_|Moderator|||||
|_Encounter in the Third Dimension_|Narrator|||||||
|_Dick_|G. Gordon Liddy|||||||
|rowspan="2"|2000|_Catching Up with Marty DiBergi_|Derek Smalls|Short film||||
|_Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big_|Additional voice|||||||
|rowspan="3"|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||||||
|rowspan="2"|2005|_Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School_|Promo announcer|||||
|_Chicken Little_|Dog announcer|||||||
|2006|_For Your Consideration_|Victor Allan Miller||||||
|rowspan="2"|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

|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Year|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Series|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Role|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|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"|||||
|rowspan="3"|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|||||
|rowspan="3"|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||||||
|rowspan="2"|1987|_Spitting Image: The Ronnie and Nancy Show_|Additional voice|TV special||||
|_Down and Out with Donald Duck_|Additional voices|TV special||||||
|rowspan="3"|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|||||
|rowspan="3"|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||||||
|rowspan="3"|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"|||||
|rowspan="4"|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"||||||
|rowspan="2"|1996|_State of the Union: Undressed_|Newt Gingrich|TV special||||
|_Chicago Hope_|Nowhere man|Episode 3.7: "A Time to Kill"||||||
|rowspan="3"|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"|||||
|rowspan="2"|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

|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Year|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Song|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Role|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Artist|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1990|"Do the Bartman"|Seymour Skinner|Nancy Cartwright|||||

### Video games

|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Year|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Game|style="background:#B0C4DE;"|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  at Voice Chasers
- Harry Shearer 'takes aim' with "Not Enough Indians"  (video of an appearance at Cody's Books, Berkeley, CA Nov 26, 2006)
- Harry Shearer on The Hour
- Scene Missing Magazine Interviews Harry Shearer

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Harry Shearer
- **image**: Harry Shearer (33906701158) (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Shearer in 2019
- **birth name**: Harry Julius Shearer
- **birth place**: Los Angeles, California, United States, U.S.
- **occupation**: Actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, musician, author, radio host, director, producer
- **spouse**: Penny Nichols (m. 1974–1977; divorced)
Judith Owen (m. 1993–present)
- **years active**: 1953–present
- **website**: http://www.harryshearer.com
- **notable works**: **Ned Flanders**, **Mr. Burns, Montgomery Burns**, **Waylon Smithers**, **Principal Skinner, Seymour Skinner** in _The Simpsons_
**Derek Smalls** in _This is Spinal Tap_
 **Science Vessel** in _Starcraft_