Harry Shearer is known primarily as an American actor, although he has proved himself both as a director and as a musician and even as a writer. He has quite a lot of interesting work in film and on TV, but it is especially worth mentioning that from 1989 to the present day he has been involved in the dubbing of The Simpsons. Shearer has a wide range of voices, which allows him to voice over two dozen characters in this animated series for adults.
Early biography
Harry Shearer was born in 1943 in Los Angeles into a family of Jewish immigrants. His father's name is Mack Shearer, his mother's name is Dora Warren.
Harry began acting as a child. His debut films were The Shroud (1953) and Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953). By the age of fourteen, he had already managed to participate in eight television series and two feature films. However, in 1957, after filming a pilot episode of Leave It to Beaver, his parents insisted that he interrupt his acting career.
In the sixties, Shearer graduated from the University of California, after which he went to graduate school. Harvard.
In 1967 he became a teacher of English and social studies, but a year later, in 1968, he decided to leave this occupation due to "disagreements with the administration."
Shearer's main achievements in film and TV
In the second half of the seventies, Harry again began to appear on the screen from time to time. During these years, he played cameo roles in the series Laverne and Shirley and Serpico, as well as in the films Real Life and The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh. It should also be noted that during this period Shearer collaborated as a screenwriter with the most popular American show Saturday Night Live.
In 1984, Harry starred in Rob Reiner's This Is Spinal Tap. It was a comedy pseudo-documentary about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap, whose popularity, according to the story, is declining. Harry played the role of one of its members - bassist Derek Smalls, and this, in fact, is one of his most striking roles in general in his career.
It is interesting that subsequently Shearer and other actors in the guise of musicians from Spinal Tap repeatedly performed in front of the public. And in 2009, even a whole tour of this group took place in the United States. Plus, the Spinal Tap collective has released as many as three completely real music albums.
Another important event in Shearer's career took place in the eighties. In 1989, he was approached by Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons. He asked the actor to take part in the voice acting of this animated show (and it was unlikely then that someone could suggest that it would become a cult and last more than 30 seasons). After some deliberation, Shearer accepted the offer. Ultimately, he gave his voice to a large number of Simpsons characters. These include Director Skinner, stingy power plant owner Mr. Burns, local news anchor Kent Brockman, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, Dr. Hibbert, etc.
Shearer also voiced President George W. Bush four times in The Simpsons. Moreover, in 1990 he had a chance not only to voice, but also to play this politician - in the image of Bush Sr. he appeared in one of the episodes of the popular TV series of that time "Golden Girls".
In 1991, the actor played a small role in Terry Gilliam's magnificent drama The Fisher King. And in Penny Marshall's 1992 film A League of Their Own, his voice is played off-screen during the newsreel screening.
He later starred in Ron Andevrood's Silence (1994) and PJ Hogan's melodrama Best Friend's Wedding (1997).
A year later, in 1998, he was noted for appearing in two famous films at once - in the drama "The Truman Show" starring Jim Carrey and in the blockbuster "Godzilla" by Roland Emmerich.
In 2002, Shearer first acted as a director - he shot the comedy "Picnic at Teddy Bear" (and here he performed not only directorial duties, but also played one of the roles). The film was only released in a limited release and received very poor critical acclaim. On the popular Rotten Tomatoes website, it has an extremely low rating of 0%.
In addition, in the 2000s, Shearer starred in films such as The Mighty Wind (2003), To Your Judgment (2006), Living Earth (2007). And, say, in 2017, he appeared in the comedy "Who is our daddy, dude?"
And, of course, all this time Shearer continued to work steadily on "The Simpsons". In 2015, the media reported that the actor may no longer be involved in the voice acting of this animated series, but in the end, the management was able to persuade him to stay in the project.
The 31st season of The Simpsons kicked off on September 29, 2019, and this season, as before, a number of characters speak in Shearer's voice.
Other activities
Harry Shearer also tried his hand at writing - in 2006 he released the novel "Not Enough Indians". At the same time, it should be noted that before that he had already published two books. The first one was called “Man Bites Town”. It was published in 1993 and was a collection of columns written for the Los Angeles Times from 1989 to 1992.
As for the second book, it was published in 1999. Its name is "It's the Stupidity, Stupid". The book is a journalistic one, in which Shearer tries to analyze the reasons for the negative attitude of some part of society towards the then President Bill Clinton.
It should also be noted that in 2010 Harry Shearer established himself as an interesting documentary filmmaker. He created the documentary "The Big Uneasy". This tape is dedicated to the sad events associated with Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding in New Orleans. And by the way, in it, Harry Shearer rather sharply criticizes the work of the US Army Corps of Engineers during this natural disaster.
Personal life
The first wife of the actor was the folk singer Penelope Nichols. They were married for about three years - from 1974 to 1977.
In 1993, Harry Shearer married again - this time the Welsh singer and poet Judith Owen became his chosen one. This marriage continues to this day. It is also known that in 2005 Judith and Harry became the founders of their own music label - Courgette Records.
