Harry Shearer had quite the prosperous acting career before lending his voice talents to The Simpsons. Just look back at our beloved '80s (and even the late '70s) for inspiration.

Any fans of The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh out there? Shearer played a bit role as "Murray Sports" in that 1979 classic. He also plays comic sidekick to Jeff Goldblum as astronaut recruiters in 1983's The Right Stuff. ("I'd like a Pepsi ... in a clean glass.")

Alas, our man Harry will always be most beloved to us as heavy-metal bassist "Derek Smalls" from 1984's This is Spinal Tap. His character's name reportedly came from an album cover of Jethro Tull. The band's Thick as a Brick album had fake newspaper classified ads, one reading "Dwarf for rent: Contact Derek Small."

Shearer turns 65 years old today. Here's hoping the day is anything but "none more black."

TOP 5 DEREK SMALLS LINES FROM SPINAL TAP:

5.  "Joint account?!?! Can't we just have her killed? You know people."

4. "Can I raise a practical question at this point? Are we gonna do Stonehenge tomorrow?"

3. "That's my childhood up there on stage. That moose, you know."

2. "Blues jazz festival. Misnamed."

1. "They're two distinct types of visionaries, it's like fire and ice, basically. I feel my role in the band is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water."