LOS ANGELES ā Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including āRoseanneā and āArrested Development,ā has died, his daughter said Friday. He was 80.
Mull's daughter, TV writer and comic artist Maggie Mull, said her father died at home on Thursday after āa valiant fight against a long illness.ā
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Mull, who was also a guitarist and painter, came to national fame with a recurring role on the Norman Lear-created satirical soap opera āMary Hartman, Mary Hartman,ā and the starring role in its spinoff, āFernwood Tonight."
āHe was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,ā Maggie Mull said in an Instagram post. āHe would find that joke funny. He was never not funny. My dad will be deeply missed by his wife and daughter, by his friends and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, andāthe sign of a truly exceptional personāby many, many dogs.ā
Known for his blonde hair and well-trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut and studied art in Rhode Island and Rome.
His first foray into show business was as a songwriter, penning the 1970 semi-hit āA Girl Named Johnny Cashā for singer Jane Morgan.
He would combine music and comedy in an act that he brought to hip Hollywood clubs in the 1970s.
āIn 1976 I was a guitar player and sit-down comic appearing at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip when Norman Lear walked in and heard me," Mull told The Associated Press in 1980. āHe cast me as the wife beater on āMary Hartman, Mary Hartman.ā Four months later I was spun off on my own show.ā
His time on the Strip was memorialized in the 1973 country rock classic āLonesome L.A. Cowboy" where the Riders of the Purple Sage give him a shoutout along with music luminaries Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge.
āI know Kris and Rita and Marty Mull are hangin' at the Troubadour,ā the song says.
On āFernwood Tonightā (sometimes styled as āFernwood 2 Nightā), he played Barth Gimble, the host of a local talk show in a midwestern town and twin to his āMary Hartmanā character. Fred Willard, a frequent collaborator with very similar comic sensibilities, played his sidekick. It was later revamped as āAmerica 2 Nightā and set in Southern California.
He would get to be a real talk show host as a substitute for Johnny Carson on āThe Tonight Show."
Mull often played slightly sleazy, somewhat slimy and often smarmy characters as he did as Teri Garr's boss and Michael Keaton's foe in 1983's āMr. Mom.ā He played Colonel Mustard in the 1985 movie adaptation of the board game āClue,ā which, like many things Mull appeared in, has become a cult classic.
The 1980s also brought what many thought was his best work, āA History of White People in America,ā a mockumentary that first aired on Cinemax. Mull co-created the show and starred as a ā60 Minutesā style investigative reporter investigating all things milquetoast and mundane. Willard was again a co-star.
He wrote and starred in 1988's āRented Lips" alongside Robert Downey Jr., whose father, Robert Sr., directed.
His co-star Jennifer Tilly said in an X post Friday that Mull was āsuch a witty charismatic and kind person.ā
In the 1990s he was best known for his recurring role on several seasons on āRoseanne,ā in which he played a warmer, less sleazy boss to the title character, an openly gay man whose partner was played by Willard, who died in 2020.
Mull would later play private eye Gene Parmesan on āArrested Development,ā a cult-classic character on a cult-classic show, and would be nominated for an Emmy, his first, in 2016 for a guest run on āVeep.ā
āWhat I did on āVeepā Iām very proud of, but Iād like to think itās probably more collective, at my age itās more collective,ā Mull told the AP after his nomination. āIt might go all the way back to āFernwood.āā
Other comedians and actors were often his biggest fans.
āMartin was the greatest,ā āBridesmaidsā director Paul Feig said on X. āSo funny, so talented, such a nice guy. Was lucky enough to act with him on The Jackie Thomas Show and treasured every moment being with a legend. Fernwood Tonight was so influential in my life.ā
Mull is survived by his daughter and musician Wendy Haas, his wife since 1982.