Martin Mull, the comedic actor best known for his roles in “Clue,” “Roseanne,” “Arrested Development” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” died Thursday. He was 80.
His daughter, TV writer and producer Maggie Mull, shared the news on Instagram.
“He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,” she wrote. “He 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, and — the sign of a truly exceptional person — by many, many dogs.”
Mull, who was also a singer-songwriter, rose to fame in the 1970s on Norman Lear’s satirical soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and its spinoffs, “Fernwood 2 Night” and “America 2-Night.”
The dry-witted comic played Colonel Mustard in the 1985 comedy “Clue” and Teri Garr’s boss in 1983’s “Mr. Mom.” He was Roseanne’s boss, Leon Carp, on her titular sitcom, private detective Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s” nosy Principal Kraft, in addition to voicing characters on animated shows, including “American Dad!” and “The Simpsons.”
The actor appeared in more than 200 Los Angeles Times articles across four decades. most recently in December. Following the death of Lear, a Times roundup of seven essential Lear shows noted Mull’s contributions to the oddball gallery of characters in “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”
Here’s a sampling of headlines from Mull’s life as actor and as painter. A full Times appreciation is forthcoming.
Martin Mull with Steve Martin during an art talk at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica in 2014.
(Ryan Miller / Invision / AP)