Martin Mull, actor from ‘Clue’ and ‘Arrested Development,’ dies at 80

Martin Mull, the comedian musician and actor who began with Seventies TV collection “Fernwood 2 Evening” and went on to seem as Colonel Mustard in “Clue” and on “Arrested Growth” and “Roseanne,” died Thursday. He was 80.

His daughter Maggie introduced his dying on Instagram, writing “I’m heartbroken to share that my father handed away at house on June twenty seventh, after a valiant battle towards an extended sickness. He was identified for excelling at each artistic self-discipline possible and in addition for doing Crimson Roof Inn commercials. He would discover that joke humorous. He was by no means not humorous. My dad will likely be deeply missed by his spouse and daughter, by his buddies and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and—the signal of a really distinctive particular person—by many, many canines. I beloved him tremendously.”

Mull was nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for his visitor function as political aide Bob Bradley in “Veep.” Most lately he had made visitor appearances on “The Afterparty,” “Not Useless But” and “Grace and Frankie.”

He guested in 2015 on NBC comedy “Group” as George Perry, the daddy of Gillian Jacobs’ Britta Perry, and on CBS’ comedy “Life in Items.”

Mull had a recurring function from 2008-2013 on “Two and a Half Males” as Russell, a pharmacist who makes use of and sells medicine illegally and attended Charlie’s funeral within the Season 9 premiere episode. The actor additionally recurred on “Arrested Growth” as a somewhat incompetent non-public investigator named Gene Parmesan who has a behavior of exhibiting up in inane disguises.

Mull was a collection common on Seth MacFarlane’s single-season Fox comedy “Dads,” starring Seth Inexperienced and Giovanni Ribisi because the homeowners of a video-game firm, in 2013-14, taking part in the daddy of Ribisi’s character.

In 2008 he guested on “Regulation & Order: SVU” as Dr. Gideon Hutton, whose denial of the existence of AIDS results in his conviction for willful negligence within the deaths of a number of individuals.

Mull’s movie and tv profession actually all started along with his stint as speak present host Barth Gimble on the wickedly satirical, Norman Lear-created TV collection “Fernwood 2 Evening,” which was later renamed “America Tonight,” in 1977 and 1978. The mock speak present additionally featured Fred Willard co-starring as Gimble’s dimwitted sidekick Jerry Hubbard. These exhibits have been spin-offs from Lear’s seminal cleaning soap opera sendup “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”

Willard and Mull reteamed on the 1985 HBO mockumentary “The Historical past of White Folks in America.” Mull performed Roseanne’s homosexual boss Leon Carp on her same-titled ABC sitcom from 1991-97, and he was reunited with Willard for a 1995 episode of the present during which the 2 have been featured in what was actually considered one of tv’s first homosexual weddings.

On the Ellen De Generes sitcom “The Ellen Present” (to not be confused with the sooner “Ellen”), which ran for 18 episodes on CBS in 2001-02, Mull was a collection common as Ed Munn. He recurred on “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” as Principal Willard Kraft from 1997-2000.

From 1998-2004 Mull was an everyday on sport present “Hollywood Squares” in a run of 425 episodes, lots of them as the middle sq..

Martin Eugene Mull was born in Chicago to a mom who was an actress and director and a father who was a carpenter. The household moved to North Ridgeville, Ohio, when he was 2; when he was 15, they moved to New Canaan, Connecticut. He studied portray and graduated from the Rhode Island Faculty of Design with a Bachelor of Effective Arts and a Grasp of Effective Arts in portray.

Mull first broke into present enterprise not as an actor or comic however as a songwriter, penning Jane Morgan’s 1970 nation single “A Woman Named Johnny Money,” which peaked at No. 61 on Billboard’s nation charts. He started his personal recording profession shortly thereafter.

He composed the theme tune for the 1970 collection “The 51st State,” and he was the music producer on the 1971 movie “Bounce.”

All through the Seventies, and particularly within the decade’s first half, Mull was finest often known as a musical comic, performing satirical and humorous songs each reside and in studio recordings. He opened for Randy Newman, Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen at varied reside gigs within the early ’70s.

His self-titled debut album, launched in 1972, featured noteworthy musicians together with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Levon Helm from the Band, Keith Spring of NRBQ and Libby Titus. Different albums included 1974’s 1973’s “Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furnishings in Your Residing Room,” 1974’s “Regular,” “Days of Wine and Neuroses” (1975), “No Hits, 4 Errors: The Better of Martin Mull” (1977), “Intercourse and Violins” (1978) and “I’m Everybody I’ve Ever Beloved.” In response to a profile on the A.V. Membership web site, Mull earned “a success on the Billboard Sizzling 100 with the only ‘Dueling Tubas.’ ” His early albums have been recorded for Georgia-based Capricorn Information which was intently related to the Allman Brothers and different Southern rockers of the period.

Within the A.V. Membership interview, Mull was requested how a painter discovered his manner into appearing, to which he responded: “, each painter I do know has a day job. They’re both instructing artwork at some faculty or driving a cab or no matter. And I simply occurred to luck right into a day job that’s extraordinary and a variety of enjoyable and buys a variety of paint.”

“So far as the appearing factor goes, I had a musical profession on the highway for about 17 years or so, I had bands and so forth, and it boiled down to simply my spouse and I taking part in massive rooms in Vegas, and also you couldn’t ask for greater than that. There have been limousines and suites and the entire thing. However I obtained sick of it. So I believed I’d attempt my hand at writing for tv. And I had an ‘in’ to have an interview with Norman Lear, and I used to be an enormous fan of ‘Mary Hartman.’ I went in and talked to him for, oh, I’d say a superb hour. We had an awesome chat. And afterward he stated, ‘We don’t want any writers. It’s been good assembly you. I’ll see you.’ After which six months later I obtained a name to come back in and skim for an element.”

After the eye he obtained for taking part in Barth Gimble on the syndicated collection “Fernwood 2 Evening,” he performed one of many few lead roles of his profession within the 1980 function comedy “Serial,” a satire of life in Marin County.

Additionally in 1980, Mull had a supporting function in Tony Invoice’s “My Bodyguard” because the hotel-manager father of Chris Makepeace’s protagonist Clifford. In “Mr. Mother” (1983), Michael Keaton was the stay-at-home dad, Teri Garr was the working mom, and Martin Mull “is the snaky president of the promoting company, with plans for selling Garr into his personal life,” within the phrases of Roger Ebert.

In 1984 Steve Martin and Martin Mull teamed to create the sitcom “Home Life,” during which Mull starred as a Seattle TV commentator whose teenage son operates very profitable companies from his room and makes loans to his mother and father, however the CBS collection lasted solely 10 episodes.

The actor was a part of the ensemble in Robert Altman’s satirical, little-known tackle the lives of highschool boys, “O.C. and Stiggs” (1985). That yr Mull additionally performed Colonel Mustard in “Clue,” an adaptation of the board sport, one of many film roles for which he’s finest remembered.

He starred in and wrote the screenplay for one more little identified movie, the Robert Downey Sr.-directed “Rented Lips” (1988).

Mull tried series-regular tv once more because the star reverse Stephanie Faracy of NBC’s “His & Hers,” which disappeared after 13 episodes in 1990, and on “The Jackie Thomas Present” (1992), starring Tom Arnold and gone from ABC after 18 episodes.

The actor started his voiceover sideline with 1993’s “Household Canine,” an early collection from Brad Chook during which he offered the lead voice.

Mull guested as himself on two episodes of Garry Shandling’s HBO collection “The Larry Sanders Present” in 1992-93. He additionally had a supporting function in Robin Williams’ 1993 hit “Mrs. Doubtfire.”

Educated as a painter, Mull had practiced his artwork because the Seventies, and his work appeared each in group and solo displays. One among his work, After Dinner Drinks (2008), which is owned by Steve Martin, was used for the quilt of “Love Has Come for You,” an album by Martin and Edie Brickell. 

He’s survived by his spouse, the previous Wendy Haas, an actor and composer whom he married in 1982, and his daughter Maggie, a TV author and producer.