Martin Mull, the comedic actor, singer-songwriter and painter, best known for his roles in “Arrested Development,” “Clue” and “Roseanne,” died Thursday at the age of 80.
His death was announced Friday night in an Instagram post from his daughter, Maggie.
“I am heartbroken to share that my father passed away at home on June 27th, after a valiant fight against a long illness,” she wrote. “He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials. 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. I loved him tremendously,” she concluded.
Mull first found success as a songwriter, writing “A Girl Named Johnny Cash” for Jane Morgan, which peaked at No. 61 on the country charts.
As a solo guitarist, he opened for headliners like Billy Joel, Randy Newman, Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen.
In 1976, his portrayal of Barth and Garth Gimble on “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” first brought him national recognition as an actor, and led to roles on spinoffs “Fernwood Tonight” and “America 2-Night,” co-starring with his friend and frequent collaborator Fred Willard.
Some of his more iconic roles came in the 1985 comedy “Clue,” in which he played Colonel Mustard, and decades later in the comedy series “Arrested Development” as detective Gene Parmesan.
Meanwhile, those watching TV in the ’90s will undoubtedly remember him as Principal Kraft in “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” or Leon Carp in “Roseanne” — the latter of which saw Mull, alongside Willard, portray one of TV’s first gay weddings.
A guest appearance on “Veep” in 2016 eventually earned Mull a much-deserved Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor.
Most recently, he played Sheriff Reardon in season 2 of the hit Apple TV+ series “The Afterparty.”
Mull is survived by his third wife, Wendy Haas, whom he married in 1982, and their daughter, a TV writer-producer.
