LOS ANGELES (NEWSnet/AP) — Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a sensation in the 1970s and later a guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died.
Mull's daughter, TV writer and comic artist Maggie Mull, said her father died at home on Thursday after “a valiant fight against a long illness.”
Mull, also a guitarist and painter, came to national fame with a recurring role on the Norman Lear-created satirical soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” and the starring role in its spinoff, “Fernwood Tonight."
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“He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,” Maggie Mull said on Instagram. “He would find that joke funny. He was never not funny.”
His first foray into show business was as a songwriter, penning the 1970 semi-hit “A Girl Named Johnny Cash” for singer Jane Morgan.
On “Fernwood Tonight” (sometimes styled as “Fernwood 2 Night”), he played Barth Gimble, the host of a local talk show. Fred Willard, a frequent collaborator with similar comic sensibilities, played his sidekick. It was later revamped as “America 2 Night.”
In the 1980s came what many thought was his best work, the mockumentary “The History of White People in America." Mull co-created the show and starred as a “60 Minutes”-style investigative reporter exploring all things milquetoast and mundane.
In the 1990s, he was best known for his recurring role on several seasons on “Roseanne,” in which he played boss to the title character.
He portrayed private eye Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development” and was nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for a guest run on “Veep.”
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