A lot of people loved comedian and actor Martin Mull. He died at the age of 80, say his family.
The news was posted on Instagram by Mull’s daughter Maggie, who said that her father had died at home “after a valiant fight against a long illness.”
“He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,” said the writer.
“That joke would be funny to him.” He was laughing all the time. Many people, including his wife and daughter, friends, coworkers, fellow artists, comedians, musicians, and, most importantly, many, many dogs, will miss my dad very much. “I loved him very much.”
Mull was most likely best known for his roles as principal Willard Kraft on Sabrina the Teenage Witch and as Roseanne Connor’s friend Leon Carp on the sitcom of the same name.
On Arrested Development, he played a private eye named Gene Parmesean.
For his role as Bob Bradley on Veep in 2016, Mull got his first and only Emmy nomination.
During his career, Mull did a lot of different things. For example, he and Fred Willard co-wrote the 1985 mockumentary The History of White People in America.
His favorite things to do were write songs and make people laugh. In the early 1970s, country music star Jane Morgan recorded his song A Girl Named Johnny Cash, which was a parody of A Boy Named Sue.
The song stayed for five weeks on the Hot Country Songs chart on Billboard.
Mull played guitar in nightclubs and sang parody songs for a living. He even opened for Frank Zappa, Randy Newman, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Joel.
“Mull’s strange sense of humor is clear on all of his albums, but he’s not a parody artist like Weird Al,” said a review on AllMusic.com.
“His albums are skewed singer/songwriter, pop/rock with a strong jazz influence, which just happen to have funny lyrics.”
A PROFITABLE CAREER
The star of the hit TV show, Melissa Joan Hart, paid tribute to her longtime, clumsy principal.
“Perfect rest, my friend. “Principal Kraft, the amazing #MartinMull, has left us to rest in peace,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I have such fond memories of working with him and being in awe of his huge body of work which before #SabrinaTheTeemageWitch included #Roseanne and #MrMom as the projects I knew him from.”
Hart also said that Mull kept taking on guest starts and recurring roles on other shows after they were done with Sabrina.
“He once told me that he takes every job he’s offered just in case the train comes to an end, which in this business tends to halt quickly,” said she.
I am better for knowing him because he was an artist who liked to paint and build things with his hands. He was also a musician. We will miss him, but the world was better with him here. I’m so sorry for his family and friends’ loss.
“I will continue to cherish the Martin Mull artwork hanging in my home!”
Mull was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 18, 1943. His father was a carpenter, and his mother was an actress and director.
Growing up, he lived in both North Ridgeville, Ohio, and New Canaan, Connecticut.
His goal was to become a painter. He planned to go to the Rhode Island School of Design and get a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a master’s degree in painting.
Mull first got involved in show business when he organized bands to make money for school.
He leaves behind his daughter, a TV writer and producer, and his third wife, Wendy Haas, whom he married in 1982.