Comedian and actor Martin Mull, known for his roles in 'Arrested Development' and 'Roseanne,' dies at 80.

 Comedian and actor Martin Mull, known for his roles in 'Arrested Development' and 'Roseanne,' dies at 80.

**Martin Mull, Beloved Comedian and Actor, Dies at 80**

LOS ANGELES — Martin Mull, whose distinctive comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died at the age of 80, his daughter announced Friday.

Mull's daughter, TV writer and comic artist Maggie Mull, said her father passed away at home on Thursday after “a valiant fight against a long illness.”

In addition to his acting career, Mull was also a guitarist and painter. He gained 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.”

“He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,” Maggie Mull said in an Instagram post. “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, comedians, musicians, and—the sign of a truly exceptional person—by many, many dogs.”

Recognizable for his blonde hair and well-trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut, and studied art in Rhode Island and Rome.

He began his show business career as a songwriter, writing the 1970 semi-hit “A Girl Named Johnny Cash” for singer Jane Morgan.

Mull combined music and comedy in an act that he brought to hip Hollywood clubs in the 1970s.

“In 1976, I was a guitar player and sit-down comic appearing at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip when Norman Lear walked in and heard me," Mull told The Associated Press in 1980. “He cast me as the wife beater on ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.’ Four months later, I was spun off on my own show.”

His time on the Sunset Strip was memorialized in the 1973 country rock classic “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy," where the Riders of the Purple Sage give him a shoutout alongside music luminaries Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge.

“I know Kris and Rita and Marty Mull are hangin' at the Troubadour,” the song says.

On “Fernwood Tonight” (sometimes styled as “Fernwood 2 Night”), Mull played Barth Gimble, the host of a local talk show in a Midwestern town and twin to his “Mary Hartman” character. Frequent collaborator Fred Willard, who shared similar comic sensibilities, played his sidekick. The show was later revamped as “America 2 Night” and set in Southern California.

Mull also guest-hosted “The Tonight Show” as a substitute for Johnny Carson.

Often cast as slightly sleazy, somewhat slimy, and often smarmy characters, Mull's notable roles included Teri Garr's boss and Michael Keaton's foe in 1983's “Mr. Mom.” He also played Colonel Mustard in the 1985 movie adaptation of the board game “Clue,” a film that has since become a cult classic.

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The 1980s saw Mull’s best work with “A History of White People in America,” a mockumentary that first aired on Cinemax. Mull co-created and starred in the show as a “60 Minutes” style investigative reporter exploring all things mundane. Willard again co-starred.

He wrote and starred in 1988's “Rented Lips" alongside Robert Downey Jr., directed by Downey's father, Robert Sr.

His co-star Jennifer Tilly described Mull as “such a witty, charismatic, and kind person” in a Friday post on X (formerly Twitter).

In the 1990s, Mull became well-known for his recurring role on “Roseanne,” portraying a warmer, less sleazy boss to the title character, an openly gay man whose partner was played by Willard, who passed away in 2020.

Mull later played private eye Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development,” a beloved character on a cult-classic show, and was nominated for his first Emmy in 2016 for a guest appearance on “Veep.”

“What I did on ‘Veep’ I’m very proud of, but I’d like to think it’s probably more collective, at my age it’s more collective,” Mull told the AP after his nomination. “It might go all the way back to ‘Fernwood.’”

Other comedians and actors often counted themselves among his biggest fans.

“Martin was the greatest,” “Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig said on X. “So funny, so talented, such a nice guy. Was lucky enough to act with him on The Jackie Thomas Show and treasured every moment being with a legend. Fernwood Tonight was so influential in my life.”