American actor and comedian Martin Mull, known for his work in the TV sitcoms Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Roseanne, has died at the age of 80.
Mull, who also starred in the 1985 comedy film Clue, died Thursday at his home after a “valiant battle with a long illness,” his daughter Maggie Mull said on social media.
In a tribute on Instagram, Ms Mull wrote that her father “was known for his proficiency in every creative discipline imaginable and for his role in commercials for Red Roof Inn”.
“He would find that joke funny,” she added. “He was never not funny.”
Mull had his first notable role in 1976, playing Garth Gimble on the soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He had two spin-off roles from this series, including one in the series Fernwood 2 Night.
He then landed the role of army officer Colonel Mustard in the black comedy Clue, inspired by the board game of the same name.
Around that time, he also began voicing the Red Roof Inn advertisements that his daughter mentioned in her tribute.
TV fans from the 1990s will recognize Mull from his work on Roseanne, where he played the titular character's boss Leon Carp, or on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, where he played CEO Willard Kraft.
Mull also appeared in the acclaimed satirical sitcom Arrested Development, playing the hapless private investigator Gene Parmesan.
He has guest-starred on many other well-known television series, including The Simpsons, Family Guy, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, The Golden Girls and Two and a Half Men.
Mull was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for a four-episode role in HBO's political satire Veep in 2016.
Born in Chicago to an actress and a carpenter, Mull began his show business career as a songwriter and became known as a musical comedian, opening for Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen at numerous live performances in the early 1970s.
He also studied painting and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1965 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.
In a 2013 interview with the AV Club, he said of his acting career that “every painter I know has a day job. They teach art at a college or drive taxis”.
“I just happened to be lucky enough to get a job that is extraordinary and a lot of fun and that requires me to buy a lot of paint,” he said.
Besides his daughter Maggie, a television writer, he is survived by his wife Wendy Haas, an actress and composer whom he married in 1982.
