Martin Mull dies: Comedian actor of 'Clue,' 'Arrested Development,' and 'Roseanne' was 80

LOS ANGELES– Martin Mull, whose funny, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms such as “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter announced Friday.

Mull's daughter, television writer and comic strip artist Maggie Mull, said her father died Thursday at home after “a valiant fight against a long illness.”

Mull, who was also a guitarist and painter, rose 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 2 Night,” in which he played the host of a satirical talk show.

“He was known for excelling in every creative discipline imaginable and also for directing commercials for Red Roof Inn,” Maggie Mull said in an Instagram post. “He would find this joke funny. He was never funny. My dad will be greatly missed by his wife and daughter, his friends and colleagues, his fellow artists, comedians and musicians, and — the sign of a truly exceptional person — by many, many dogs.”

Known for his blond hair and trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut, and studied art in Rhode Island and Rome. He combined his music and comedy in Hollywood's trendy clubs in the 1970s.

“In 1976, I was a guitarist and comedian at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip when Norman Lear came in and heard me,” Mull told the Associated Press in 1980. “He cast me as the abusive husband in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Four months later, I had my own show. »

In the 1980s, he appeared in films like “Mr. Mom” ​​and “Clue,” and in the 1990s, he had a recurring role on “Roseanne.”

He would later play private detective Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development” and be nominated for an Emmy in 2016 for his guest role on “Veep.”