American actor and comedian Martin Mull, best known for his roles in sitcoms “Roseanne” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” has died at the age of 80.
Mull, who also starred in the 1985 comedy film “Clue,” died at home on Thursday after a “courageous battle with a long illness,” his daughter Maggie Mull said on social media.
In a tribute on Instagram, Ms Moore wrote that her father was “famous for excelling in every creative field imaginable and filming Red Roof Inn commercials”.
“He would find the joke funny,” she added. “He was never funny.”
Marr’s first notable role was as Garth Gimble in the spoof soap opera Mary Hartman in 1976, and he went on to appear in two other spin-off roles, including the TV series Fernwood 2 Nights. .
He then starred as Army officer Colonel Mustard in Clue, a dark comedy film inspired by the board game of the same name.
Around that time, he also began voicing the Red Roof Inn commercials his daughter mentioned in her tribute.
Fans of 1990s TV will know Mal from “Roseanne,” where he played the eponymous character’s boss, Leon Carp, or principal Willard Kraft on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
Marr also appeared in the critically acclaimed satirical sitcom Arrested Development, playing hapless private eye Gene Palmasan.
He has guest-starred on many other well-known television shows, including “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “The Golden Girls” and “Two and a Half Men.”
In 2016, Marr was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for her performance in four episodes of the HBO political satire Veep.
Born in Chicago to an actor and a carpenter, Marr began his acting career as a songwriter and as a musical comedian. He opened for Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen at many live shows 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 degree.
In a 2013 interview with AV Club, he said of his acting career: “Every painter I know has a day job. They either teach art at a university or drive a taxi.”
“I just happened to have an unusual, fun day job and buy a lot of paint,” he said.
In addition to his daughter Maggie, a television writer, he leaves behind wife Wendy Haas, an actress and composer, whom he married in 1982.
