July 2, 2024

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Martin Mull: Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Arrested Development star dies at 80

Martin Mull: Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Arrested Development star dies at 80

Image source, Getty Images

Comment on the photo, Mull has had numerous guest starring roles, including on Veep for which he received an Emmy nomination

  • author, Nadine Youssef
  • Role, BBC News

American comedian Martin Mull, known for his work on the TV sitcoms Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Roseanne, has died at the age of 80.

Moll, who starred in the 1985 comedy film Clue, died Thursday at his home after a “courageous battle against a long illness,” his daughter Maggie Moll said on social media.

In a tribute on Instagram, Moll wrote that her father “was known for excelling in every creative discipline imaginable and for producing Red Roof Inn ads.”

“He found that joke funny, and he was never not funny,” she added.

Mull’s first notable role was in 1976, playing Garth Gimble in the satirical series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which led to him appearing in two additional spin-off roles, including in the series Fernwood 2 Night.

He then landed the role of army officer Colonel Mustard in the black comedy film Clue, inspired by the board game of the same name.

Around that time, he also began voicing the Red Roof Inn ads that his daughter mentioned in her tribute.

’90s TV fans will recognize Moll from his work on Roseanne, where he played the titular character Leon Carp’s boss, or in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, where he played Principal Willard Kraft.

He has guest starred on many other popular television shows, including The Simpsons, Family Guy, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Golden Girls and Two and a Half Men.

Moll was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his four-episode appearance on the HBO political satire series Veep in 2016.

Born in Chicago to an actor and a carpenter, Moll began his career in show business as a songwriter and became known as a musical comedian. He opened for Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen at numerous live concerts in the early 1970s.

He also studied painting and graduated in 1965 from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

In a 2013 interview with The AV Club, he said of his acting career: “Every artist I know has a day job. They’re either teaching art at a college or driving a taxi.”

“I happen to have a day job that’s very unusual and fun and affords me a lot of paint to buy,” he said.

In addition to his daughter Maggie, a television writer, he is survived by his wife Wendy Haas, an actress and composer whom he married in 1982.