Martin Mull

Martin Mull
Performing at the Boarding House in San Francisco, 1976 Photo: David Gans
Born	August 18, 1943 (1943-08-18) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, painter, musician
Years active	1972–present
Spouse	Wendy Mull (1982-present)

Martin Mull (born August 18, 1943) is an American actor who has starred in his own television sitcom and acted in prominent films. He is also a comedian, painter, and recording artist. He is a satirist and incorporates his comedic sense into all of his work.

Early years and education

Mull was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved with his family to North Ridgeville, Ohio, when he was two years old. They stayed there until he was 15 years old, when his family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where he attended and graduated from public high school. He studied painting and went on to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in painting.

Career

Following a period of stand-up comedy performances and comedic song recordings including opening for Frank Zappa at Austin's Armadillo World Headquarters in 1973 and for Bruce Springsteen at the Shady Grove Music Fair in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in October 1974, his first famous role was as twins Garth and Barth Gimble in the television nighttime absurdist soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976), which led to spin-off comedy talk shows Fernwood 2 Night (1977) and America 2-Night (1978), in which he played Barth Gimble as talk show host, opposite Fred Willard as sidekick Jerry Hubbard. In one episode of The Golden Girls, he played a hippie who was afraid of the outside world. In the mid-1980s, he appeared in a series of Pizza Hut commercials. In 1979, he appeared in the Taxi episode "Hollywood Calling". During 1984, Mull starred in a CBS sitcom, Domestic Life, with Megan Follows playing his teenaged daughter. He had a long-running role playing Roseanne Conner's gay boss on the TV series Roseanne. He has appeared as a guest star on the game show Hollywood Squares, appearing as the center square in the show's final season. During 2008 and 2009, Mull guest starred in two episodes of the television series Gary Unmarried as Allison's father.

A caricature of Martin Mull in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

He has acted in feature films, including:

• FM (1978) as Eric Swan
• Serial (1980) as Harvey Holroyd
• My Bodyguard (1980) as Mr. Peache
• Take This Job and Shove It (1981) as Dick Ebersol
• Mr. Mom (1983) as Ron
• Bad Manners (1984)
• Clue (1985) as Colonel Mustard
• O.C. and Stiggs (1985) as Pat Coletti
• Far Out Man (1990) as Dr. Leddledick
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) as Justin Gregory
• How the West Was Fun (1994) as Bart Gifooley
• Jingle All the Way (1996) as D.J.
• Relative Strangers (2006) as Jeffry Morton
• Killers (2010) as Holbrook

Recurring roles followed on several television series:

• Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (as Garth Gimble; 1976–1977)
• Fernwood 2 Night (as Barth Gimble; 1977)
• It's Garry Shandling's Show
• The History of White People in America (as Himself; 1985)
• The Golden Girls (as Jimmy; 1990)
• Roseanne (as Leon Carp; 1991–1997)
• Family Dog (TV series)
• The Simpsons (as Seth)
• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (as Willard Kraft; 1997–2000)
• The Ellen Show
• Reba (2003) as a counselor
• Family Guy episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'" (as Mr. Harris)
• American Dad! (as Father Donovan)
• The War at Home
• Danny Phantom (as Vlad Plasmius/Vlad Masters)
• Arrested Development (as Gene Parmesan)
• Two and a Half Men (as Russell, the pharmacist; 2008–2011)
• The Larry Sanders Show (as himself)
• 'Til Death

During the 1980s, Mull starred in a series of commercials for Michelob and in a series of television and radio commercials for Red Roof Inn (a chain of budget-oriented hotels). Mull voiced the role of The Evil Cad on Freakazoid! He also did the voice of Vlad Masters/Vlad Plasmius, the main villain on Danny Phantom. In late 2004, he portrayed "Gene Parmesan", a private investigator on the TV series Arrested Development.

Personal life

Twice divorced, Mull is married to singer Wendy Haas. The two have a daughter, Maggie.

Discography

• Martin Mull (1972)
• "Dueling Tubas" (Single) charted at #92 on Billboard's Hot 100 (1973)
• Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furniture In Your Living Room! (1973)
• Normal (1974)
• In The Soop With Martin Mull (1974)
• Days Of Wine And Neuroses (1975)
• I'm Everyone I've Ever Loved (1977)
• No Hits, Four Errors- The Best Of Martin Mull (1977)
• Sex & Violins (1978)
• Near Perfect/Perfect (1979)
• Mulling it Over- A Musical Ouvre-View of Martin Mull (1998)

Artworks

• at Beitzel Gallery in New York City
• at Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco
• Martin Mull on Artnet
• at Hammer Gallery in Chicago
• at Samuel Freeman in Los Angeles

External links

• Martin Mull at the Internet Movie Database
• NNDB page for Martin Mull