Martin Mull, 'Clue' And 'Sabrina' Star, Voice Of 'Danny Phantom' Villain Vlad Plasmius, Has Died At 80

The actor’s daughter announced the news Friday

There’s a scream for Gene at the gates of heaven tonight. Martin Mull, the comedic actor known for playing Colonel Mustard in Clue and starring as Willard Kraft on three seasons of Sabrina the Teenage Witch among recurring roles on Arrested Development, Roseanne, and Two and a Half Men, and animated series Danny Phantom and American Dad, has died at 80 after a long illness.

His daughter, TV writer and Family Guy co-executive producer Maggie Mull, shared the news to Instagram on Friday, writing, “I am heartbroken to share that my father passed away at home on June 27th, after a valiant fight against a long illness. He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials. He would find that joke funny. He was never not funny. My dad will be deeply missed by his wife and daughter, by his friends and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and—the sign of a truly exceptional person—by many, many dogs. I loved him tremendously.”

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Martin Eugene Mull was born August 18, 1943 in Chicago to an actress/director mother and a carpenter father. He spent much of his childhood, ages 2-15 in North Ridgeville, Ohio, before moving to New Canaan, Connecticut. He studied painting and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in painting. Mull’s first breakout role was as Barth Gimble on the Norman Lear-created soap opera satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which led to roles on spinoffs Fernwood 2 Night and its continuation America 2 Night, talk show parodies with Fred Willard as his dumb sidekick Jerry Hubbard that are considered progenitors that led the way for Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Comedy Bang Bang! He portrayed Colonel Mustard in the 1985’s Clue movie and Ron Richardson, the boss at the advertising firm in Mr. Mom. His other notable films included Mrs. Doubtfire, Jingle All the Way, and 101 Dalmatians.

On Roseanne, Mull played her gay boss and eventual business partner Leon Carp across 46 episodes from 1991 to 1997. In his three seasons as Willard Kraft on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, he was vice principal turned principal of Westbridge High School, which Sabrina, who he disliked, attended. He was a romantic interest of her aunts though, and his departure was the result of Sabrina’s graduation. He was a regular on the Tom Bergeron 1998-2004 era of the game show Hollywood Squares, appearing in 425 of its 1000+ episodes, many of them as the center square. On Two and a Half Men he recurred as Russell, a drug-using pharmacist who would also sell drugs illegally. He was close enough with Charlie to attended his funeral. He was the Bluths’ incompetent private investigator Gene Parmesan on Arrested Development who has a habit of showing up in inane disguises, met with the same high enthusiasm and ecstatics from Jessica Walter’s Lucille every time. A final season guest as Britta’s dad on Community, his two final series regular roles were on Fox sitcoms Dads, executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, and retirement home-set The Cool Kids, with Vicki Lawrence, David Alan Grier, and the late Leslie Jordan. One of his last roles was as Monty, the first ghost Gina Rodriguez’s Nell encounters on the ABC comedy Not Dead Yet. His actual last was on the Apple TV+ series The Afterparty.

Mull also accrued quite the voice acting resume, most prominently on Nickelodeon’s Danny Phantom as Maddie Fenton simp and billionaire Vlad Masters, who is Danny’s archenemy Vlad Plasmius. Voice actress Grey DeLisle, who voiced Sam Manson on the series recalled “Every time a big celebrity died, he would come into the studio bragging about the “HUGE JOB” he’d just booked with them. There would always be this uncomfortable “oh no….who’s gonna tell him???” moment before he’d burst out laughing!” He was also a regular on the Disney cartoon Teamo Supremo as Governor G. Kevin, the show’s equivalent of The Powerpuff Girls’s Mayor of Townsville, and recurred on American Dad as Father Donovan until the character’s death in season 8’s “Season’s Beatings”. One may recognize him from the Family Guy episode “If I’m Dyin’, I’m Lyin’” as the executive who hangs the fate of Gumbel 2 Gumbel in the balance.

Nate Richert, who played Harvey Keiner on Sabrina, posted to Instagram his own tribute which reads “I loved every second I was in the presence of Martin Mull. He never failed to crack me up when he went off script; you can see the accomplishment in his face. I got to spend a lot of time with him back then. We played guitar together in our down time, watched some ball games on TV in his art studio, and even built a set of dining room chairs in his garage. Neither of us had built a chair before and they turned out just as beautiful as they were uncomfortable to sit in. I’ll always think about him and smile. RIP.”

Brad Garrett, star of one of Mull’s recurring gigs ‘Til Death wrote “Thank you Martin. Thank you for the decades of hysterical laughs, for the joy, kindness and creativity you brought to every set you ever set foot on. The terms “one-of-a-kind” and “legend” are so flagrantly thrown about these days, but you were both, and everyone who knew your amazing body of work can attest to that. Thanks for making TV exponentially funnier, from your groundbreaking performances on the Tonight Show (hysterically dragging your living room furniture onto the stage), to Fernwood Tonight, to our time together on ‘Til Death. Working with you was not just a blast for me and everyone involved, but a master class in comedy as well. Sending love and comfort to your family. You will be so greatly missed.”

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Sources: The Wrap, Variety, Brad Garrett, Grey DeLisle, Nate Richert