Cheri Oteri and Michael McKean Remember Martin Mull After His Death: ‘Always Brilliantly Funny’ (Exclusive)
The actor died "at home on June 27th, after a valiant fight against a long illness," his daughter said
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A photo of Cheri Oteri, Martin Mull and Michael McKean.Several stars are paying tribute to Martin Mull after his death at the age of 80.
Saturday Night Live alum Cheri Oteri, who starred with Mull in the 2011 film And They’re Off, told PEOPLE that she became a fan of the late star after she saw him appear on a 1970s sitcom.
“I remember as a child watching Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and he was very cool and interesting,” Oteri, 61, said. “And I was like, 'Wow.' When you grow up and you watch somebody, and then you're doing a movie with them, you're like, 'I was on the floor watching you, and now I get to do a movie with you.’ And I was just really grateful that I did.”
The actress added that Mull had lived up to all her expectations and the pair would chat “a lot about gardening,” which had been a favorite pastime of the actor’s — and a favorite hobby for Oteri herself.
Michael McKean, who starred alongside Mull in 1985’s Clue, also shared a statement with PEOPLE, saying that the actor’s “music, his art and his humor were all of a piece with his enormous intelligence.”
He added, “He could be curmudgeonly but never without cause, and always brilliantly funny.”
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Corey Feldman remembered Mull, who he starred with in Fernwood 2 Night, as someone who was “1 of those who helped launch my career” in a tribute on X (formerly known as Twitter).
He added, “My 1st every comedy sketches were playing him & @FredWillard on #Fernwood [at 5 years old].”
Film director Paul Feig also shared that Mull had been “influential in his life” on X, noting that the actor “had been the greatest.”
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Mull's daughter confirmed his death in an Instagram post on Friday, June 28, 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," she continued. "He would find that joke funny. He was never not funny."
She also wrote that her 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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