Richard Mulligan
Encyclopedia
Richard Mulligan was an American television and film actor best known for his role as Burt Campbell in the 1970s sitcom Soap
and later as Dr. Harry Weston on The Golden Girls
and its spin-off Empty Nest
.
, the younger brother of director Robert Mulligan
. After attending Columbia University
, Mulligan began working in theatre, making his debut as a stage manager and performer on Broadway in All the Way Home
in 1960. Additional theatre credits included A Thousand Clowns
, Never Too Late, Hogan's Goat
, and Thieves
.
in the 1966-67 season comedy series The Hero, in which he played TV star Sam Garret, who in turn starred on a fictional series as Jed Clayton, U.S. Marshal. The Hero lasted only 16 episodes. Another notable TV appearance was on the I Dream of Jeannie
episode "Around the World in 80 Blinks", as a navy commander accompanying Maj. Nelson (Larry Hagman
) on a mission.
in Little Big Man, whom he portrayed as a borderline psychotic. He also appeared in the disaster movie spoof The Big Bus
(1976), where he was reunited with Larry Hagman, with whom he starred in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie
(see above). In the comedy-drama
Teachers
, he partially reprised his Custer
role from Little Big Man, portraying a mental patient mistaken for a substitute teacher, who dresses up as various historical figures (including Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin
and Custer
in his final scene) to teach his pupils, who learn more from him than from the actual teachers.
In 1983 he was cast as Reggie Potter in the television series "Reggie", a loose adaptation of The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin
, but the adaptation failed to capture the essence of the original, and ran for only one season.
His best-known roles in television were as Burt Campbell in the sitcom Soap
, for which he won a Best Actor Emmy Award
, and as Dr. Harry Weston in the NBC series Empty Nest, a spinoff of The Golden Girls
. Empty Nest ran for seven seasons, and Mulligan won a Best Actor Emmy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award
for his performance. He also played Secretary of State William Seward in the 1988 made for TV movie, "Gore Vidal's Lincoln."
Mulligan returned to perform on Broadway and in films, in which he usually played supporting roles. A notable exception was the 1981 satirical film S.O.B., in which he played lead character Felix Farmer, a Hollywood producer-director modeled on the film's actual producer-director, Blake Edwards
.
He also played in "Night of the Meek
", an episode of The New Twilight Zone
in 1986, where he took on the role of Santa Claus in the remake of the 1959 Christmas episode The Night of the Meek, taking over the same character that actor Art Carney
did in the older version.
He appeared in Disney
's 1988 film, Oliver & Company
, as the voice of the oafish Great Dane
, ironically named Einstein. His final performance was a voice over on Hey Arnold in 2000 as the voice of Jimmy Kafka, the long mentioned but never seen former friend of Arnold's Grandpa.
from January 3, 1966 to June 1973 and Lenore Stevens from 1978 to 1990. His last marriage was to adult film actress Rachel Ryan
on April 27, 1992, which lasted two years.
, on September 26, 2000, Mulligan died of colorectal cancer
at his home in Los Angeles, California
. At his own request, he was cremated and there was no funeral service. Mulligan was survived by his son James Mulligan from his first marriage and two brothers Robert and James.
Mulligan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6777 Hollywood Blvd.
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
and later as Dr. Harry Weston on The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
and its spin-off Empty Nest
Empty Nest
Empty Nest is an American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1988 to 1995. The series was created as a spin-off of The Golden Girls by creator and producer Susan Harris. For its first three seasons, Empty Nest was one of the year's top 10 most-watched programs...
.
Early life
He was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the younger brother of director Robert Mulligan
Robert Mulligan
Robert Mulligan was an American film and television director best known as the director of humanistic American dramas, including To Kill A Mockingbird , Summer of '42 , The Other , Same Time, Next Year and The Man in the Moon...
. After attending Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Mulligan began working in theatre, making his debut as a stage manager and performer on Broadway in All the Way Home
All the Way Home (play)
All the Way Home is a 1960 play written by American playwright Tad Mosel, adapted from the 1957 James Agee novel, A Death in the Family. Both authors received the Pulitzer Prize for their separate works....
in 1960. Additional theatre credits included A Thousand Clowns
A Thousand Clowns
A Thousand Clowns is a 1962 American play by Herb Gardner, which tells the story of a young boy who lives with his eccentric uncle Murray, who is forced to conform to society in order to keep custody of the boy. A 1965 movie version was adapted from the play by Gardner and directed by Fred Coe.-...
, Never Too Late, Hogan's Goat
Hogan's Goat
Hogan's Goat is an award-winning 1965 play by William Alfred.The blank-verse drama concerns a mayoral contest between Irish Americans in Brooklyn, New York in 1890. The play's focus is on the personal life of Matthew Stanton, the dynamic leader of the Sixth Ward, who hopes to unseat corrupt...
, and Thieves
Thieves (play)
Thieves is a play by Herb Gardner.Its focus is on Martin and Sally Cramer, whose twelve-year marriage slowly is disintegrating. He has become the stuffy headmaster of a fashionable Manhattan private school, while she clings to her dedication to the underprivileged and continues to teach in a ghetto...
.
Early career
Mulligan starred with Mariette HartleyMariette Hartley
Mary Loretta "Mariette" Hartley is an American character actress.-Personal life:Hartley was born in Weston, Connecticut, the daughter of Mary Ickes “Polly” , a manager and saleswoman, and Paul Hembree Hartley, an account executive. Her maternal grandfather was psychologist John B...
in the 1966-67 season comedy series The Hero, in which he played TV star Sam Garret, who in turn starred on a fictional series as Jed Clayton, U.S. Marshal. The Hero lasted only 16 episodes. Another notable TV appearance was on the I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
episode "Around the World in 80 Blinks", as a navy commander accompanying Maj. Nelson (Larry Hagman
Larry Hagman
Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
) on a mission.
Notable roles
Mulligan's most notable film role was as General CusterGeorge Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
in Little Big Man, whom he portrayed as a borderline psychotic. He also appeared in the disaster movie spoof The Big Bus
The Big Bus
The Big Bus is a 1976 American James Frawley spoof comedy starring Stockard Channing and Joe Bologna. A spoof of most disaster movies popular at the time, it follows the maiden cross-country trip—New York to Denver, non-stop—of an enormous nuclear powered bus named Cyclops equipped with a bowling...
(1976), where he was reunited with Larry Hagman, with whom he starred in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American sitcom with a fantasy premise. The show starred Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old genie, and Larry Hagman as an astronaut who becomes her master, with whom she falls in love and eventually marries...
(see above). In the comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
Teachers
Teachers (film)
# "Teacher, Teacher" - 38 Special# "Cheap Sunglasses" - ZZ Top# "Foolin' Around" - Freddie Mercury# "I Can't Stop the Fire" - Eric Martin# "Edge of a Dream" - Joe Cocker# " Teacher" - Ian Hunter# "One Foot Back in Your Door" - Roman Holliday...
, he partially reprised his Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
role from Little Big Man, portraying a mental patient mistaken for a substitute teacher, who dresses up as various historical figures (including Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
in his final scene) to teach his pupils, who learn more from him than from the actual teachers.
In 1983 he was cast as Reggie Potter in the television series "Reggie", a loose adaptation of The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
, but the adaptation failed to capture the essence of the original, and ran for only one season.
His best-known roles in television were as Burt Campbell in the sitcom Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
, for which he won a Best Actor Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
, and as Dr. Harry Weston in the NBC series Empty Nest, a spinoff of The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
. Empty Nest ran for seven seasons, and Mulligan won a Best Actor Emmy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for his performance. He also played Secretary of State William Seward in the 1988 made for TV movie, "Gore Vidal's Lincoln."
Mulligan returned to perform on Broadway and in films, in which he usually played supporting roles. A notable exception was the 1981 satirical film S.O.B., in which he played lead character Felix Farmer, a Hollywood producer-director modeled on the film's actual producer-director, Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
.
He also played in "Night of the Meek
Night of the Meek (1986) (The Twilight Zone)
"Night of the Meek" is the first segment of the thirteenth episode from the first season from the television series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:...
", an episode of The New Twilight Zone
The New Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is the first of two revivals of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1950/60s television series of the same name. It ran for two seasons on CBS before producing a final season for syndication.-Series history:...
in 1986, where he took on the role of Santa Claus in the remake of the 1959 Christmas episode The Night of the Meek, taking over the same character that actor Art Carney
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....
did in the older version.
He appeared in Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
's 1988 film, Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company is a 1988 American animated film in which a homeless kitten named Oliver joins a gang of dogs to survive on the 1980s New York City streets. The film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and became the twenty-seventh animated feature released in the Walt Disney Animated...
, as the voice of the oafish Great Dane
Great Dane
The Great Dane , also known as German Mastiff or Danish Hound , is a breed of domestic dog known for its giant size...
, ironically named Einstein. His final performance was a voice over on Hey Arnold in 2000 as the voice of Jimmy Kafka, the long mentioned but never seen former friend of Arnold's Grandpa.
Marriages
Mulligan married four times. He was first married to Patricia Jones from 1955 to 1960, with whom he had a son, James. That was followed by marriages to Joan HackettJoan Hackett
Joan Ann Hackett was an American actress who appeared on stage, in films, and on television.- Early life :She was born in New York City of Irish and Italian extraction...
from January 3, 1966 to June 1973 and Lenore Stevens from 1978 to 1990. His last marriage was to adult film actress Rachel Ryan
Rachel Ryan
Rachel Ryan is an Shaker Heights, Ohio, American porn actress. who appeared in over 100 adult videos between 1985 and 1989. She has had many pseudonyms"I.-External links:*...
on April 27, 1992, which lasted two years.
Death
After making his last appearance in an episode of Hey Arnold!Hey Arnold!
Hey Arnold! is an American animated television series created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon. The show's premise focuses on a fourth grader named Arnold who lives with his grandparents. Episodes center on his experiences navigating big city life while dealing with the problems he and his friends...
, on September 26, 2000, Mulligan died of colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer, commonly known as bowel cancer, is a cancer caused by uncontrolled cell growth , in the colon, rectum, or vermiform appendix. Colorectal cancer is clinically distinct from anal cancer, which affects the anus....
at his home in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. At his own request, he was cremated and there was no funeral service. Mulligan was survived by his son James Mulligan from his first marriage and two brothers Robert and James.
Mulligan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6777 Hollywood Blvd.