Actor. Born New York, November 19, 1932. Died October
3, aged 67.
In the satirical TV series Soap, Richard Mulligan was often
at the centre of chaos. As the simple construction worker
Burt Campbell, he checked himself into a mental hospital,
confessed to killing his wife's first husband in self-defence,
had a "terminal illness" scare, and was even abducted
by aliens, replaced by an alien double. Mulligan had struck
gold, winning an Emmy Award in 1980.
Mulligan's lanky figure and sad, shamelessly lived-in face
made him an unlikely television star. Indeed, he fell into
acting by accident. Like his older brother, Robert, he aspired
to the priesthood. These ambitions did not work out for
either of them. Robert's theological studies were interrupted
by World War II, and he would instead become a major film
director; Richard, meanwhile, did his time in the U.S. Navy,
then studied playwriting at New York's Columbia University.
After his studies, he drove to Florida, where the director
of a local playhouse had shown interest in one of his plays.
Mulligan arrived as the director was in the middle of a
casting crisis, and immediately found himself auditioning
for a role. For the next 40 years, he was rarely out of
work.
It seems surprising that the Mulligan brothers rarely????
worked together. The sons of an Irish-American New York
cop, they had grown up in the Bronx. Robert's quality TV
dramas of the 1950s, and his later feature films (To Kill
a Mockingbird, Summer of '42), would reflect the family's
liberal-minded, sentimental ideals. Richard would have made
a fitting hero in many of these films, but - another accident
- would be best remembered for TV comedy.
He became a familiar face (but not a well-known name) during
the sixties, dividing his work between stage plays and television
- everything from Gunsmoke to I Dream of Jeannie. He was
also part of the ensemble in the feature film The Group
(1966), and played General George Custer in Little Big Man
(1970). His portrayal of Custer as a blathering, trigger-happy
idiot, offended many who considered Custer a hero (but is
now actually closer to the popular view).
In 1977, he was one of the original cast of Soap, a comedy
serial devised and mostly written by Susan Harris. This
revolved around two sisters - one married into a wealthy
family, the other into an honest, working-class clan. Mulligan
played Burt, the (initially) impotent husband of "poor"
sister Mary (Cathryn Damon), unable to relate to his two
stepsons because Jodie (Billy Crystal) was gay and planning
for a sex change operation; while Danny (Ted Wass) was involved
with the mob.
A satire of television soap operas and their ludicrous
extremes, Soap almost immediately won moral outrage from
church groups, partly because it tackled subjects (including
homosexuality and priestly infidelity) that not even the
more outrageous U.S. soap operas were game to cover during
the 1970s. Though this controversy led to healthy ratings,
it also made it unpopular with sponsors, forcing America's
ABC network to offer advertising discounts.
Soap would also be a hit series in Australia, England and
Japan, but the controversy continued, and it was cancelled
suddenly in 1981, leaving Burt (the recently appointed town
sheriff) walking into an ambush, and his sister-in-law,
Jessica (Katherine Helmond), facing a firing squad.
Like so many soapie stars, Mulligan's career went downhill
after his most famous role, in such movies as S.O.B. (1981),
Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) and Meatballs Part II (1984).
Meanwhile, he was making occasional appearances in Harris's
latest hit series, The Golden Girls, as the quick-witted
Dr Harry Weston.
These led to the spin-off series Empty Nest, in which Dr
Weston was revealed as a widower with three grown-up daughters.
"He's certainly different from my role in Soap,"
Mulligan said in a press interview. "This guy's a good
doctor who cares deeply about his patients. He's a good
fellow trying to take care of his daughters. His wife died
18 months ago and he still can't take the ring off."
Running for seven years from 1988, Empty Next was a more
conventional sitcom (though Harris's contribution ensured
that it still had bite). Mulligan would win another Emmy
for his role. He did little acting after its cancellation,
appearing in occasional TV movies, before being diagnosed
with cancer earlier this year.
Mulligan's four marriages (including one to actor Joan
Hackett, and one to porn star Rachel Ryan) all ended in
divorce. He is survived by his son James (from his first
marriage) and his brothers Robert and James.
