Richard Mulligan

Richard Mulligan (November 13, 1932 – September 26, 2000) was an American character actor known for his roles in the sitcoms ''Soap'' (1977–1981) and ''Empty Nest'' (1988–1995),. Mulligan was the winner of two Emmy Awards (1980 and 1989) and one Golden Globe Award (1989). Mulligan was the younger brother of film director Robert Mulligan.

Early life and career

Mulligan was born on November 13, 1932, in New York City. He served in the Navy in the early 1950s during the Korean War and later studied to become a playwright at Columbia University. After college, he 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''.

Mulligan made a brief, uncredited appearance in the 1963 film ''Love with the Proper Stranger'', which was directed by his elder brother. He starred with Mariette Hartley in the 1966–67 season comedy series '' The Hero'', in which he played TV star Sam Garrett. Garrett had starred in a fictional series as Jed Clayton, U.S. Marshal. ''The Hero'' lasted for 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 Major Nelson (Larry Hagman) on a mission. He also appeared in the season-13 episode "Wonder" of the Western TV show ''Gunsmoke''.

1970s to end of career

Mulligan's most notable film role was as General George Armstrong Custer 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 from ''I Dream of Jeannie'', and in the 1966 film ''The Group'', in which he played Dick Brown, Harold's (Hagman) New York artist friend. In 1975, he starred in a radio adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's " The Oblong Box" heard on the ''CBS Radio Mystery Theater''.

Mulligan's best-known roles in television were as Burt Campbell in the sitcom ''Soap'' (1977–81), for which he won a Best Actor Emmy Award, and as Dr. Harry Weston in the NBC series ''Empty Nest'', a spin-off of ''The Golden Girls'' in which his character had appeared in a couple of episodes. ''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 ''Lincoln'' (1988), a TV movie based on Gore Vidal's novel.

Mulligan returned to perform on Broadway and in films, in which he usually played supporting roles. A notable exception was the black comedy '' S.O.B.'' (1981), in which he played a leading character, Felix Farmer, a Hollywood producer-director based upon the film's actual producer-director, Blake Edwards. The film starred Julie Andrews and William Holden, and also featured Larry Hagman.
Mulligan was cast as Reggie Potter in the television series '' Reggie'' (1983). Lasting for only six episodes, it was a loose adaptation of the popular BBC
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