Martin Mull is a character actor which basically means more people know his face (or in Mull's case, his mustache) than his name. He's had regular roles on Roseanne and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but one of his most moving television performances occurred in a single episode of The Golden Girls. When Dorothy decides to help Sophia make a Meals-on-Wheels run, she meets Jimmy (Mull), an agoraphobic hippie who hasn't left his apartment in 22 years. They quickly form a friendship, but Dorothy's efforts to coax him into the world backfire when Jimmy falls in love and invites Dorothy to live with him. When she refuses, he snaps at her, vowing to spend the rest of his life as a hermit. Still, Dorothy persists with her efforts, convincing Jimmy to come to the supermarket. Despite a scare (wherein Jimmy sets off the "one millionth customer" alarm and wins a trip to Mardi Gras), he realizes that his apartment can't offer what the outside world can namely, people like Dorothy. The episode is hilarious and well-written, but its impact hinges on Mull's performance which delivers. He's genuinely likeable, and sympathetic without being pathetic. He hits an emotional home run.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
