in 1975, martin originated the role of amos hart in "chicago". he appeared in many more musicals during his career, most notably "south pacific", "the fantasticks", and "how now, dow jones". much of martin's work has been in television, where he had a long career as a character actor. he played a gangster called the "cheese man" in a "golden girls" episode. he played a love interest for thelma harper in the hawaii episode of "mama's family", and he played the father of frank fontana on "murphy brown". he appeared in an episode of "full house" as ranger roy, the host of a popular kids' tv show. in 1981, he portrayed ralph marolla, father of liza minnelli's character in the film "arthur" and the following year appeared on "barney miller" in the episode "obituary".