Martin James Landau[2] (/ˈlændaʊ/; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor. His career began in the late 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role inAlfred Hitchcock'sNorth by Northwest (1959). His career breakthrough came with leading roles in the television seriesMission: Impossible (1966–1969) andSpace: 1999 (1975–1977).
Landau was born on June 20, 1928, inBrooklyn, New York, the son of Selma (née Buchman) and Morris Landau.[5] His family was Jewish. His father was an Austrian-bornmachinist who tried to rescue relatives from theNazis.[6]
After attending bothJames Madison High School andPratt Institute,[7] he found work at theNew York Daily News. There he spent the next five years as an editorial cartoonist and worked alongsideGus Edson to produce the comic stripThe Gumps.[8][9][10] He quit theDaily News when he was 22 to concentrate on theater acting. "I told the picture editor I was going into the theater," he recalled. "I think he thought I was going to be an usher."[11]
Influenced byCharlie Chaplin and the escapism of the cinema, Landau pursued an acting career.[13] While at theActors Studio, he became good friends withJames Dean. He recalled, "James Dean was my best friend. We were two young would-be and still-yet-to-work unemployed actors, dreaming out loud and enjoying every moment ... We'd spend lots of time talking about the future, our craft and our chances of success in this newly different, ever-changing modern world we were living in."[14][13]
Landau in his role as Rollin Hand inMission: Impossible
Landau played the supporting role of master of disguiseRollin Hand in the first three seasons of the US television seriesMission: Impossible, from 1966 to 1969, for which he received three straight Emmy nominations. Landau at first declined to be contracted by the show because he did not want it to interfere with his film career; instead, he was credited for "special guest appearances" during the first season.[17] He became a full-time cast member in the second season, although the studio agreed to Landau's request to contract him only on a year-by-year basis rather than the then-standard five years.[18] The role of Hand required Landau to perform a wide range of accents and characters, from dictators to thugs, and several episodes had him playing dual roles—not only Hand's impersonation, but also the person whom Hand is impersonating.[19] In the series Landau acted alongside his then-wifeBarbara Bain,[18] who won anEmmy for her performances each year for all three years. He was replaced byLeonard Nimoy, playing a very similar role but not exactly the same character, for the next two seasons of the series after Landau and Bain left the show.
In the mid-1970s, Landau and Bain returned to TV in the British science-fiction seriesSpace: 1999 produced byGerry Anderson in partnership withSylvia Anderson, and later withFred Freiberger.[20] Critical response toSpace: 1999 was unenthusiastic during its original run, and it was canceled after two seasons.[21] Landau was critical of the scripts and storylines, especially during the series' second season, but praised the cast and crew.[20] He later wrote forewords toSpace: 1999 co-starBarry Morse's theatrical memoirRemember with Advantages (2006) andJim Smith's critical biography ofTim Burton.[22] FollowingSpace: 1999, Landau appeared in supporting roles in a number of films and TV series. He appeared in low-budget genre pictures, such as the science fiction filmsWithout Warning (1981) andThe Being (1983) or the horror filmAlone in the Dark (1982). He appeared in roles in, among others, the TV filmThe Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981), which co-starred Bain in their final on-screen appearance together.[23]
In the late 1980s, Landau made a career comeback, earning anAcademy Award nomination for his role inTucker: The Man and His Dream (1988).[21] He said he was grateful to the film's director,Francis Ford Coppola, for the opportunity to play a role he enjoyed: "I've spent a lot of time playing roles that didn't really challenge me," he said. "You want roles that have dimension. The role of Abe Karatz gave me that."[8] He won theGolden Globe Award for his part in the film.[8] In 1989, Landau appeared inWoody Allen'sCrimes and Misdemeanors (1989) The film is split into two stories: one humorous, one dark in nature. Landau starred in the darker storyline as Judah Rosenthal, a successfulophthalmologist who tries to prevent his mistress, played byAnjelica Huston, from revealing their affair to his wife (Claire Bloom). Landau's character confides his worries to patient and rabbiSam Waterston as well as his mobster brotherJerry Orbach. Allen remembered of the cast that:
I just couldn't find anybody good for the part of Judah... He read it, and he was completely natural. It's an interesting thing. Of all the actors I've ever worked with, he gives expression to my dialogue exactly as I hear it. His colloquialisms, his idiom, his inflection is exactly correct. So of all the people who've ever read my lines, he makes them correct every time... One of the reasons for this must be that Martin Landau came from my neighborhood in Brooklyn, right near where I lived, only a few blocks away.[24]
The film received critical acclaim, withRoger Ebert giving the film four stars, writing,
The movie generates the best kind of suspense, because it's not about what will happen to people—it's about what decisions they will reach. We have the same information they have. What would we do? How far would we go to protect our happiness and reputation? How selfish would we be? Is our comfort worth more than another person's life? Allen does not evade this question, and his answer seems to be, yes, for some people, it would be.[25]
He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance inEd Wood (1994), a biopic in which Landau plays actorBela Lugosi. Landau researched the role of Lugosi by watching many old Lugosi movies and studying Lugosi's Hungarian accent, which contributed to Lugosi's decline in acting. "I began to respect this guy and pity him," said Landau. "I saw the humor in him. This, for me, became a love letter to him, because he never got a chance to get out of that. I got a chance to make a comeback in my career. And I'm giving him one. I'm giving him the last role he never got."[26] Landau also received aScreen Actors Guild Award, aGolden Globe Award and aSaturn Award for the role, as well as accolades from a number of critics' groups.[21]
He played a supporting role inThe Majestic (2001), starringJim Carrey. The film received mostly negative reviews, although one reviewer wrote that "the lone outpost of authenticity is manned by Martin Landau, who gives a heartfelt performance," as an aging father who believes that his missing son has returned from World War II.[30] In the early seasons ofWithout a Trace (2002–2009), Landau was nominated for aPrimetime Emmy Award for his portrayal of theAlzheimer's-afflicted father of FBI Special Agent in ChargeJack Malone, the series' lead character.[21] In 2006, he made a guest appearance in the seriesEntourage as Bob Ryan, a washed-up but determined and sympathetic Hollywood producer attempting to relive his glory days, a portrayal that earned him a second Emmy nomination.[21]
Landau married actress and former co-starBarbara Bain on January 31, 1957. They had two daughters,Susan andJuliet. Landau and Bain divorced in 1993.[33]
Welsh, James Michael; Phillips, Gene D.; Hill, Rodney (2010).The Francis Ford Coppola Encyclopedia. Lanham, Maryland:Scarecrow Press.ISBN978-0810876507.
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