Martin Landau

At 89 years old, Martin Landau has this physical status:

Martin James Landau (June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist.

His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances, including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959).

He appeared on Mission: Impossible (for which he received multiple Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award) and Space: 1999. Landau received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, as well as his first nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988); he received his second Oscar nomination for his appearance in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989).

An Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Laureate for his work in Ed Wood (1994)'s supporting role.

He continued to appear on film and television, as well as heading the Actors Studio in Hollywood until his death in July 2017.

Early life

Landau was born in Brooklyn, New York, son of Selma (née Buchman) and Morris Landau. His family is Jewish. His father, an Austrian-born machinist, was trying to save his relatives from the Nazis.

After attending both James Madison High School and Pratt Institute, he joined the New York Daily News. He spent the next five years as an editorial cartoonist and collaborated with Gus Edson to create the comic strip The Gumps. He left the Daily News when he was 22 years old to concentrate on theater acting. He remembered, "I told the picture editor that I was going to the theater." "I think he thought I was going to be an usher."

Landau and Steve McQueen were the only applicants chosen out of a field of 500 applicants after auditioning for the Actors Studio in 1955. He worked with Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, and Harold Clurman, and then became an executive director with the Studio alongside Mark Rydell and Sydney Pollack.

Personal life

Barbara Bain, a former actress and co-star of Landau, was born on January 31, 1957. Susan and Juliet were their two children. In 1993, Landau and Bain divorced.

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Career

Landau began working as an actor after being inspired by Charlie Chaplin's film escapism. He attended Actors Studio, becoming close friends with James Dean. "James Dean was my best friend," he said. We were two young, eager, and never-to-work actors, who were singing out loud and enjoying every minute.... We'd spend a long time discussing the future, our craft, and our chances of flourishing in this rapidly evolving, ever-changing modern world we were living in."

He made his Broadway debut in Middle of the Night in 1957. Leonard, the right-hand man of a criminal portrayed by James Mason, appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) for his first big screen appearance. He appeared in two 1960s epics, Cleopatra (1963) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), as well as a ruthless killer in the Western action adventure prequel Nevada Smith (1965) starring Steve McQueen.

In the first three seasons of the American television series Mission: Impossible, Landau played the supporting role of disguise master Rollin Hand. Landau at first refused to be paid by the show because he didn't want it to interfere with his film career; rather, he was credited for "extra guest appearances" during the first season. In the second season, he became a full-time cast member, but Landau's request was that the studio decide to hire him on a year-by-year rather than the then-standard five years. Landau was required to perform a variety of accents and characters, from thugs to thugs, and several episodes had him playing both roles—not only Hand's impersonation but also the one where Hand is impersonating. Landau appeared alongside his then-wife Barbara Bain, who received the Emmy for her performances every year for the three years. After Leonard Nimoy, who appeared in a very similar role but not necessarily the same person, was recalled for the next two seasons of the series, although he and Bain were not really the same person.

Landau guest appeared in the Columbo episode: Double Shock with Peter Falk in 1973. Landau's twin brothers were wounded in the assassination of their wealthy uncle. Dabney Coleman, Julie Newmar, and Jeanette Nolan appeared on the episode as co-stars.

Landau and Bain appeared in the British science fiction film Space: 1999, produced by Gerry Anderson in collaboration with Sylvia Anderson and later with Fred Freiberger in the mid-1970s. During its first run, the 1999 was unenthusiastic, and after two seasons, it was cancelled. During the series's second season, Landau was critical of the scripts and plotlines, but praised the cast and crew. He later wrote forewords to Space, including Barry Morse's 1999 co-star Remember with Advantages (2006) and Jim Smith's critical biography of Tim Burton. Landau played in several films and television series after Space: 1999. He appeared in low-budget genre films, including Without Warning (1981) and The Being (1983) or the horror film Alone in the Dark (1982). He appeared in The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981), which co-starred Bain (and marked the last time they appeared together on film).

Landau made a comeback in the late 1980s, winning an Academy Award nomination for his role in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). "I've spent a lot of time doing roles that didn't really interest me," the actor said. "Abe Karatz was the role that defined me." For his role in the film, he received the Golden Globe Award.

Landau appeared in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) Two stories were divided into two, one amusing and the other dark in nature. Landau played Judah Rosenthal, a highly trained ophthalmologist who struggles to keep his mistress from revealing their affair to his wife (Claire Bloom). Landau opens up about his fears with patient and rabbi Sam Waterston, as well as his mobster brother Jerry Orbach.

Allen remembered of the cast that:

With Roger Ebert's appearance of the film, the film gained critical acclaim, as it isn't about what will happen to people, but rather what decisions they make." We have the same information as they do.

What would we do?

How can we safeguard our happiness and image?

How selfish would we be?

Is our comfort more valuable than another person's life? Allen does not try to evade this question, and his answer seems to be, "Yes, for some people, it will be."

He was nominated for his work as a Best Supporting Actor, losing to Denzel Washington in Glory.

He received an Academy Award for Ed Wood (1994), a biographical film in which he plays actor Bela Lugosi. Landau investigated Lugosi's role by watching about 25 old Lugosi films and investigating the Hungarian accent, which contributed to Lugosi's decline in acting. "I started to admire this guy and pity him," Landau said. "I loved the comedic humor in him." Since he never had a chance to get out of that, this became a love letter to him. I had the opportunity to make a comeback in my career. And I'm giving him one. "I'm giving him the last role he never got."

Landau's also received a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Saturn Award for his work, as well as awards from a number of commentators. Gregory Walcott, who was in the film, attended the Academy of Motion Picture Academy's screening and said that the Academy members "gave Landau a hearty, spontaneous applause over the end credits."

Landau's film appearances in the 1990s included a down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer in the comedy Mistress (1992) with Robert De Niro and as a judge in the dramas City Hall (1995) with Al Pacino and Rounders (1999), and Ready to Rumble (1999). In The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996), he was also a warm and memorable Geppetto.

For the first two seasons of the 1990s Spider-Man television series, Landau played Scorpion. Since winning the Academy Award in two seasons but didn't have time for the series, Landau left the show after two seasons. Judith Moll played Scorpion in the role.

In the TV miniseries Joseph, he played Jacob, son of Isaac. In this 1995 film, Joseph and his life was told. Joseph costarred with Ben Kingsley (Potiphar) and Paul Mercurio as Joseph.

In The Majestic (2001), starring Jim Carriery, he appeared as a supporter. While one critic wrote that Martin Landau, the film's sole outpost of authenticity, is staffed by a father who believes that his missing son has returned from World War II.

Landau's portrayal of the Alzheimer's-afflicted father of FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Malone, the series's lead character, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the early seasons of Without a Trace (2002–2009). In 2006, he appeared in Entourage as Bob Ryan, a washed-up but loving Hollywood producer attempting to relive his glory days, earning him his second Emmy nomination.

Landau appeared in the television film Have a Little Faith (2011), which was based on Mitch Albom's book of the same name, in which he played Rabbi Albert Lewis. Landau lent his voice as Mr. Rzykruski in Tim Burton's animated Disney film Frankenweenie in 2012. Landau appeared in the film Remember in 2015. Reviewers lauded the film's stellar performances from Landau and Plummer, garnering critical praise.

Martin Landau, a film actor, has a statue on Hollywood Boulevard, 6841, honoring his contribution to the motion picture industry.

Landau also learned acting by his own mentor, Lee Strasberg. Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston are two of the actor's mentors.

Landau, director Mark Rydell, and writer Lyle Kessler collaborated on the educational Total Picture Seminar, a two-day symposium on acting, directing, and writing for film in 2009.

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