Martin Landau (born June 20, 1931) is an Academy Award-winning American film and television actor. He is perhaps most well known for his roles in the television series Impossible (1966 - 1969) and 1999 (1975 - 1977). He received a Golden Globe award in 1969 for his performance in the former. In 1968 and 1969 he received Emmy award nominations for best actor in a dramatic series for his Mission: Impossible work.

Biography

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Landau was born in Brooklyn, New York^*, and at the age of 17 began working as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News, but influenced by Charlie Chaplin and the escapism of the cinema, he pursued becoming an actor. He attended the Actors Studio in the same class with Steve McQueen and in 1957, Landau made his Broadway debut in Middle of the Night. Encouraged by his mentor Lee Strasberg, Landau also taught acting. Some of the actors he has coached include Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston. In 1959, Landau made his first major film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's, North by Northwest. A few years later, after turning down the role of Spock in Star Trek, Landau took the role of master of disguise Rollin Hand in Mission: Impossible, becoming one of that show's best-known stars. He co-starred in the series with his then-wife, Barbara Bain, and the two left after the third season due to a salary dispute.

In the mid-1970s, Landau and Barbara Bain, teamed with Barry Morse, returned to television in the British science fiction series, 1999. Although it remains a cult classic, the series was critically derided during its run and was cancelled after two seasons; Landau himself became very critical of the show's scripts and storylines near the end, but praised the cast and crew. He wrote the Foreword for Barry Morse's 2006 theatrical memoir Remember With Advantages.

After 1999, Landau appeared in supporting roles in a number of films and TV shows of varying quality, including The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (which again co-starred Bain).

In the late 1980s, Landau staged a major career comeback by winning an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Man and His Dream. He later received a second nomination for Crimes and Misdemeanors and won the Best Supporting Actor award in 1994 for his uncanny portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. Upon accepting the award he was visibly frustrated by the orchestra's attempt to cut short his speech. When the music level raised, he pounded his fist on the podium and yelled "No!"

He has two daughters, Susan and Juliet, from his marriage to Barbara Bain. Landau and Bain married in 1957 and divorced in 1993.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Martin Landau has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6841 Hollywood Blvd.

Selected TV

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• The Twilight Zone:"Mr. Denton on Doomsday" (1959)
• The Outer Limits: "The Man Who Was Never Born" (1963)
• The Outer Limits: "The Bellero Shield" (1964)
• Impossible (1966-69) TV Series
• 1999 (1975-77) TV Series
• The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981)
• By Dawn's Early Light (1990)
• A Godfather's Story (1999)
• The Evidence (2006)

Selected films

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• Pork Chop Hill (1959)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Cleopatra (1963)
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! (1970)
• ''Meteor (1979)
• The Fall of the House of Usher (1982)
• The Man and His Dream (1988)
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
• Sliver (1993)
• Eye of the Stranger (1993)
• Intersection (1994)
• Ed Wood (1994) (Academy Award winner, Best Supporting Actor)
• ''Joseph (1995)
• BAPS (1997)
• The X Files (1998)
• Rounders (1998)
• Ready to Rumble (1999)
• The Joyriders (1999)
• Sleepy Hollow (1999)
• The Majestic (2001)
• Hollywood Homicide (2003)

External links

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1931 births | Living people | Best Supporting Actor Oscar | Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominees | American film actors | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Jewish American actors | People from Brooklyn | American television actors | The Outer Limits actors | The Twilight Zone actors | X-Files actors | Spider-Man actors | Columbo actors | American actors | Golden Globe award | Space 1999 actors | Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute alumni

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