LANDAU, MARTIN

LANDAU, MARTIN (1931– ), U.S. actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Landau began work as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News at age 17. He left the paper after five years to focus on comedy writing. In 1955, he applied to Lee Strasberg's famous Actor's Studio and, alongside Steve McQueen, was one of only two applicants – from a pool of 2,000 – to be accepted that year. Landau began his acting career on the New York stage playing prominent roles in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Franz Werfel's Goat Song. In 1957, Landau married Barbara Bain, a model and actress. The two moved to Los Angeles, where Landau landed his debut film role, in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). Landau and Bain co-starred in several different projects, including the television series Mission: Impossible (1966–69). Landau chose the Mission Impossible role over another he was offered, "Spock" in Star Trek. He later appeared in Space: 1999 (1975–77). Despite the tremendous recognition he earned from his television work, Landau's career seemed headed for obscurity in the 1980s after   he appeared in a string of B-movies, including Fall of the House of Usher (1979), Without Warning (1980), and Cyclone (1986). However, his performances in Francis Ford Coppola's film Tucker (1988) and, the following year, in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors earned him consecutive best supporting actor Oscar nominations. But it was his performance as the aging Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) that won Landau his Academy Award, for which he famously refused to cut short his acceptance speech. (Casey Schwartz (2nd ed.)