OSCAR-WINNER LANDAU DIES AT 89
Starred in ‘Ed Wood,’ ‘North by Northwest’
LOS ANGELES — Martin Landau, who won an Oscar for “Ed Wood,” has died at 89.
He died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center where he experienced “unexpected complications” during a short hospitalization, his publicist confirmed.
“We are overcome with sadness to report the death of iconic actor Martin Landau,” a statement said.
The Oscar-winning veteran appeared in classic films such as Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” and starred in the “Mission: Impossible” television series in the 1960s.
He won his Academy Award for his portrayal of washed-up actor Bela Lugosi in “Ed Wood.”
Throughout his prolific career, the tall, lean actor remained enthusiastic about his craft, which saw him inhabit roles that included a master spy, space commander, former Hollywood heavyweights, the prophet Abraham and a wheelchairbound Holocaust survivor.
Landau’s dedication was apparent during his tenure as co-artistic director, with Oscarnominated director Mark Rydell, of Actors Studio West. Landau recently gueststarred in the CBS police procedural “Without a Trace,” playing a man with Alzheimer’s disease, and HBO’s “Entourage,” playing bumbling film producer Bob Ryan.
Born in Brooklyn in 1928, Landau began his career as a newspaperman at age 17, working for five years at the New York Daily News as a staff cartoonist and illustrator while studying at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. After five years at the News, Landau suddenly quit to try his hand at acting.
“I told the picture editor I was going into the theater. I think he thought I was going to be an usher,” he said in a 1989 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Landau had few job prospects and lived on $5 a week from his savings as he made the rounds. He was hired for a summer stock company on an island off Portland, Maine, where he did 12 shows — including musicals — in 13 weeks.
While living in New York in the 1950s, he fraternized with pal James Dean and competed for roles with the likes of Sydney Pollack and John Cassavetes.
Shifting to theater, Landau auditioned with 2,000 other actors for Lee Strasberg’s prestigious Actors Studio in 1955. Only he and a young Steve McQueen were accepted.
He made his film debut in “Pork Chop Hill” (1959), but few can forget his breakout role as Leonard, the villainous henchman stalking Cary Grant in Hitchcock’s classic thriller “North by Northwest” (1959).
But Landau became wildly popular for his role as Rollin Hand, the “Man of a Million Faces” sleuth on the 1960s hit series “Mission: Impossible” with then-wife Barbara Bain.
Director Tim Burton asked him to play morphine-addicted “Dracula” star Lugosi in 1994’s “Ed Wood,” a role that won him a supporting actor Oscar and his third Golden Globe Award.
Landau is survived by daughters Juliet Landau and Susan Landau Finch.