MARTIN LANDAU
THE OSCAR WINNER PROVED THAT ENJOYING A SECOND ACT IN HOLLYWOOD ISN’T A MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
Closer looks back on the life and legacy of the late screen icon.
Every Friday until his death on July 15 at 89, Martin Landau would drive himself to the Actors Studio in LA to teach up-and-coming performers from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. “He never wanted to stop,” daughter Susie Landau Finch tells Closer. “They’d say, ‘Martin, you have to stop at 1,’ but he would keep going. He was just so inspired.”
This tireless dedication to his craft made Martin one of the most admired actors of all time. “If one could examine his DNA, it would read ACTOR,” says Barbara Bain, his costar in the TV hit Mission: Impossible and real-life wife from 1957 to 1993. “He embraced every role with fire and fierce dedication. His work was his joy and his legacy.”
The Brooklyn native started as a cartoonist but detoured after he and Steve McQueen were the only auditioners accepted by NYC’s prestigious Actors Studio in 1955. He dated Marilyn Monroe (“She could be wonderful, but she was incredibly insecure, to the point she could drive you crazy,” he said) and befriended James Dean. “They were best buddies,” Susie says. “His death was devastating for my dad.”
THE MAN & HIS DREAM
Martin found success on film in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, but many of his scenes opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Cleopatra got cut. He gained fame and three Emmy nods as master of disguise Rollin Hand on Mission: Impossible from 1966 to 1969 but left the show to pursue film roles. “He really just wanted to be in big movies,” Susie says.
After a nearly 20-year career drought typified by a cameo with Barbara in 1981’s The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island, Martin roared back with an Oscarnominated turn as an auto-industry pioneer in 1988’s Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Notes Susie, “The depth he brought to that role transformed his career.”
He earned another Oscar nod for Woody Allen’s 1989 movie, Crimes and Misdemeanors, then won best supporting actor as over-the-hill movie vampire Bela Lugosi in 1994’s Ed Wood. “His down-and-out times helped him play that role,” Susie says.
In recent years, he focused on indie films — “He was a poster boy for honesty and accomplishment in acting,” raves Paul Sorvino, his co-star in the drama The Last Poker Game. He also spent time with daughters Juliet, 52, and Susie, 56, and her 8-yearold girl Aria. “He was an incredible grandfather,” Susie reveals. “He loved old movies, and Aria would watch with him.” On film and in life, “You always knew you’d get something good with him,” Susie says. “In one second, he’d be deep, then he’d make you laugh. He had that sense that life wasn’t black and white, even though his favorite movies were.” — Bruce Fretts, with reporting by Katie Bruno
“The bottom line is a good actor can play many things.”
— Martin Landau