Martin Landau

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BIRTHDAY

June 20, 1931

Brooklyn, NY

PROFESSIONS

Actor

SOMETIMES CREDITED AS

BIOGRAPHY

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A prolific supporting player whose roller-coaster career has spanned half a century, this marvelous, wild-eyed actor studied at the Actors Studio and soon began landing parts on stage and TV. His chilly turn as a villain in 1959's North by Northwest launched his movie career, but the small screen made him a star. Although Landau was in the running for the role of Mr. Spock on Star Trek, he ended up signing on to the series Mission: Impossible instead, opposite his then-wife Barbara Bain. After three seasons the couple exited the show due to a contract dispute. (In an ironic twist, Leonard Nimoy, aka Spock, replaced Landau on MI). Unfortunately, Landau's and Bain's careers — and their marriage — stalled, and after a few more collaborations (the cult sci-fi series Space: 1999 and the lambasted TV-movie The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island), the duo called it quits. In the late '80s Landau had a remarkable resurgence, snagging two consecutive Oscar nods for his turns in Tucker and Crimes and Misdemeanors. He finally won the award for his uncanny channeling of Dracula star Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood (again ironic, considering Landau had previously played the famous count on stage). But although Landau's talent had finally been acknowledged, that didn't prevent him from signing on to low-rent projects (B*A*P*S, Ready to Rumble) in order to earn a paycheck. In the '00s the small-screen again beckoned with roles on Without a Trace and the short-lived The Evidence, proving the sexagenarian was still a formidable talent.

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