Martin Landau
Biography
Martin Landau was an American actor whose career began in the late 1950s after he trained at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, and Harold Clurman. Born in Brooklyn, he made his Broadway debut in 1957 with Middle of the Night, and Variety praised his performance as Leonard in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). His breakthrough came on television as Rollin Hand in Mission: Impossible from 1966 to 1969, a role that earned him three Emmy nominations, and he later starred in Space: 1999 from 1975 to 1977. Landau earned Academy Award nominations for his work in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), then won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood (1994). His other films included Rounders (1998), Cleopatra (1963), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and Remember (2015), and he was head of the Actors Studio's Hollywood branch.
89years old at death
- Born Brooklyn
- Died Los Angeles
- Star sign: GeminiLast day of the sign, on the Cancer cusp
- Martin James Landau (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 55
- Career span
- 62 years1959 to 2021
Genres
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A change of course
Landau spent five years as an editorial cartoonist at the New York Daily News and worked with Gus Edson on the comic strip The Gumps before quitting at 22 to act.
Big break
Landau initially refused a Mission: Impossible contract so it would not hurt his film career, was billed for special guest appearances in season one, and only signed year by year instead of the standard five.
Getting ready for a role
Landau played actor Bela Lugosi in the biopic Ed Wood (1994). To research the role, he studied Lugosi's Hungarian accent and watched many old Lugosi movies, which contributed to Lugosi's decline in acting.
A role that slipped away
Landau left the 1990s Spider-Man animated series, where he voiced Scorpion, after two seasons because winning the Academy Award left him no time, and Richard Moll took over the part.
Early training
Landau taught acting, encouraged by his own mentor Lee Strasberg, and among the actors he coached were Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston.
Martin Landau movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Jack Sholder directed three of these films, Tim Burton two and Greydon Clark two. Six actors appear in three of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Donald Pleasence's page
Brian Keith's page
Jeffrey DeMunn's page
Barbara Bain's page
All films by Jack Sholder
All films by Tim Burton
All films by Greydon Clark
Box office
What Martin Landau's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$841 million
25 of the 55 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 55 films: 25 worldwide figure; 6 us gross only; 10 never in cinemas; 14 figure not found.
- 25Worldwide figure
- 6US gross only
- 10Never in cinemas
- 14Figure not found
Top grosser
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 73% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$189M22.5% of the total
- 2$116M13.8% of the total
- 3$81M9.7% of the total
- 4$58M6.9% of the total
- 5$51M6.1% of the total
- 6$48M5.8% of the total
- 7$37M4.4% of the total
- 8$35M4.2% of the total
$224 millionfrom the other 17 films with a worldwide figure, 27% of the total
Awards
Four awards and honors from 1995 to 2006, two of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | |||
| 1995 | Best Supporting Actor | Ed Wood | Won |
| SAG Awards | |||
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role | Won | ||
| Other honors | |||
| 2006 | Mary Pickford Award | Won | |
| Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame | Honored | ||
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.