Martin Landau Biography

Saturnine character actor Martin Landau was a staff cartoonist for the New York Daily News before switching to acting. In 1955, his career got off to a promising beginning, when out of 2,000 applicants, only he and one other actor (Steve McQueen) were accepted by Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. Extremely busy in the days of live, Manhattan-based television, Landau made his cinematic mark with his second film appearance, playing James Mason's henchman in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). In 1966, Landau and his wife Barbara Bain were both cast on the TV adventure/espionage series Mission: Impossible. For three years, Landau portrayed Rollin Hand, a master of disguise with the acute ability to impersonate virtually every villain who came down the pike (banana-republic despots were a specialty). Unhappy with changes in production personnel and budget cuts, Landau and Bain left the series in 1969. Six years later, they costarred in Space: 1999 a popular syndicated sci-fi series; the performances of Landau, Bain, and third lead Barry Morse helped to gloss over the glaring gaps in continuity and logic which characterized the show's two-year run. The couple would subsequently act together several times (The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981) was one of the less distinguished occasions) before their marriage dissolved.Working steadily in various projects throughout the '80s and '90s, Landau enjoyed a career renaissance with two consecutive Oscar nominations, the first for Francis Ford Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), and the second for Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Landau finally won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's 1994 Ed Wood; his refusal to cut his acceptance speech short was one of the high points of the 1995 Oscar ceremony. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

• 1. #2: Some things in this world are better left where they lie. But if you know where to look, these ruins are full of riches.
  From 9. Submitted by Melaina D (57 days ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: They don't want the classic horror films anymore. Today it's all giant bugs. Giant spiders, giant grasshoppers... Who would believe such nonsense?
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Jonathan C (2 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: Bullshit, Im ready now. Roll the camera!
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Jonathan C (2 months ago)

• 1. Judah Rosenthal: Without God the world is a cesspool.
  From Crimes and Misdemeanors. Submitted by Chad E (4 months ago)

• 1. Ed Wood: Your like the got... the pupet master.
  2. Bela Lugosi: Ahhhh so I pull the string.
  3. Ed Wood: Pull the strings... I like that.
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Ernest P (4 months ago)

• 1. Ed Wood: Transvestites, I need transvestites.
  2. Bela Lugosi: Eddy what kind of a movie were making?
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Ernest P (4 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: How dare that asshole bring up Karloff?
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Emil Å (7 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: Shit! There is my transport!
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Emil Å (7 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: Karloff? Sidekick? FUCK YOU!
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Emil Å (7 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: [After the mob at the 'Bride of the Monster' premiere tried attacking them.] Now that was a premiere.
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Richard L (9 months ago)

• 1. #2: If you know where to look, these ruins are full of riches.
  From 9. Submitted by Alice N (9 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: Pull the string! Pull the string!
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Jake C (9 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: FUCK YOU! You come out here!
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Jake C (9 months ago)

• 1. Bela Lugosi: If you want to make out with a young lady, take her to see Dracula.
  From Ed Wood. Submitted by Matthew C (11 months ago)