Martin Landau

Cary Grant, James Mason, Eva Marie Saint, and Landau in North by Northwest

Influenced by Charlie Chaplin and the escapism of the cinema, Landau pursued an acting career.[13] He attended the Actors Studio, becoming good friends with James Dean. He recalled, "James Dean was my best friend. We were two young would-be and still-yet-to-work unemployed actors, dreaming out loud and enjoying every moment ... We'd spend lots of time talking about the future, our craft and our chances of success in this newly different, ever-changing modern world we were living in."[14][13]

In 1957, he made his Broadway debut in Middle of the Night. Landau made his first major film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) as Leonard, the right-hand man of a criminal portrayed by James Mason.[15] He had featured roles in two 1960s epics, Cleopatra (1963) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and played a ruthless killer in the Western action adventure prequel Nevada Smith (1965) starring Steve McQueen.[13]

Landau in his role as Rollin Hand in Mission: Impossible

Landau played the supporting role of master of disguise Rollin Hand in the first three seasons of the US television series Mission: Impossible, from 1966 to 1969. Landau at first declined to be contracted by the show because he did not want it to interfere with his film career; instead, he was credited for "special guest appearances" during the first season.[16] He became a full-time cast member in the second season, although the studio agreed to Landau's request, to contract him only on a year-by-year basis rather than the then-standard five years.[17] The role of Hand required Landau to perform a wide range of accents and characters, from dictators to thugs, and several episodes had him playing dual roles—not only Hand's impersonation, but also the person whom Hand is impersonating.[18] In the series Landau acted alongside his then-wife Barbara Bain,[17] who won an Emmy for her performances each year for all three years. He was replaced by Leonard Nimoy, playing a very similar role but not exactly the same character, for the next two seasons of the series after he and Bain left the show.

Landau with Peter Falk in Columbo in 1973

In 1973, Landau guest starred in the Columbo episode: Double Shock alongside Peter Falk. Landau plays twin brothers involved in the murder of their rich uncle. The episode also costarred Dabney Coleman, Julie Newmar, and Jeanette Nolan.

In the mid-1970s, Landau and Bain returned to TV in the British science-fiction series Space: 1999 produced by Gerry Anderson in partnership with Sylvia Anderson, and later with Fred Freiberger.[19] Critical response to Space: 1999 was unenthusiastic during its original run, and it was cancelled after two seasons.[20] Landau was critical of the scripts and storylines, especially during the series' second season, but praised the cast and crew.[19] He later wrote forewords to Space: 1999 co-star Barry Morse's theatrical memoir Remember with Advantages (2006) and Jim Smith's critical biography of Tim Burton.[21] Following Space: 1999, Landau appeared in supporting roles in a number of films and TV series. He was seen in low-budget genre pictures, such as the science fiction films Without Warning (1981) and The Being (1983) or the horror film Alone in the Dark (1982). His roles included the TV film The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981), which again co-starred Bain (and marked the final time they appeared together on screen).[22]

In the late 1980s, Landau made a career comeback, earning an Academy Award nomination for his role in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988).[20] He said he was grateful to its director, Francis Ford Coppola, for the opportunity to play a role he enjoyed: "I've spent a lot of time playing roles that didn't really challenge me," he said, "You want roles that have dimension. The role of Abe Karatz gave me that."[8] He won the Golden Globe Award for his part in the film.[8]

In 1989, Landau appeared in Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) The film is split into two stories, one humorous, one dark in nature. Landau starred in the storyline as Judah Rosenthal, a successful ophthalmologist who tries to prevent his mistress, played by Anjelica Huston from revealing their affair to his wife (Claire Bloom). In the film Landau confides his worries with patient and rabbi Sam Waterston as well as his mobster brother Jerry Orbach. Allen remembered of the cast that:

I just couldn't find anybody good for the part of Judah... He read it, and he was completely natural. It's an interesting thing. Of all the actors I've ever worked with, he gives expression to my dialogue exactly as I hear it. His colloquialisms, his idiom, his inflection is exactly correct. So of all the people who've ever read my lines, he makes them correct every time... One of the reasons for this must be that Martin Landau came from my neighborhood in Brooklyn, right near where I lived, only a few blocks away.[23]

The film received critical acclaim with Roger Ebert giving the film four stars, writing, "The movie generates the best kind of suspense, because it's not about what will happen to people - it's about what decisions they will reach. We have the same information they have. What would we do? How far would we go to protect our happiness and reputation? How selfish would we be? Is our comfort worth more than another person's life? Allen does not evade this question, and his answer seems to be, yes, for some people, it would be."[24]

For Landau's performance he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor losing to Denzel Washington in Glory.

Landau at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival

He won an Oscar for Ed Wood (1994), a biopic in which he plays actor Bela Lugosi. Landau researched the role of Lugosi by watching about 25 old Lugosi movies and studying the Hungarian accent, which contributed to Lugosi's decline in acting. "I began to respect this guy and pity him," said Landau. "I saw the humor in him. This, for me, became a love letter to him, because he never got a chance to get out of that. I got a chance to make a comeback in my career. And I'm giving him one. I'm giving him the last role he never got."[25]

Landau also received a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Saturn Award for the role, as well as accolades from a number of critics groups.[20] Gregory Walcott, who was in the film, watched the screening of it at the Motion Picture Academy and said that the Academy members "gave Landau a hearty, spontaneous applause over the end credits."[25]

Landau at the "Night of 100 Stars" for the 82nd Academy Awards viewing party

Landau's film roles in the 1990s included a down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer in the comedy Mistress (1992) with Robert De Niro and as a judge in the dramas City Hall (1995) with Al Pacino and Rounders (1998) with Matt Damon,[18] and Ready to Rumble in (1999). He was also a warm and memorable Geppetto in The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996).

Landau provided the voice of Scorpion for the first two seasons of the 1990s Spider-Man television series.[26] Landau left the series after two seasons when he won the Academy Award and lacked time for the series. This caused the role of Scorpion to be recast to Richard Moll.[27]

He played the part of Jacob, son of Isaac in the TV miniseries Joseph. The story of Joseph and his life was shown in this 1995 film. He co starred with Ben Kingsley (Potiphar) and Paul Mercurio as Joseph.[28]

He played a supporting role in The Majestic (2001), starring Jim Carrey. The film received mostly negative reviews, although one reviewer wrote that "the lone outpost of authenticity is manned by Martin Landau, who gives a heartfelt performance," as an aging father who believes that his missing son has returned from World War II.[29]

In the early seasons of Without a Trace (2002–2009), Landau was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his portrayal of the Alzheimer's-afflicted father of FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Malone, the series' lead character.[20] In 2006, he made a guest appearance in the series Entourage as Bob Ryan, a washed-up but determined and sympathetic Hollywood producer attempting to relive his glory days, a portrayal that earned him a second Emmy nomination.[20]

Landau appeared in the television film Have a Little Faith (2011) based on Mitch Albom's book of the same name, in which he played Rabbi Albert Lewis.[30] In 2012, Landau lent his voice as Mr. Rzykruski for the Tim Burton animated Disney film Frankenweenie. In 2015, Landau starred alongside Christopher Plummer in the film Remember. The film received critical praise with reviewers lauding the stellar performances from Landau and Plummer.

In recognition of his services to the motion picture industry, Martin Landau has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6841 Hollywood Boulevard.[18]

Encouraged by his own mentor, Lee Strasberg, Landau also taught acting. Actors coached by him include Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston.[31]

In 2009, Landau and his Actors Studio colleagues, director Mark Rydell and writer Lyle Kessler, collaborated to produce the educational Total Picture Seminar, a two-day event covering the disciplines of acting, directing and writing for film.[32]