Martin Landau, film and TV icon, dead at 89Martin Landau, a celebrated actor with dozens of movie and TV credits to his name, including the “Mission: Impossible” television series, has died at age 89, Fox News has confirmed.
Landau died around 1:30 PT on Saturday following “unexpected complications” while he was hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center.
The prolific actor’s most notable credits included the “Mission: Impossible” television series, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film “North by Northwest,” and his role in “Ed Wood,” for which he won an Oscar.
Landau got his start as a newspaper cartoonist at the New York Daily News, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 17 when he began at the news outlet, and quit five years later to pursue an acting career after turning down a promotion.
He was also “an admired acting teacher,” to students like Jack Nicholson.
The beloved actor got his start on-screen in the 1950s. TMZ reported he appeared in almost 200 films and television shows and “worked until his death.”
Landau quit "Mission: Impossible" after three seasons in 1969 due to a contract dispute, according to THR. He finally became an Academy Award winner for his role in Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" in 1994 after previously losing out to Kevin Kline and Denzel Washington.
The legendary actor dated Marilyn Monroe for several months and was best friends with James Dean in the 1950s.
Landau, who was born in Brooklyn, is survived by two daughters from his marriage with "Mission: Impossible" co-star Barbara Bain.
They didn't mention his role in the
Space 1999 series from 1975-1977, where I first saw Landau. Where he co-starred with his wife, Barbara Bain.
Or his role in an
Outer Limits episode "The Man Who Was Never Born" (1963), another I really enjoyed.
I was surprised he won an Oscar playing Bela Lugosi in the movie
Ed Wood, a movie I loved, certainly a well-deserved Oscar for his performance. It was a commercial failure, but apparently, a critical success.
Another I really enjoyed was his role in the movie
Ed TV, as Ed's stepfather. Both touching and funny, but good as it was, that film was also a commercial failure.
