On Video
"x" marks the spot for Martin Landau.
— RICHARD ASHTON
Special to The Jewish News
\I—
T
his summer, Martin Landau
co-stars in one of the
hottest tickets of the season,
the big-screen
version of
b
The X-Files.
At a time in his career when many
actors have retired, Landau finds him-
=elf busier than ever. Later in the year,
Landau will co-star with two of
Hollywood's hottest young actors,
Matt Damon and Edward Norton, in
the gambling drama Rounders.
Until recently, Landau was perhaps
best known as master of disguise
Rollin Hand in the original TV ver-
sion of "Mission: Impossible." Landau
• starred on the show with Peter Graves,
,—Leonard Nimoy and his then wife,
Barbara Bain. Together, Landau and
Bain would later star in the syndicated
British TV sci-fi show "Space: 1999."
The popularity of these shows over-
shadowed much of Landau's career in
the 1970s and 1980s, as he often por-
trayed officious military types. But
that betrayed the wealth of talent that
• was waiting to get out.
This is, after all, an actor who has
•
worked with America's greatest film
directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock,
George Stevens, Francis Ford
Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Woody
Allen and Tim Burton.
Like so many New York actors,
Landau, 70, was a product of the
famed Actors Studio. The Brooklyn-
. born actor had previously worked as a
--cartoonist for the New York Daily
News.
His first roles of note were in live
TV and series such as "Gunsmoke"
and "The Twilight Zone." But he
made an indelible mark in only his
second film, North By Northwest. In
this Hitchcock thriller, Landau played
the gaunt killer, Leonard, who is one
—If James Mason's henchmen. When it
is time to dispose of Cary Grant,
Landau pours the unsuspecting Grant
a very large bourbon to set him on his
treacherous drive home.
Richard Aston writes for Copley News
Service.
Before the household fame
North by Northwest, starring Cary
bestowed on him by "Mission:
Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James
Mason. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Impossible," Landau carved out a
steady career in movies, including one
1959 (MGM/UA Home Video,
of the costliest films ever made,
Criterion Laserdisc, 136 minutes).
Cleopatra. Along the way he appeared
Cary Grant is mistaken for a gov-
in The Greatest Story Ever Told and
ernment agent and is kidnapped by
Nevada Smith. In 1973, Landau
evil James Mason. But Mason doesn't
starred in a modest "Movie of the
believe Grant and tries to have him
killed by one of his henchmen, played
Week" called "Savage," which was
directed by a then unknown Steven
by Martin Landau. When Grant
escapes, so begins one of Hitchcock's
Spielberg.
In 1979, Landau starred opposite
classic chases, as Grant is pursued by a
crop-duster.
Sean Connery in the science-fiction
adventure Meteor. That film was 20
years ahead of its time:
Two meteor films, Deep
Impact and Armageddon,
are in theaters this sum-
mer.
Landau's career got a
second lease on life
when Francis Ford
Coppola cast him in
Tucker: The Man and
His Dreams. Landau
was nominated for a
Best Supporting Actor
Oscar.
The same thing hap-
pened when Woody
Allen cast him in Crimes
and Misdemeanors.
Playing Judah, an eye
doctor who has his mis-
tress murdered, Landau
received his second
nomination.
The third time was a
charm. Playing drug-
Martin Landau: After two previous nominations, the
addicted and derelict
third time was a charm for Martin Landau, who won
actor Bela Lugosi in Ed
an Oscar for his role as Bela Lugosi in Director Tim
Wood, Landau finally
Burton's 1994 film "Ed Wood."
won his Oscar. Re-creat-
ing old Bela, Landau
Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor,
added a dimension of dignity to the
Richard Burton and Rex Harrison.
actor who had seen better days, and
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
knew it.
1963 (Fox Video, 243 minutes).
With his role as Dr. Alvin
The "biggest film ever made"
Kurtzweil in The X-Files, Landau's
turned out to be a glorious Hollywood
career is as hot as it's ever been. His
soap opera. Cleopatra becomes
dance card for the coming year is
romantically involved with Julius
already filling up.,
Caesar. But the relationship turns
Here are some highlights from
deadly when Marc Antony falls in love
Martin Landau's career on home
with Cleopatra. Landau plays Rufio.
video:
.
Meteor, starring Sean Conner y, Natalie
Wood and Martin Landau. Directed by
Ronald Neame. 1979 (Warner Home
Video, 107 minutes).
When scientists discover a giant
meteor headed for Earth, Sean
Connery leads a team of U.S. and
Russian scientists to stop it. Connery's
plan is to fire secret U.S. and Soviet
space nuclear missiles at the asteroid.
Landau plays the military general
protesting Connery's scheme.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream,
starring Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen and
Martin Landau. Directed by Francis
Ford Coppola. 1988 (Paramount Home
Video, 111 minutes).
Preston Tucker had a dream to take
on Detroit and build an independent
line of automobiles. But a fearful
Detroit systematically destroyed
Tucker. Landau won an Oscar nomi-
nation playing Abe Karatz, the busi-
nessman who shares Tucker's dream.
Crimes and Misdemeanors, starring
Martin Landau, Anjelica Huston and
Woody Allen. Directed by Woody Allen.
1989 (HBO Video, 104 minutes).
Landau's second nomination came
playing a New York ophthalmologist
who has an affair with an airline stew-
ardess. When the relationship becomes
inconvenient, he calls on his mob
brother to have her killed. Landau
then has to suffer the moral repercus-
sions of his deed.
Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp,
Martin Landau and Sarah Jessica
Parker. Directed by Tim Burton. 1994
(Buena Vista Home Video, 124 min-
utes).
Tim Burton's affectionate homage
to the B-movie king Ed Wood. The
film follows Wood's unlikely career
as a filmmaker whose enthusiasm
outweighed his talent. Wood discov-
ers a derelict Bela Lugosi and puts
him in his movies. It is there, deliv-
ering a soliloquy, that Lugosi finds
himself. But Lugosi dies during the
making of Wood's classic, Plan 9
From Outer Space, forcing Wood to
improvise.
❑
7/3
1998
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