Martin Landau Biography

Martin Landau

This familiar actor spent four years as a staff cartoonist at the New York Times before heading for the stage in 1951, soon appearing on Broadway as well as in numerous plays and films, including Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). Landau starred in two of the best-known science-fiction television series of all time, Mission: Impossible (starting in 1966) and Space: 1999 (starting in 1975), both with then-wife Barbara Bain. His movie career experienced a resurgence in the 1980s, when he won two Oscars. Recently, he won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood (1994) and thrilled sci-fi fans in the movie X-Files: Fight the Future (1998). Recent television includes In the Beginning (2000).