Martin Landau, Star Of ‘Mission Impossible’ And ‘Ed Wood,’ Dies At 89
Image by Getty Images
Martin Landau, a star of the 1960s television series “Mission: Impossible” who made a late-career comeback with an Academy Award-winning performance in the 1994 film “Ed Wood,” died on Saturday at age 89, his publicist said on Sunday.
Landau died at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles from unexpected complications during a short hospitalization for an undisclosed illness, publicist Dick Guttman said in a statement.
Landau won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of horror movie star Bela Lugosi in the Tim Burton film “Ed Wood.” He had been nominated for an Academy Award twice before, first for his performance in Francis Coppola’s “Tucker” and again for Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Landau’s parents were Jewish and his father rescued several relatives from the Nazis in his native Austria. He grew up in Brooklyn and attended James Madison High School and the Pratt Institute.
Landau also is remembered for a role he did not get. He was “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s first pick to portray pointy-eared Vulcan Mr. Spock, an iconic role that eventually went to Leonard Nimoy.
Nimoy then replaced Landau on “Mission: Impossible” when he left in a salary dispute.—Reuters
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
, editor-in-chiefSupport our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
