Martin Landau was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 20, 1928. He studied illustration at the and Pratt Institute. He worked at The Daily News in New York for five years, where he illustrated the Pitching Horseshoes column and assisted Gus Edson with the comic strip The Gumps. He quit to pursue a career in the theater. In 1951, he appeared in Detective Story at the Peaks Island Playhouse in Maine and in First Love at the Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village. In 1955, he was admitted to the Actors Studio in New York.
He also appeared on television and in films. His television roles included Rollin Hand in Mission: Impossible from 1966 to 1969, the commander of a lunar colony in Space: 1999 from 1975 to 1977, Simon Wiesenthal in the movie Max and Helen, and Joseph Bonanno in the movie Bonanno: A Godfather's Story. His feature film debut was as a soldier in the film Pork Chop Hill. His other films included North by Northwest, Cleopatra, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Adventures of Pinocchio, The Last Poker Game, Without Ward, and Nate and Al. He received an Oscar and the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for the portrayal of Bela Lugosi in the film Ed Wood. He died on July 15, 2017 at the age of 89.
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