R.I.P. Rollin Hand. You're now up there with Daniel Briggs (Steven Hill), Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) and Barney Collier (Greg Morris) planning your next I.M.F. mission in the sky.
R.I.P. Rollin Hand. You're now up there with Daniel Briggs (Steven Hill), Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) and Barney Collier (Greg Morris) planning your next I.M.F. mission in the sky.
R.I.P. Rollin Hand. You're now up there with Daniel Briggs (Steven Hill), Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) and Barney Collier (Greg Morris) planning your next I.M.F. mission in the sky.
Yes, I miss all you guys just terribly. I will always re-watch your entertaining M.I. shows as if it was yesterday and you've never left us. Take care.
Ditto on the MI epitaph. He will always be first & foremost Rollin Hand. Then Lugosi. Then the snake on Mount Rushmore. Then the philosophical accessory to murder in the Woody Allen flick.
I know him mostly from Space 1999. Of course from MI and NBNW too. He was a classy actor, RIP.
The sub-header for that article is rather bizarre... "His résumé includes 'Mission: Impossible,' 'Tucker: The Man and His Dream' and 'North by Northwest.' It does not, however, include 'Star Trek.' "
Cinema North by Northwest as Leonard Tucker: The Man and His Dream as Abe Crimes and Misdemeanors as Judah Rosenthal Ed Wood as Bela Lugosi
Television as a Guest Lawman ("The Outcast") as Bob Ford Johnny Staccato ("Murder for Credit") as Jerry Lindstrom The Twilight Zone ("Mr Denton on Doomsday") as gunfighter Dan Hotaling The Outer Limits ("The Man Was Never Born" and "The Bellero Shield") as Andro and Richard Bellero Jr. The Wild Wild West ("The Night of the Red-Eyed Madmen") as General Grim Columbo ("Double Shock") as Dexter/Norman Paris
Television as a Leading Character The Haunted (aka The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre) as Nelson Orion Savage as Paul Savage Mission: Impossible as spy and master of disguise Rollin Hand Space: 1999 as Moonbase Alpha Commander John Koenig
I have been running my own TV tribute to Landau tonight. The list so far:
Twilight Zone - "The Jeopardy Room" The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - "The Bat Cave Affair" Mission Impossible - "The Interrogator" Space 1999 - "The Lambda Factor" The Simpsons - "The Great Simpsina"
I got to know his work first from "Space 1999", like so many of my age in my area of the planet. I found him an excellent choice for the role of commander Koenig, a character that could have gone of the rails in so many ways but he gave Koenig both authority and humanity, and was all the more disappointed to hear Sylvia Anderson being so negative about Martin. He was not my favourite character in "Mission Impossible" even though there he too he gave excellent performances. Then again the series started to become fun after the Nimoy series had ended. Neither actors are to blame, the stories just became way more fun. He was great fun in "Man from U.N.C.L.E." "The batcave affair" where he was on par with the Batman villains of the 60s. In "North by northwest" he used his capability to look very menacing to the fullest, a capacity he sometimes used on MI to. "Meteor" was good.
I find that every film or series I saw Martin Landau in, he always gave a solid quality performance, and I think I can't praise an actor higher than that.
He enjoyed a late-career resurgence in the eighties with back-to-back Oscar nominations for Tucker and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Then finally winning the award for Ed Wood. RIP, Mr. Landau
Two roles from Landau's TV work always come to mind whenever I think of him:
1) "The Mind of Stefan Miklos"- Mission: Impossible- Landau and Steve Ihnat and then Landau and Ed Asner. I love how Landau plays both those other actors' characters in back-to-back scenes. First, he's testy and unforgiving in the scene with Asner, then he's schlumpy and submissive with Ihnat--magnificent performances from all three actors, actually.
2) "Life"- Johnny Staccato- Landau as the backstabbed arranger and composer whose masterwork was co-opted by smooth talking, yet gravelly-voiced bandleader Charles McGraw. Landau's angry and ultimately sad breakdown is brilliant.
I got to know his work first from "Space 1999", like so many of my age in my area of the planet.
Like me. I first knew him as John Koenig and he become of of my favorite actors thanks to that series. Episodes in the second season without him aren't nearly as enjoyable for me. He was great in almost everything I saw him in and was a genuinely nice guy who enjoyed talking to his fans.
Landau was one of my favorite character actors. I saw him about three months ago during the TCM Classic Film Festival and thought he looked great. He was at a TCM hosted party on the rooftop terrace of the W Hotel in Hollywood, and looked like he was having a good time. Just goes to show that you never know.... RIP
We're losing so many: Mary Tyler Moore, Roger Moore, Adam West, Steven Furst, and now Martin Landau. They were so talented as opposed to today's actors who seem to me like spoiled children.