# Let's Talk about Martin Landau **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434 "2003-06-17T12:33:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/21 "2015-05-21T04:37:55Z")
I remember DeForest Kelly once said that sometime around 1964 Gene Roddenberry told him he was developing two shows. One was a “High Noon” type western. The other was a space story that has this interesting role for an alien with green skin and pointed ears and----. Kelly cut him off by saying that when you get High Noon sold, give him a call. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/22 "2015-05-21T06:58:53Z")
EdTV might not, itself, be a great movie but Landau makes it well worth watching (going back to the OP). ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/23 "2015-05-21T07:49:10Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > If IMdB will suffice, here’s one: > > In 1963, Landau played memorable roles on two episodes of the science-fiction anthology series The Outer Limits (1963), “The Bellero Shield” and “The Man Who Was Never Born”. **He was Gene Roddenberry’s first choice to play Mr. Spock on Star Trek (1966), but the role went to Leonard Nimoy, who later replaced Landau on Mission: Impossible (1966), the show that really made Landau famous.** Back when _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ had just started production and Nimoy was playing hard to get and resisting signing on, I remember thinking how cool it would be if Roddenberry replaced him with Martin Landau. Of course that wasn’t going to happen (Spock was going to be written out of the film entirely if Nimoy couldn’t be persuaded to join the cast) but it was fun to think about. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/24 "2015-05-21T14:18:04Z")
I’m sure it’s just me, but back in the day, I confused [Landau](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1420930304/nm0001445?ref_=nm_phs_md_3) for [John Cassavetes](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001023/?ref_=nv_sr_6). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/25 "2015-05-21T14:30:43Z")
Wait – David Brinkley is dead!? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/26 "2015-05-21T15:00:47Z")
Martin Landau was also in the televised “radio program” \* Merry Christmas, George Bailey, \* in which he had the part of Mr. Potter. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/27 "2015-05-21T20:05:31Z")
No one’s mentioned yet that before he went into acting, Landau worked as a [cartoonist](http://www.newsfromme.com/iaq/iaq04/)for the New York Daily News. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/28 "2015-05-21T21:43:48Z")
Does anyone else wonder if he ever drove a car with a landau roof? And smirked every mile in it? “Yeah, buddy… but mine’s _real!_” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/29 "2015-05-21T21:45:44Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Back when _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ had just started production and Nimoy was playing hard to get and resisting signing on, I remember thinking how cool it would be if Roddenberry replaced him with Martin Landau. Of course that wasn’t going to happen (Spock was going to be written out of the film entirely if Nimoy couldn’t be persuaded to join the cast) but it was fun to think about. It would have been bewitching if they’d switched actors mid-film. Okay, I’ll quit now. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/30 "2015-05-22T11:21:16Z")
> [@Mr.Frink](#): > > …and talent apparently runs in the family. His very beautiful daughter, [Juliet](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Landau,%20Juliet), is best-known for her scene-stealing role as Drucilla on _Buffy: The Vampire Slayer_. Just to piggy-back on this rotten, shambling carcass; the post above made me shudder. She single-handedly almost spoils Buffy for me - hammy, tiresome, atrocious ‘cockney’ accent, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/31 "2015-05-22T12:50:40Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > Just to piggy-back on this rotten, shambling carcass; the post above made me shudder. She single-handedly almost spoils Buffy for me - hammy, tiresome, atrocious ‘cockney’ accent, etc. Which is what made her appearances so wonderful…like Shatner made Star Trek TOS the best sci fi series ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/32 "2015-05-22T19:34:26Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It would have been bewitching if they’d switched actors mid-film. > > Okay, I’ll quit now. Uhhhh … you know, of course, that they did? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/33 "2015-05-26T14:26:39Z")
One of the things that sticks in my mind about Landau was at the grand opening of Tom Cruise’s first Mission Impossible, he was on the red carpet and one of the MTV bimbos who was covering the event asked him what right did he have to appear on the carpet for such a movie. He tore her a new one commenting on her lack of knowledge of her media, her lack of research, and her lack of class…It was neat. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/34 "2015-05-26T14:39:09Z")
I always had a soft spot in my heart for Landau’s intimate performance in _Rounders_, one of my favorite movies of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/35 "2015-05-26T14:44:36Z")
**Let’s Talk about Martin Landau** [Never heard of him](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iof2QTNpAmE) ---
**Author:** ![baileygrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@baileygrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baileygrrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/36 "2015-05-26T16:15:17Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I always had a soft spot in my heart for Landau’s intimate performance in _Rounders_, one of my favorite movies of all time. Agreed on both counts. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/37 "2015-05-26T21:21:02Z")
No one has mentioned his Academy Award yet? He played Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. He also won Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award for the part. If you are a fan of Plan 9 From Outer Space, you need to see Ed Wood. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/38 "2015-05-26T22:32:58Z")
The highlight of my entire movie-going life was Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi coming over the hill to the stream to wrestle with a rubber octopus and yelling, “All right, let’s shoot this fucker!” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/39 "2015-05-26T22:38:57Z")
Yes, Martin as Bela is fine work. And the fucker line is a classic 🙂 If you watch Ed Wood you really need to watch Ed Wood’s movie classic Glen or Glenda shortly after. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434/40 "2015-05-26T22:55:52Z")
In the Man From Uncle episode, “The Bat Cave Affair,” Landau played a vampire-like character in very broad, flamboyant style. As a kid it made melaugh and permanently put Landau on my list of “Cool Actors.” Searching for it just now to see how it still holds up, it seems that Man From Uncle isn’t available for free on the Web/Hulu/NetFlix. Although there is a still [here](http://captainvideossecretsanctum.blogspot.com/2012/01/captains-theatre-man-from-uncle-bat.html). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-martin-landau/182434.md?page=3)