Martin Landau made small changes of voice and expression carry feelings his characters would rather keep private. We value him most when that restraint makes a difficult man worth caring about, as it does in Ed Wood.
Fi1m perspective
Martin Landau can make stillness look suspicious. As Leonard, James Mason’s right-hand man in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959), he needs little movement or dialogue to suggest that something is being kept back. His intense gaze gives the supporting character weight without requiring much outward display. That is a useful quality in a chase film whose leading man, Cary Grant, makes panic funny without removing the danger: Landau helps Hitchcock keep the threat present alongside the comedy.
Television made his versatility conspicuous: he was Rollin Hand, the master of disguise, in Mission: Impossible (1966–1969), then Commander John Koenig in Space: 1999 (1975–1977). A stretch of lower-profile work followed before Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) returned him to prominent film roles. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) gave him Judah Rosenthal, whose moral compromises suited an actor attentive to small internal shifts. The late-career resurgence makes sense when we consider how much Landau could tell us about a man trying to keep his feelings to himself.
For Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood (1994), Landau studied the accent and mannerisms, but the accuracy is only a beginning. Lugosi’s bluster has enough force to put some resistance in the way of Johnny Depp’s optimism. Their friendship gains from that friction, giving Depp someone to respond to beyond his character’s own enthusiasm and giving us a reason to care beyond the next bad film. We were moved by Landau’s Lugosi because the bluster never quite hides how urgently he needs company.
There is a limit to what even this performance can repair. Burton’s film still runs long, and its affection sometimes leaves Depp too little to play. Landau supplies uncertainty in their scenes together, but he cannot give the leading role more than the film allows it. That is a reservation about the film, not a reason to pass over the performance. Start with Ed Wood, allowing Burton a little more time than the story needs.
Biography
Martin Landau was an American actor. He made his first major film appearance as Leonard in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). He trained at the Actors Studio and had begun his career in the 1950s after working as a cartoonist.
Landau played Rollin Hand in the television series Mission: Impossible (1966–1969) and Commander John Koenig in Space: 1999 (1975–1977). He received Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award for the former.
He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). His performance as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood (1994) earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
