Martin James Landau was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). His career breakthrough came with leading roles in the television series Mission: Impossible (1966–1969) and Space: 1999 (1975–1977).
Landau was born on June 20, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Selma (née Buchman) and Morris Landau. His family was Jewish. His father was an Austrian-born machinist who tried to rescue relatives from the Nazis.
After attending both James Madison High School and Pratt Institute, he found work at the New York Daily News. There he spent the next five years as an editorial cartoonist and worked alongside Gus Edson to produce the comic strip The Gumps. He quit the Daily News when he was 22 to concentrate on theater acting. "I told the picture editor I was going into the theater," he recalled. "I think he thought I was going to be an usher."
After auditioning for the Actors Studio in 1955, Landau and Steve McQueen were the only applicants accepted out of 500. While there, he trained under Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan, and Harold Clurman, and eventually became an executive director with the Studio alongside Mark Rydell and Sydney Pollack.
| Date of Birth | 20th June 1928 |
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| Date of Death | 15th July 2017 |
| Age at Death | 89 Years |
| Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
| Country | United States of America |
| Current City | Brooklyn |
| Birth Place | Brooklyn |
| Death Place | Los Angeles |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Nationality | United States of America |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Spouses | Barbara Bain |
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| Children | Juliet Landau Susan Landau Finch |
| Education |
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| Pratt Institute, James Madison High School |
| Occupation | film producer, voice actor, character actor, film actor, television actor, stage actor, cartoonist |
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| Awards |
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