Posted on 07/22/2017 4:35:44 PM PDT by Twotone
Martin Landau died a week ago at the age of 89. He was a versatile actor who connected less often than he should have with the perfect part, but, when he did, there was none better. In the late Sixties, he was a TV fixture on "Mission: Impossible", playing the most watchable character Rollin Hand, a master of disguise who could pass himself off as almost anyone. It was a fun role for Landau, and created for him (the name of the part in early scripts was "Martin Land") and his particular talents: half the time, to make it even more enjoyable, they had him play the guy he was meant to be impersonating, too. Needless to say, as part of its general abuse of the source material, Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise dispensed with the Hand character, and in turn Landau always despised the big-screen version for turning a game of wit and ingenuity into just another CGI explosions caper.
He was forty at the height of his TV fame, and was as close to leading-man looks as he was going to get. As a youngster, the face had been too lean, the lips too full, the eyebrows oddly obtrusive: it was an arresting and quirky combination compared to, say, the bland perfection of Cruise.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
MEtv has been running shows today starring him.
Fantastic read. As always with Steyn. Thanks!
Steyn is always worth the read.
A great actor who had a beautiful wife.
Ah Sunday nights at home-Mission Impossible and Mannix then the 15 minute drive to the college dorm.
Bump.....
Another fascinating obituary by Steyn - his book “The Passing Parade” is full of them - a great read......
Not true!
Only once (in the pilot episode) did Martin Landau play the character he was supposed to impersonate.
Leonard Nimoy (Landau's replacement), however, did occasionally play the character he was supposed to impersonate.
Regards,
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