Actor Martin Landau, star of 'Mission: Impossible,' dies at 89
CNN)Martin Landau, 89, a character actor who starred in the 1960s television show "Mission: Impossible" and won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in the movie "Ed Wood," died Saturday, his publicist Dick Guttman said Sunday night.
Landau died at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles following "unexpected complications during a short hospitalization," Guttman said in a statement.
Landau was born June 28, 1928, in Brooklyn and worked as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News before becoming an actor, according to the Internet Movie Database.
Landau's career spanned the decades. In 1957 he had a part in the play "Middle of the Night," with Edward G. Robinson and ended up on the West Coast, according to the Internet Movie Database.
To the general public, Landau was best known to the public for playing master of disguise Rollin Hand for a top-secret spy team in the 1960s series "Mission: Impossible," in which his then-wife Barbara Bain also starred.
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Actor Martin Landau, who starred in the 1960s television show "Mission Impossible" and won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in the movie "Ed Wood," died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital following "unexpected complications during a short hospitalization," his publicist Dick Guttman said Sunday night. Landau was 89.
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Stephen Furst, the actor who played Flounder in the 1978 movie "Animal House," died at age 63, his son Nathan Furst told CNN on Saturday, June 17.
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Adam West, star of the popular and campy 1960s "Batman" TV show, died June 9 after "a short but brave battle with leukemia," his family said in a statement. He was 88.
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Frank Deford, a renowned sportswriter and commentator, died May 28 at the age of 78. Here, Deford holds the final front page of The National Sports Daily when it folded in 1991. Deford was well known for his NPR commentaries as well as his decades-long career at Sports Illustrated.
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Gregg Allman, the founding member of the Allman Brothers Band who overcame family tragedy, drug addiction and health problems to become a grizzled elder statesman for the blues music he loved, died May 27. He was 69.
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Former US Sen. Jim Bunning, the only National Baseball Hall of Fame member ever to serve in Congress, died May 26 at the age of 85.
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Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, died May 26 at age 89. Brzezinski is seen here at right talking with Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin in 1978.
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Veteran Indian actor Vinod Khanna died May 4 at the age of 70. Khanna, who had been dubbed Bollywood's "original heartthrob," reportedly battled cancer for several years.
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Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, whose Oscar-winning thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" terrified audiences, died April 26 at the age of 73. Here, Demme works on the "Silence of the Lambs" set with actor Anthony Hopkins in 1991. Demme's other films include "Philadelphia," "Married to the Mob" and a remake of "The Manchurian Candidate."
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Martin McGuinness, the former Irish Republican Army commander who was also a deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, died March 21 after a short illness, according to a statement released by the Sinn Fein party. He was 66. McGuinness became Sinn Fein's chief negotiator during the Northern Ireland peace process, working with US President Bill Clinton on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
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Chuck Berry, a music pioneer often called "the Father of Rock 'n' Roll," died March 18 at his home outside St. Louis, his verified Facebook page said. He was 90. Berry wrote and recorded the rock standards "Johnny B. Goode" and "Sweet Little Sixteen."
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Derek Walcott, the Caribbean poet and playwright who won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature, died March 17, according to the Nobel Prize website. He was 87.
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Joni Sledge, a founding member of the R&B vocal group Sister Sledge, was found dead in her home in Phoenix on March 10, publicist Biff Warren told CNN. She was 60 years old. The cause of death was unknown.
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Robert Osborne, the film aficionado who was the longtime host of Turner Classic Movies, died on March 6. He was 84.
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Judge Joseph Wapner, from the popular reality television program "The People's Court," died February 26, according to his son Judge Fred Wapner. He was 97.
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Actor Bill Paxton, whose extensive career included films such as "Twister," "Aliens" and "Titanic," died February 26, according to a representative for his family. He was 61. Paxton died "due to complications from surgery," a statement said.
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Clyde Stubblefield, seen here on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," died February 18 at age 73. He was the drummer for James Brown in the 1960s and '70s. He laid down the groove on such Brown hits as "Cold Sweat," "Sex Machine" and "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." The drum break in the song "Funky Drummer" has been sampled and used in over 1,000 songs.
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Norma McCorvey, the anonymous plaintiff "Jane Roe" in the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, died February 18, a priest close to her family said in a statement. Multiple media sources said she was 69. In this photo from 1989, McCorvey is on the left holding hands with attorney Gloria Allred. Roe v. Wade was the 1973 case that established a constitutional right to abortion. McCorvey once supported the pro-choice movement but switched sides in 1995.
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Al Jarreau, the jazz-pop musician best known for the hits "Breakin' Away," "We're in This Love Together" and the theme song to the popular 1980's TV show, "Moonlighting," died February 12, according to posts on his verified social-media accounts. He was 76.
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Actor Richard Hatch, who was known for his role as Captain Apollo in the original "Battlestar Galactica" series that ran from 1978-1979, died Tuesday, February 7, according to his manager Michael Kaliski. The 71-year-old actor had been battling pancreatic cancer, according to a statement from his family. Hatch played Tom Zarek in the show remake that started in 2003.
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John Hurt, the British actor who garnered Oscar nominations for his roles in "Midnight Express" and "The Elephant Man," died January 27, his publicist said. He was 77.
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Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, a pro wrestler known for his high-flying leap off the ring's top rope, died on January 15. He was 73.
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Author and filmmaker William Peter Blatty, who scared millions with the best-selling novel and Oscar-winning movie "The Exorcist," died January 12 from a form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma, his widow said. He was 89.
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Veteran war correspondent Clare Hollingworth, who broke the news that World War II had started, died on January 10. She was 105.
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Actor Martin Landau, who starred in the 1960s television show "Mission Impossible" and won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in the movie "Ed Wood," died Saturday in a Los Angeles hospital following "unexpected complications during a short hospitalization," his publicist Dick Guttman said Sunday night. Landau was 89.
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Stephen Furst, the actor who played Flounder in the 1978 movie "Animal House," died at age 63, his son Nathan Furst told CNN on Saturday, June 17.
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Adam West, star of the popular and campy 1960s "Batman" TV show, died June 9 after "a short but brave battle with leukemia," his family said in a statement. He was 88.
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Frank Deford, a renowned sportswriter and commentator, died May 28 at the age of 78. Here, Deford holds the final front page of The National Sports Daily when it folded in 1991. Deford was well known for his NPR commentaries as well as his decades-long career at Sports Illustrated.
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Gregg Allman, the founding member of the Allman Brothers Band who overcame family tragedy, drug addiction and health problems to become a grizzled elder statesman for the blues music he loved, died May 27. He was 69.
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Former US Sen. Jim Bunning, the only National Baseball Hall of Fame member ever to serve in Congress, died May 26 at the age of 85.
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Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, died May 26 at age 89. Brzezinski is seen here at right talking with Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin in 1978.
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Roger Moore, the actor famous for portraying James Bond in seven films between 1973 and 1985, died May 23 after a battle with cancer, according to his family. He was 89.
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Roger Ailes, who transformed cable news and then American politics by building the Fox News Channel into a ratings powerhouse, died May 18. He was 77.
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Chris Cornell, lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave, died May 17. Cornell, 52, was in Detroit performing with Soundgarden, which had embarked on a US tour in April. Cornell hanged himself, according to a statement from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office.
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Powers Boothe, known for his roles in "Sin City," "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," and "Deadwood," died May 14. The Emmy-winning actor was 68.
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American bobsledder Steven Holcomb, who piloted a four-man team to Olympic gold in 2010, died on May 6. The 37-year-old was found in his room at the US training center in Lake Placid, New York. No cause of death was given.
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Veteran Indian actor Vinod Khanna died May 4 at the age of 70. Khanna, who had been dubbed Bollywood's "original heartthrob," reportedly battled cancer for several years.
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Filmmaker Jonathan Demme, whose Oscar-winning thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" terrified audiences, died April 26 at the age of 73. Here, Demme works on the "Silence of the Lambs" set with actor Anthony Hopkins in 1991. Demme's other films include "Philadelphia," "Married to the Mob" and a remake of "The Manchurian Candidate."
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Actress Erin Moran, best known as kid sister Joanie Cunningham on the TV show "Happy Days," was found dead on April 22. She was 56. Moran likely died from complications of Stage 4 cancer, officials said.
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Comedian Charlie Murphy died April 12 after a battle with leukemia, according to his publicist Domenick Nati. He was 57. Murphy rose to fame for his work on the popular "Chapelle's Show," where he was a co-star and writer.
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John Warren Geils Jr., the guitarist and founder of the eponymous J. Geils Band, was found dead in his Groton, Massachusetts, home on April 11, police said. He was 71.
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Comedian and actor Don Rickles died at his home in Los Angeles on April 6, according to his publicist Paul Shefrin. Rickles was 90.
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He was nominated for Emmys for each of his three seasons on the show and won the Golden Globe for best male TV star in 1968, IMDb said.
Landau and Bain left the series in 1969 in a salary dispute. His career suffered for about a decade and he was forced to take roles in now-forgotten movies such as "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island," IMDb said.
Landau's career picked up when he got a recurring role on the NBC comedy "Buffalo Bill," in which Dabney Coleman starred.
He was nominated for three Academy Awards for best supporting actor, for playing Abe Karatz in Francis Coppola's "Tucker" in 1988; the adulterous husband Judah Rosenthal in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" in 1989; and the aging horror movie star Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" in 1994. He won the Oscar for the "Ed Wood" role.
Landau's first big movie role was in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest." He also had supporting roles in "Cleopatra" and other movies and appeared in numerous television shows, including "The Twilight Zone."
Near the end of his career, he played Bob Ryan, an aging movie producer in the HBO series "Entourage." The character's catchphrase, with an exaggerated idea followed by "would that be something you'd be interested in?" became something of a pop culture joke.
Guttman said funeral services will be private followed by a memorial service in August or September.
News Courtesy: www.cnn.com
