Landau's career in features got off to an auspicious start: His second film was Alfred Hitchcock's much-loved suspense thriller, NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), in which Landau played Leonard, one of the film's more prominent -- and covertly gay -- villains. The lengthy shoot of the legendary bomb CLEOPATRA (1963) prevented Landau from working with Federico Fellini on 8½ (1963), but he did fine TV work in sympathetic roles on "The Outer Limits" and made a memorably evil Caiaphas in George Stevens's reverential biopic of Jesus, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965). Although Landau has generally been cast as villains or as serious and often morose types, his versatility found itself a good showcase in what would come to be one of his best-remembered parts, that of master-of-disguise Rollin Hand on the CBS spy series, "Mission: Impossible" (1968).
Landau was then married to actress Barbara Bain, who also starred in "Mission," and, after three seasons, the two of them left the series in 1969 over a contract dispute. The series successfully ran for several more seasons, but the acting couple found times a bit tougher. Landau acted in several features, TV movies and series pilots (e.g. SAVAGE, 1973), and, in the mid-70s the couple moved to England to star in a syndicated TV sci-fi series, "Space: 1999" (1975-77). Although the series was well-acted and had its merits, it failed to sustain itself, and the pensive, slightly worried-looking Landau was not quite standard adventure hero material. After the program folded, Landau, handicapped by his previous villain roles and TV fame, kept busy but was hardly challenged by a decade of forgettable roles in films like METEOR (1979), THE BEING (1983) and CYCLONE (1987) and reached a nadir with the TV movie, THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS ON GILLIGAN'S ISLAND (1981).
Landau's career revival began with his role as Abe Karatz, the sympathetic money man in Francis Ford Coppola's intriguing TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM (1988), which netted him a first supporting Oscar® nomination. He scored a second Oscar nod with his splendid work as a morally troubled eye doctor who, with the help of his brother (the well-cast Jerry Orbach), plots a murder in Woody Allen's CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989). Landau has continued enjoying his renaissance with fine roles in TV movies including MAX AND HELEN (1990) and LEGACY OF LIES (1992). He received some of the finest notices, of his uneven but distinguished career (and a supporting actor Oscar) with his touching, hilarious and uncanny portrayal of faded film star Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton's affectionate feature biopic, ED WOOD (1994).
Other notable credits include CITY HALL (1996), THE X-FILES and ROUNDERS (both 1998), EDTV (1999), READY TO RUMBLE, VERY MEAN MEN and SHINER (alll 2000), THE MAJESTIC (2001), WAKE, THE COMMISSION and HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE (all 2003), LOVE MADE EASY and AN EXISTENTIAL AFFAIR (both 2006), HARRISON MONTGOMERY, IVORY, DAVID AND FATIMA, 9 and CITY OF EMBER (all scheduled for 2008), and LOVELY STILL (scheduled for 2009).
Landau married actress Barbara Bain in 1957; they divorced in 1993.
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1988: TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1989: CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1994: ED WOOD
3 nominations, 1 Award