Martin Landau, American actor, who starred in the 1960s television show “Mission: Impossible” and won an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in the movie “Ed Wood,” is dead at 89.
According to the CBS News, Landau died on Saturday at UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles following “unexpected complications during a short hospitalization”.
Landau was born on June 28, 1928, in Brooklyn and worked as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News before becoming an actor.
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 Data base.
“Mission Impossible,” Landau’s iconic film, which also starred his wife, Barbara Bain, became an immediate hit upon its debut in 1966.
It remained on the air until 1973, but Landau and Bain left at the end of the show’s third season amid financial dispute with the producers.
The actor and his wife also starred in the British-made sci-fi series “Space: 1999” from 1975 to 1977.