He's another who I thought was already dead. I recognize the name, but other than "Mission Impossible" I really can't place him in anything else.
He guested on a number of westerns early in his career. Often as a Mexican or an Indian. Didn't he appear as a Bajoran early in DS9
A lot of people mix him up with Walter Matthau. When Matthau died, I almost came to a genital electrocution level fight with someone over proving it wasn't Landau.
Space 1999 and Mission Impossible were parts of my childhood, so he was one of those actors I'd always enjoy seeing. Sad to see him go
Strangely, I decided on a whim to watch an episode of Space: 1999 yesterday before I'd heard this news. His portrayal of Bela Lugosi in the Ed Wood movie was freakin' epic. Far overshadowed Depp's lackluster performance as Wood.
They say it is pretty difficult to give a really good rendition of a person who actually lived in the modern era of which there is existing film footage of.
Like they do whenever a famous actor dies, all the classic shows are trotting out all their episodes where Martin Landau was a guest start. Just today I've seen Landau on The Rifleman, Bonanza, and The Big Valley. Playing Mexicans in all of them.