For some strange reason, I had thought that Martin Landau was dead. In fact, when I met his daughter Juliet Landau (who played Drusilla in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), I had mentioned to her that I had been a big fan of her father – implying that he was no longer with us. In fact, I practically accused my friend Bob of being nutty when he told me that Martin Landau would be appearing at a Hollywood screening of my very favorite film North By Northwest at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Saturday, April 24, 2010.
But like the character Dracula, played by the character Bela Lugosi, played by the actor Martin Landau in the film Ed Wood – for which he won an Academy Award – Landau was in fact undead. And he was not only alive, but he gave a great interview along with another North By Northwest co-star Eva Marie Saint, conducted by TCM’s Robert Osborne.
It was this Hitchcock classic in which I first noticed Landau for his creepy performance as James Mason’s henchman Leonard. I hadn’t realized that he had gone on to have a lucrative acting career until I was delighted to see him pop up in an episode of Columbo, having not ever watched the TV series Mission: Impossible, for which he was perhaps best known.
Then I began to see him pop up in all sorts of film in the late 80’s and 90’s: Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Mistress, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Majestic, and of course Ed Wood, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
After the interviews that the principal stars gave, they left the theater through the front doors. The film had already started, but Bob and I sacrificed missing the opening moments to sneak out and try to catch up with them. Martin Landau and the theater employees had asked for no photos, but this is typically ignored. I asked Bob to try and snap away as I got him to sign a photo that I had picked up at the collectors show that day.
As he made his way through the crowd, he stopped to carefully sign my photo, giving me a great signature under the crowded, busy circumstances. Bob took a couple photos of us, but unfortunately the lighting in the theater caused them to be inexplicably blurred into a dreamy image. After he signed, we resumed our enjoyment of North By Northwest, all the while I marveled that I had just met two of the members of the cast.
UPDATES: My pattern of meeting Martin Landau once per year continued for the next two years. He agreed to appear at the Hollywood Show on April 2, 2011, so I was able to pick up an even cooler photo to add to my collection. This one was from my all-time favorite movie North by Northwest. Unfortunately, this time it wasn’t free – so I paid the $25 for the signature. Although the photo op was supposed to be $10, I jumped in for a picture with him after I was done, and he beamed his infectious smile. The two photos that my friend Steve had ‘sneakily’ snapped before proved to be unnecessary.
Awkward candid #1
Awkward candid #2
The only bad thing about this encounter was the incredible wait to get to him. Although it didn’t appear that the line was all that long, somehow it ended up taking over two hours to get through it. To make matters worse, a guy I knew named Mike Nemeth had given me some cash to get Landau to sign a poster for him, so I was toting that thing around the whole time. Standing in line with Steve, I was able to get out of it a couple of times to go round up autographs of Stan Freberg and Lisa Marie.
When I finally got up to his table, Martin Landau had somehow lost his voice by chatting with fans (incessantly apparently). I had him sign my photo and one for Peter (which later diappeared), plus Mike’s poster. Mike had the idea to have him add his line from North by Northwest, “Have a libation.” When I first asked Landau to write this, he shook his head no adamantly. But then through a strained voice, he said, “I’ll write it.” As you can see, he did – and I have no idea what that was all about whatsoever.
Landau came back to the Hollywood Show ‘by popular demand’ on February 11, 2012, as part of a Mission: Impossible reunion with Peter Lupus. Apparently, he wasn’t as popular because this time I was able to walk right up to him and get an additional signed photo, an irresistible shot of him kissing the Oscar that he won for Ed Wood.
For someone who had never met this iconic Oscar winner prior to 2010 (at which time I thought he was dead), I’ve been able to hobnob with him quite a bit ever since.
See Eva Marie Saint here…
Return to Saturday 2010 in Hollywood here…
This concludes the celebrity encounters of the Spring 2011 Hollywood Show. Return to the original posting here…
Celebrity encounters of the Winter 2012 Hollywood Show will continue…
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