Over the weekend (a busy one, at that), came the sad news that actor Martin Landau and director George A. Romero have passed away.
Martin Landau is one of those actors that I found really intriguing. When he was very young, he worked as a cartoonist and, when he went into acting, was a friend of James Dean’s. Perhaps Martin Landau’s best early role was the almost completely non-speaking thug Leonard in the seminal 1959 Alfred Hitchcock directed/Cary Grant starring North by Northwest.
Mr. Landau’s big breakout role would be as Rollin Hand in the wonderful 1960’s TV series Mission: Impossible…
Mr. Landau was rumored to have been considered for the role of Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek series but, of course, that role went to Leonard Nimoy. Interestingly, when he and his then wife (and knockout beauty) Barbara Bain left the show, Leonard Nimoy would subsequently come in and play a character similar to his!
A few years later Mr. Landau and Ms. Bain and go on to star together in the sci-fi series Space: 1999…
For my money, that remains one of the groovier openings of any TV series. Sadly, the show itself was no Star Trek and, while a cult favorite, it never reached the heights of that show.
Mr. Landau seemed to essentially disappear after this show, popping up on oddball movies or shows here and there, including playing the crazed “Sarge” in the mostly forgotten (but not by me!) low budget chiller -and Predator pre-cursor- Without Warning.
While it appeared Mr. Landau’s career was faltering, he was about to have a late in life turnaround, appearing in such critically loved films as Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and, in a role that would earn his an Oscar for Best Supporting actor, the foul mouthed and elderly Bela Lugosi in the Tim Burton directed Ed Wood…
A fascinating actor who played many fascinating roles, even if the movies or TV shows he was involved in seemed beneath his talents. R.I.P. Mr. Landau.
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The other big passing was George A. Romero, best known as the director of the original zombie epics Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead (a personal favorite), and Day of the Dead.
Given what he created with these three films alone -and ignoring all the other things he was involved in, including his collaborations with Stephen King (Creepshow among them) and the TV series Tales From The Darkside– I hope he received plenty of recognition, if not a percent of the action, from the producers of The Walking Dead, a show that simply wouldn’t exist at all without Mr. Romero’s works.
Mr. Romero would spend his later years continuing to work on his zombie films and to, truth be known, produce far lesser results. At the time of his passing he was working on what, at least to me, appeared to be a pretty outrageous new zombie concept called Road of the Dead. According to IMDB, this is the film’s description:
The story is set on an island where zombie prisoners race cars in an arena for the sole purpose of entertaining the rich.
I actually kinda like the concept. Hopefully, one day we’ll see it and it’ll prove to be something as good as some of George Romero’s best works. Dark black comedy, bleak horror, and plenty of chills.
R.I.P. Mr. Romero. And, as the joke making its rounds goes, please don’t come back as a zombie!