Martin James Landau was born on June 20, 1928 in Brooklyn, the son of Austrian immigrant Morris Landau, a machinist for a sewing machine company, and his wife, Selma. He had two older sisters, Elinor and Constance, and the family lived on Bedford Avenue in a rented apartment. Upon graduation from high school in 1946, Martin got a job with the New York Daily News in the promotions department and then became the assistant of comic artist Gus Edson, who drew “The Gumps.” He moved out to Queens and got his first apartment at 75-15 35 Ave. in Jackson Heights.
In 1954, his parents moved to 71-47 147 St. in Kew Gardens Hills. Landau quit the paper to focus on acting.
He appeared in the Broadway play “Middle of the Night” with Barbara Bain and they were married in 1957, holding their reception at The Boulevard Tavern on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park. Eventually both relocated to California as their careers in movies and television took off.
Landau appeared in “North by Northwest,” starred in the hit TV show “Mission: Impossible” and won an Academy Award for playing Bela Lugosi in “Ed Wood.”
Landau died in 2017 and is interred next to his parents in Beth David Cemetery over the Queens border in Elmont, LI.
