Martin Landau (1928 - 2017)

[cjlasky7]

Martin Landau died last night at the ripe old age of 89.

He had a brilliant career. A supporting role in Hitchcock's "North By Northwest" at the start, TV stardom (Mission: Impossible, Space: 1999) in the middle, Oscar glory (as Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood") in his golden years.

For fans of science fiction and fantasy, his roles in the original Outer Limits (especially "The Man Who Was Never Born") still linger, even 50 years later.

Landau may have been the most indelible non-Woody Allen protagonist in a Woody Allen movie ("Crimes and Misdemeanors").

But I guess why I'm commenting on Landau here is that I once had a rare chance to meet the man and compliment him on his work. He was warm, gracious and appreciative. It was a genuine thrill.

Comments

[shadowkat]

Yes, you met him, while I hung out in the background talking to Alice, because neither of us (Alice and I) were comfortable talking to the celebrities. I remember her saying that she really should, because her job was playing travel agent to celebrities. (Alice was how we got the tickets, well Alice and Martin Lewis, who'd I had worked for the previous year on another celebrity event.)

I remember him being insanely tall, and not looking quite real. His face was larger than life. He's one of the few television stars that I'd recognize any where. He just stood out. (And I'm tall, but he towered over me.) And thin as a rail, with a huge nose and a scowl. I gave you credit for going up to talk to him.

Barbara Bach, Davy Jones, one of the members of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band and a co-star of the Sopranos, whose name I can't remember but I'd met twice. I actually did speak to them. They were the same height as Davy Jones, which was insanely short...that's the other thing I remember how insanely short Davy Jones and Barbara Bach were.

Now both Davy Jones and Martin Landau are gone. Again, why can't the crazy politicians die instead of the beautiful artists? Sigh.

[cjlasky7]

That was Steve van Zandt.

But you DID talk to Davey Jones and I didn't! I'm a big Monkees fan, and I wanted to ask him about the series and "Head" and the 30th anniversary special and....

But Landau was the one I had to talk to. His work meant too much to me to let that opportunity go by.

And once again--thank you for that opportunity.

[shadowkat]

I didn't really talk to him. You had to get his autograph for me. I sort of stood there with a bunch of others...and I vaguely remember saying huge fan of his work.

I loved the Monkeeys. Didn't know that you did? I have everything they did on my MP3 player. The Monkeeys was my favorite television series when I was 8.

Favorite children's television series:

1. The Monkeeys
2. Kimba - (same guy who did Spirited Away)
3. HnR Puffn' Stuff
4. The Muppet Show
5. Bionic Woman
6. Battle Star Galatica (which came later)
7. Battle of the Planets

Star Trek, Space 1999, were too scary. ;-) (So was Doctor Who, which appeared briefly on PBS when I was 8 or 9.)

Here We Come... Walkin' Down the Street

[cjlasky7]

I don't think I appreciated the Monkees TV show until I was older. I didn't catch the sly humor or the casual surrealism until much later. But I always loved the music. The first two albums are just stuffed with classic pop, of course, but I liked them just as much when they kicked Don Kirschner and his army of studio musicians to the curb and took the reigns themselves. They were a great band, dammit, not just studio figureheads. Songs like "Listen to the Band," "Randy Scouse Git" and "Circle/Sky" were just as good as the Boyce and Hart material.

(Favorite vocalist: Mickey. He just had a sense of playfulness that was very refreshing. I don't think "Gonna Buy Me a Dog" could've worked with anyone else.

***********

What was I watching on TV when I was 8? That was a looooooong time ago. A lot of the original batch of Marvel cartoons (the Merry Marvel Marching Society!), Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, et al. (but not Star Trek--caught up with Trek on reruns), and sitcoms about magical women (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Nanny and the Professor). I also (somehow) remember some truly bad TV shows that have long since disappeared down the pop culture memory hole: It's About Time, Mr. Terrific (superhero parody), and (sic) The Ugliest Girl in Town (Tootsie goes to London). Why these shows have stuck in my memory, I have no idea. Maybe because they all had good theme music....)

Re: Here We Come... Walkin' Down the Street

[shadowkat]

One of my close/best buds at the time loved horror shows, her fav's were Lost in Space, Night Gallery, and Dark Shadows...which we watched when we were at her house, along with a lot of Godzilla movies. We also watched Batman (Adam West) and even went to see him at some gas station event. Drove three hours to do it, with her family. I remember being disappointed, because Robin had curly hair and clearly wasn't the right one. We both had huge crushes on Davy Jones of the Monkeeys.

Also, Dick Clark's American Bandstand was a big favorite. The Sonny and Cher Show. Brady Bunch. Bewitched. Nanny and the Professor, Dream of Jeannie, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley.

I tended to love series that were surreal as a kid, with almost no real plot, that I could just make up stuff about. The Monkeeys, my Dad referred to as a poor man's Beatles or a satire on the Beatles and Beatlemania. Which they sort of were.

I watched a documentary on them once. Davy Jones was the only actor they hired and he got hired off a best-selling run on Broadway and West End as Artful Dodger in Oliver (Jack Wild's role in the film version, Jack Wild, was in HnR PuffnStuff, and I had a huge crush on him as well as a child), the rest were professional musicians, who were pissed off that they couldn't play their own instruments and write their own music. There was also a little friction with Peter Tork and Davy on set because of that. Peter was a trained musician. In the 1990s, they went on a revival tour. Everyone but Mike, who'd made millions because his mother invented "white out".

While I was admittedly more of Davy Jones fan than a Mickey fan, Mickey had the better voice, I think. Although Davy Jones had two really good songs.

Head was the Monkeey's film directed and written by Jack (god I just forgot his last name)..who was the star of The Shining, Carnal Knowledge...you know who I mean?

The Monkees' "Head"

[cjlasky7]

"Head" was the Monkees' big movie project after the show went off the air. It was co-written by producer/director Bob Rafaelson ("Five Easy Pieces") and Jack Nicholson, with input from the band.

It's probably, to paraphrase Whedon, the most meta movie that ever meta-ed. Four musicians trapped in their media avatars, and they can't escape, no matter how hard they try. Nobody seemed to like it at the time--but the concept is kind of brilliant...

Re: The Monkees' "Head"

[shadowkat]

Yeah, meta-narrative while fascinating to film-makers, isn't all that entertaining to watch. Whedon fell a bit into the meta trap at times as well. Studying film in school can warp your brain. ;-) (I did it too.)

The Beatles sort of did their own meta narrative films first though...which some critics felt the Monkeeys was a rip-off of.

(I remembered Jack's last name on my walk. It just bopped into my brain. Ooooh Jack "Nicholson"! Duh. I couldn't even remember the name of Five Easy Pieces. )