Such a bittersweet role! The real Bela Lugosi never got recognized for his talent and here Martin Landau wins an Oscar for playing him. Brilliant performance and a great tribute! RIP both of them.
No one ever deserved an Oscar MORE than Landau did for his Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. ... Listening to a Great Actor describe their methods is always fascinating.
Watching Landau in “North By Northwest.” I always think He could have easily played Dracula if he wanted. He was tall dark handsome. He also had a devilish grin that made him real creepy. Its not a coincidence his daughter would end playing a memorable vampire on Buffy. She shared similar traits with her dad. A very great actor.
Landau disappeared and Bela emerged in the mind of the viewer. There is no higher praise for an actor. Mr. Landau deserved that Oscar beyond a shadow of a doubt. I have rarely seen such a brilliant performance. When some get an Oscar we wonder why, we didn't have to wonder this time.
im first gen magyar in north america. i cant even get the accent right . his was spot on amazing acting job. lol must of hung out with the gabor sisters . mind you hollywood has had many hungarians in the industry for a long long time
I'm quite familiar with the Ed Wood oeuvre. Landau's Lugosi is perfect! It would have been easy to go over the top with the accent, yet he got it to the tee. In his scene from "Bride of the Monster"..."Home, I have no home." etc. he takes the same words Wood wrote from the movie and puts such emotion into the read! He brings the tragedy of Lugosi's life into an otherwise silly soliloquy, very poignant. Absolutely blew me away! I'm so glad he got Oscar recognition for this role! Richly deserved!
...with bobby DeNiro? Bobby? Bobby? Is that what we're calling him now? Hahaha. I wouldn't watch one of his movies if I had a gun to my head! Well, maybe if it was a real gun.
What's even greater, is that he's not really like Lugosi, but he hits all the peaks of Lugosi's character in an exaggerated way. That's what makes a great actor
I worked with Martin once, and he's was a truly sweet, kind man. They wanted to really cover up his face for "Ed Wood," but he refused, only accepting minimal prosthetics as to not impede his facial expressions. Brilliant.
Yeah that's where the real acting came in by the sound of it having to squint his eyes when he would normally widen them etc. Different hand gestures body language it's not just looking like someone that earns an Oscar.
His performance as Lugosi was an Oscar performance if ever there was one, he totally became Lugosi in every way. Touching and beautifully portrait a man at the end of his time, Lugosi could really act, even in the wonderfully awful wood movies if you want to see what I am talking about put pull the strings into you tube, he is fascinating
Landau was a genius. Tragically underrated in his earlier years but his genius really shined through in his role as Lugosi. Glad he won that Oscar, well deserved.
When I saw a copy of Ed Wood on a DVD I was totally knocked out by Martin Landau's presentation of the man. Mr. Landau really got under the skin of the man who was probably the most famous movie monster character of all time. What especially struck me about Landau's performance was his mastery of the accent. Both my parents were of Hungarian extraction with my father having grown up on the other side and coming to this country when he was 23, hence his slight accent. In my childhood when my parents went to visit friends in nearby towns many of them were also Hungarians and there is no way for me to forget their way of speaking. Martin Landau in Ed Wood not only captured perfectly the way of speaking English with a Hungarian accent, but even the exact mannerism of their gestures, a truly incredible feat for someone who probably isn't of that nationality. As to the real Bela Lugosi, a family anecdote was that during the Depression my father was a waiter in a Hungarian restaurant in New York City called the Golden Fiddle. Bela was a frequent customer and my father would always converse with him in Hungarian when he was serving at Bela's table. Apparently the back story with Bela Lugosi was that he came to this country as a political refugee in the early 20's. Mr. Lugosi had been trained as an actor, but as it turned out there was little call for classically trained actors with a heavy foreign accent. However, he managed to get roles as a monster quite readily, which made him a lot of money but which he also blew on high living and overly numerous marriages.
In an interview I watched before this one , the issue of the accent and mannerisms and the eyes were central as he and Mr. Lugosi were so different. Mr. Landau would have been most pleased ,humbled and thankful for what you have written here. Thank you.
My Grandfather from Hungry owned a music store in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, Mr. Lugosi spent much time in my Grandfather's store after a good meal and conversation with your father. Small World.
Landau wasn't playing Lugosi....he WAS Lugosi. A superb performance, and that Oscar was richly deserved. Been a fan of the Landau (as I call him) ever since Mission Impossible. Space: 1999, too, of course. Top class actor - too big for TV, really, yet it's the small screen where he made his mark.
Love Bela. I commemorate his birthday in Oktober every year--I make a Hungarian goulash (I only change the recipe by using mild Hungarian paprika instead of the hot kind, which can blow the top of your head off). I make a pumpkin spice cake also. I don't know if those existed in Hungary in the old days, but i think it kind of fits for Oktober. Bela deserved better than he got, but his performance in "The Wolf Man," though very brief, was a classic performance if there ever was one.
He's a wonderful actor, seems very down to earth, and he isn't bad lookin', either! I've seen him over the years in TV (he did Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, etc., back in the early 1960s, before Mission Impossible) and later in movies. He's always given good performances with a humanity and sympathy that are displayed even (to a lesser degree) in his villains. Fascinating to hear him speak; I find him most charming. He surely did deserve his Oscar.
John Landau introduced me to the actor Bela Lugosi in Ed-Wood I didn’t know anything about this Lugosi, but he definitely did justice for the actor and made me really feel for him.
Sad that Martin Landau won a Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi when Bela Lugosi was never giving the credit he deserved. He was a brillant actor who deserved better.
1994 may just be the best movie year ever, and besides the Best Picture category being stacked, the Best Supporting Actor category was too, including Gary Sinise’s excellent performance as Lt. Dan in Best Picture Forrest Gump, two great performances from Chaz Palminteri in Bullets Over Broadway, and Paul Scofield in Quiz Show (his ‘Your name is mine!’ scene with the also great Ralph Fiennes is arguably the best scene in a tremendous film), and of COURSE the utterly iconic, legendary, career-making performance by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. The proof that the late Martin Landau absolutely crushed his performance is that, while I’d likely have voted for Jackson if I had a vote, I can’t be upset with Landau winning because he truly was amazing too.
True Dracula was pretty tame, Although it came out a few years after Nosferatu and it was based on a really stagey Broadway play, Whenever I hear someone who only know Lugosi through Dracula and Ed Wood films say that Lugosi couldn't act I'll always point out some of his other films like The Island Of Lost Souls The Black Cat The Body Snatcher in those last two films Karloff and Lugosi were outstanding IMHO.
His looks and mannerisms off to a tea including the voice. He sure deserved the Oscar. Nobody could have done the jon better. Lugosi would have been proud.
i disagree about Sam Jackson should have won the award, think about it, Sam Jackson acted like... SAM JACKSON in pulp fiction he didn't play a new character or morph into an already existing person. Basically what i am saying is that he played himself, entertaining yes, but great acting? no
When I first saw "Ed Wood", I didn't recognize Landau and asked myself who was this helluva good actor (I knew him from North by NW, MI, Space). In the scene of the fight with the octopus, I couldn't retain tears.
So glad he got his Oscar. It's really touching to see an old actor get the role of his life close to the end of his career and that he recognizes it and gets recognized for it.
What's great about Mr Landau was not only his brilliant performance but his humble attitude about his tough times as an actor. He knew what Lugosi was going through (sans the drug addiction). He put his heart and soul and great talent into this role and it showed. I saw Sam Jackson recently on a talk show berating the fact that he lost his (only) Oscar chance to Mr Landau and he seemed angry and surly without acknowledging the greatness of the performance that Landau gave. Sore loser indeed! Check out Tucker: A Man and His Dream for another great Landau performance
I had the amazing most fortunate opportunity of meeting Martin Landau, at a Ralphs Supermarket, a few yrs back. I commended him on this role, congratulated him on the Oscar. He was the nicest guy. Asked if I was an actor myself. No sir, music is my art. Chatted for minute a took picture with him and split. I didn't want to cause a scene, draw any attention to him so I made it quick. As I started to leave, another couple came over, awestruck as I was, saluted him as well. (He was tall, 6 plus easily) I've met a few celebrity's along the way on the street in Los Angeles. I'll tell you the older ones, just so gracious. I'll never forget it. What a class act. RIP Mr Landau..
I know and that sucks. I mean we get Oscar's for comedies, romance, action/adventure, science fiction etc, but horror (unless you count very rare circumstances) never gets it. It's been around just as long as any other genre. Granted there's alot that suck today, but the Universal horror stars definately should have got one each. But I'm still glad for Landau. In a way he's getting more fans in today's generation for Lugosi. It made me respect him and Lugosi even more.
Yeah Karloff and Lugosi did have a rivalry but they also respected each other as professionals, I really got tired of that "Karloff is a ****sucker" line, Small wonder that both Karloff and Lugosi's families have issues with Burton and his film.
