Mission: Impossible star Martin Landau has died, aged 89.

The Brooklyn-born actor was best known for playing secret agent Rollin Hand in the original Mission: Impossible TV series, which he starred in from 1966 to 1969.


Later in his career, Landau won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1994 film Ed Wood, which was directed by Tim Burton.

Landau originally started out as a cartoonist for the New York Daily News before moving into theatre and television acting. One of his early break-out roles came with an appearance in North By Northwest, which was directed by the iconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in 1959.

The actor starred alongside his wife Barbara Bain in Mission: Impossible for three years, but left the show in 1969 amid a financial dispute with its producers.

Landau – who also turned down the role of Spock in Star Trek (the role instead went to his friend Leonard Nimoy in 1966) – also had notable parts in Cleopatra (1963), Space: 1999 (1975-77) and the 1988 film Tucker: The Man and His Dream – which earned him an Academy Award nomination.

In memory of Martin Landau… pic.twitter.com/ioTO11qzry — Dave Vescio (@DaveVescio) July 17, 2017

The actor passed away on Saturday (July 15) in Los Angeles following “unexpected complications” after a hospital visit. His publicist Dick Guttman confirmed the death, saying: “We are overcome with sadness.”