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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 18 July 2017
Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau dies at 89

By DAISY NGUYEN didn’t play — the pointy- as the adulterous husband
Associated Press eared starship Enterprise in Woody Allen’s “Crimes
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mar- science officer, Mr. Spock. and Misdemeanors.”
tin Landau, the chame- “Star Trek” creator Gene His third nomination was
leon-like actor who gained Rodenberry had offered for “Ed Wood,” director
fame as the crafty master him the half-Vulcan, half- Tim Burton’s affectionate
of disguise in the 1960s TV human who attempts to rid tribute to a man widely
show “Mission: Impossible,” his life of all emotion. Lan- viewed as the worst Holly-
then capped a long and dau turned it down. wood filmmaker of all time.
versatile career with an “A character without emo- “There was a 10-year pe-
Oscar for his poignant por- tions would have driven me riod when everything I did
trayal of aging horror mov- crazy; I would have had to was bad. I’d like to go back
ie star Bela Lugosi in 1994’s be lobotomized,” he ex- and turn all those films into
“Ed Wood,” has died. He plained in 2001. Instead, guitar picks,” Landau said
was 89. he chose “Mission: Impos- after accepting his Oscar.
Landau died Saturday of sible,” and Leonard Nimoy In “Ed Wood,” he portrayed
unexpected complications went on to everlasting Lugosi during his final years,
during a short stay at UCLA fame as Spock. when the Hungarian-born
Medical Center, his publi- Ironically, Nimoy replaced actor who had become
cist Dick Guttman said. Landau on “Mission: Impos- famous as Count Dracula
“Mission: Impossible,” sible.” was ill, addicted to drugs
which also starred Lan- After a brief but impressive and forced to make films
dau’s wife, Barbara Bain, Broadway career, Landau with Ed Wood just to pay
became an immediate had made an auspicious his bills.
hit upon its debut in 1966. film debut in the late 1950s, A gifted mimic trained
It remained on the air un- playing a soldier in “Pork In this March 2, 2014, file photo, Martin Landau arrives at the 24th in method acting, Lan-
til 1973, but Landau and Chop Hill” and a villain in Night of 100 Stars Oscars Viewing Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel dau had thoroughly re-
in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Bain left at the end of the the Alfred Hitchcock clas- Associated Press searched the role.
show’s third season amid a sic “North By Northwest.” “I watched about 35 Lugosi
financial dispute with the He enjoyed far less success for more than a decade, in “Tucker: The Man and his movies, including ones that
producers. They starred in after “Mission: Impossible,” reaching its nadir with his Dream,” the 1988 Francis were worse than anything
the British-made sci-fi series however, finding he had appearance in the 1981 TV Ford Coppola film that gar- Ed Wood ever made,” he
“Space: 1999” from 1975 to been typecast as Rollin movie “The Harlem Globe- nered Landau his first Oscar recalled in 2001. “Despite
1977. Hand, the top-secret mis- trotters on Gilligan’s Island.” nomination. the trash, he had a certain
Landau might have been sion team’s disguise wizard. He began to find redemp- He was nominated again dignity about him, whatev-
a superstar but for a role he His film career languished tion with a sympathetic role the next year for his turn er the role.”q

With Clooney assist, U.S. aid groups team up on Africa crisis

SEATTLE (AP) — Eight of the or the U.S. arms of inter- nations each from the Pep- the campaign. in aid to the four hardest-
world’s biggest aid groups national charities — are siCo Foundation and the Conflicts have disrupted hit countries. That brought
are joining together in a banding together in a investment firm BlackRock, farming and driven millions the total U.S. assistance to
new campaign to get fundraising appeal launch- with additional corporate of people from their homes the four countries to more
more attention in the U.S. ing this week. The Global sponsors that include Twit- in some of the affected than $1.8 billion this fiscal
for what the United Nations Emergency Response Co- ter and Google. countries, while drought year, according to the U.S.
calls the world’s largest hu- alition ‘s effort is backed by Actor George Clooney is a factor elsewhere. The Agency for International
manitarian crisis in more $1 million in matching do- narrated a video pitch for hardest hit countries are Development.
than 70 years. Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria But hunger-relief advo-
More than 20 million peo- and South Sudan. cates noted that the newly
ple are at risk of famine in Cattle carcasses littered announced aid had been
nine African nations and the land and children were approved by Congress
Yemen, according to the dying of hunger when months ago before being
United Nations. But Richard Stearns visited nomadic held up by the Trump ad-
Stearns, president of Feder- herders in northern Kenya ministration.
al Way, Washington-based last month. A World Vision Trump’s proposed deep
World Vision, says the situ- nutrition center had only cuts to foreign aid — more
ation has been overshad- two nurses trying to offer than 30 percent — have
owed amid the controver- supplemental feeding to caused widespread con-
sies surrounding President hundreds of malnourished cern.
Donald Trump’s adminis- children. Deepmala Mahla, the
tration. “I don’t often feel helpless South Sudan country direc-
“We have seen that Amer- as a World Visions presi- tor for Oregon-based Mer-
ica is very distracted, and dent, but I am feeling kind cy Corps, said she plans to
I think you have another of helpless right now,” Stea- call for increasing the aid
phenomena — that some rns said in a video report, when she testifies before
Americans are just so fed choking back tears. a Senate subcommittee
up with the news,” Stearns In this Sept. 12, 2016, file photo, actors George Clooney, left, Early this month, the United Tuesday.
told The Seattle Times . and Don Cheadle listen during a news conference to discuss States, the world’s larg- “My message will be, “Peo-
an investigation about corruption in South Sudan at the National
Instead of competing for Press Club in Washington. est donor of humanitarian ple are dying, this is not
donations, the organiza- Associated Press assistance, announced it the time to talk about aid
tions — U.S.-based groups would send $630 million cuts,’” Mahla said.q