Influenced by Charlie Chaplin and the escapism of the cinema, Landau pursued an acting career.
He attended the Actors Studio, becoming good friends with James Dean.
He recalled, "James Dean was my best friend.
We were two young would-be and still-yet-to-work unemployed actors, dreaming out loud and enjoying every moment ... We'd spend lots of time talking about the future, our craft and our chances of success in this newly different, ever-changing modern world we were living in."
He was also in the same class as Steve McQueen.

In 1957, he made his Broadway debut in Middle of the Night.
Landau made his first major film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) as Leonard, the right-hand man of a criminal portrayed by James Mason.
He had featured roles in two 1960s epics, Cleopatra (1963) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and played a ruthless killer in the Western action adventure prequel Nevada Smith (1965) starring Steve McQueen.
Influenced by Charlie Chaplin and the escapism of the cinema, Landau pursued an acting career. He attended the Actors Studio, becoming good friends with James Dean. He recalled, "James Dean was my best friend. We were two young would-be and still-yet-to-work unemployed actors, dreaming out loud and enjoying every moment ... We'd spend lots of time talking about the future, our craft and our chances of success in this newly different, ever-changing modern world we were living in." He was also in the same class as Steve McQueen.
In 1957, he made his Broadway debut in Middle of the Night. Landau made his first major film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) as Leonard, the right-hand man of a criminal portrayed by James Mason. He had featured roles in two 1960s epics, Cleopatra (1963) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and played a ruthless killer in the Western action adventure prequel Nevada Smith (1965) starring Steve McQueen.
Martin Landau