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by Cecil Smith, Los Angeles Times part IV p29, 17 June 1974. Cecil Smith was an influential TV critic and former writer, who appeared as himself in a 1970 episode of Here's Lucy (he was related by marriage to Lucille Ball). As such he was invited to the UK to see filming of Guardian Of Piri in May 1974. Robert Vaughn's experience of working in England was on Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's previous series.
See also Love Blossoms in Outer Space by Cecil Smith, Los Angeles Times, 8 September 1976.
LONDON-Robert Vaughn, who spent two years in England making the half-hour syndicated adventure series the Protectors, said not long ago that between the morning tea breaks and the lunch breaks and the afternoon tea breaks and the refusal of crews to work overtime, he figured that Martin Landau and Barbara Bain would be five years doing the 26 hour programs for their new British series, Space: 1999.
So I went out to Pinewood to see how the Landaus were progressing.
I found Martin clad in a Rudi Gernreich futuristic jumpsuit in the control room of a piece of the moon that was hurtling into deep space. Studying the dials on a massive control board was Barry Morse, who used to chase the Fugitive. Onto the bridge came an exquisite female clad in a few wisps of gossamer and some strategically placed baubles.
"He's going to destroy her-the more fool he," whispered a voice at my shoulder. "That's not like Martin!"
Barbara Bain was smiling beside me. She was wearing a jumpsuit exactly like her husband's. The future, according to this series, is unisex. That's not like Gernreich.
The Landaus say Vaughn is all wet; they're progressing in fine style on the series and having a ball doing it. Admittedly, they take 12 shooting days per hour episode when they used to do Mission Impossible in six (and Morse did Fugitive in five).
"Sometimes it gets a bit frustrating when a scene is really rolling and suddenly the tea lady appears and all work stops," said Barbara. "But then without that six-day pressure and those long overtime sessions, we spend more time with our children than we've ever spent - we spend more time living..."
The Landaus are the latest in a parade of American stars who have crossed the Atlantic to do TV series- Shirley MacLaine, Tony Curtis, Robert Wagner, Gene Barry, Vaughn. Most have come home licking their wounds though Wagner's Colditz is a hit abroad and Curtis' Persuaders did well everywhere but America. What lured the Landaus to try?
"We were sitting at home last August," said Martin, "when a couple came to the door and introduced them- selves as Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and said they produce television in England and wanted us for their new series. They dropped off a script of Space: 1999.
"With that unorthodox approach, it would have been uncivil not to at least read the script. We read it. We loved it. Great fun. A month later, I was in England looking for a house and entering the girls (Sue, 13; Juliet, 9) in the American School while Barbara was closing up the place here and packing
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson built a considerable reputation with their "Supermarionation" puppet series (Fireball XL-5, Stingray, Thunderbirds) and shifted into science fiction with the syndicated series UFO which did well both in American and abroad. Space: 1999 with special effects by Doug Trumbull [Brian Johnson] (2001: A Space Odyssey) is its successor-a high-budget series aimed at a network spot for the 1975-76 season.
Landau said one thing he admires about the series is that though it is science-fiction futuristic adventure, its roots are in the present.
"I play a guy born in 1959," he said. "I can remember the assassination of Kennedy. As a kid I watched the first landings on the moon on TV.
"I grew up to be an astronaut and now, at 40, I'm a commander who has been sent to take over our underground moon base. We use the moon in 1999 as a garbage dump for atomic waste and this base handles the operation. We're space garbage men...
"But the atomic waste blows up, flinging the chunk of moon on which our base is located out of the earth's orbit flying into deep space. Barbara is the medical resident aboard and Barry the science director. There are about 300 of us in all."
Added Barbara: "We have no idea what's happened on earth-we have lost all contact. We're really searching through space for another planet to settle on - we're explorers.
"Martin and I met in the first episode. As the English say, we fancy each other. Things develop as the series develops."
The current contract with Sir Lew Grade's ATV Studios calls for 26 shows [24], but as far as Barbara and Martin are concerned they would like to go on flying through space as long as the material holds out. The series is filmed in the elegant Pinewood; the director is Charles Crichton, who directed that classic of a generation ago, The Lavender Hill Mob.
Crichton called Martin back to destroying that exquisite space damsel (Katherine Schell). I gathered she was really a robot who had come to spy on them. But it did seem a shame...
Caption: BARBARA BAIN AND MARTIN LANDAU ... futuristic adventures in merry olde England.
The clipping was sent to Martin Landau and Barbara Bain from someone at IFA, their agency, with the following letter. More from Hollywood publicist Frank Liberman below. IFA, International Famous Agency, was the largest talent agency at the time, and has been through various names; it was originally Ted Ashley and Associates (1945), Ashley-Famous (1964), and IFA in 1968. In 1975 it became ICM (International Creative Management), and was finally taken over by CAA (Creative Artists Agency) in 2022. Agencies typically take 10% of what the actor earns.
June 17, 1974.
Dear Barbara & Marty,
Frank Lieberman called me this morning to tell me he saw you both in London and that everything seemed to be going very smoothly. He also told me that you wouldn't be back til next year.
Know that we talk about you all the time, and I personally miss our conversations. Hopefully I'll be there some time before the year is out and will look forward to seeing you.
I'm sure you've already received a copy of the enclosed CECIL SMITH article, but if not, here it is for your scrap book.
I know how busy you are, but if you ever have a moment, please send me a note and some juicy scandal.
Love to you both and your children.
by Shirley Eder, Detroit Free Press and syndicated column, 22 June 1974
"WHATEVER happened to - Barbara Bain and Martin Landau?" This question keeps cropping up in the mail. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Landau who were stars on Mission Impossible are living and working in England. They have been filming 24 episodes of a. futuristic TV series called Space 1999. They started making the series in October 1973 and will not finish until next June. That's the leisurely pace of TV in London. Twenty four hour-long shows made in America could be completed in less than four months.
The Landaus have a great deal going for them in Space 1999, included in their contract is the daily use of a chauffeured Rolls Royce. When word of this arrangement reaches their actor pals in Hollywood the slogan will be "Anyone for Britain?"
The clipping was sent to Martin Landau and Barbara Bain by Frank Liberman. Liberman (1917-2009) was a Hollywood publicist, particularly known for representing Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller. He had evidently fed the information to Shirley Eder after a visit to the Landaus in Britain.
FROM THE DESK OF FRANK LIBERMAN June 27, 1974
Dear Barbara and Marty:
This isn't exactly how I told this, but it's a reasonable facsimile.
Shirley Eder is very big now and is syndicated in Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Detroit, etc. There have been several requests for pix of you both in your "Space 1999" outfits or as you appear now. If you wish, send me some shots.
I dreamed about "The Compleat Angler" in Marlow last night. Thanks for mentioning it.
Fondly, Frank
The Compleat Angler is hotel and restaurant on the banks of the Thames at Marlow Weir, not far from Heathrow Airport. It is named after a supposed association with Izaak Walton, author of the 1653 book of that name.
Space: 1999 copyright ITV Studios Global Entertainment