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Bain and Landau: We wanted to be together!
Catacombs Reference LibraryTV Yearbook Number 31 (1977) p26
"We got married because we wanted to be together," Barbara says. And for most of their almost 20-year marriage, the Landaus have both been working, and very often they've been co-starring in the same show. They've already done it twice on TV; first in Mission: Impossible, and now on Space: 1999. Occasionally, there are rumours that all this togetherness is a bit much, even for Martin and Barbara; both their series led to separation rumours. Yet they are still together. Their secret, Martin says, is "We never play married." That way, he feels, it is easier to draw the line between their private and professional lives. Furthermore, on the set the Landaus insist on "separate tables." Every working day they are chauffeured to the London set of Space: 1999 in a Rolls. But once there, they go to separate dressing rooms, where they take their tea and lunch breaks separately. "We treat each other as professionals when we're working," Martin says.
"Each of us makes a little space for the other. Otherwise, it gets too clubby." It is clear that they are aware that a husband and wife team always risk their marriage when they subject it to the extra stress of two professional careers. Yet their behaviour indicates that they feel the risk can be minimized by love and concern."We started with: Be nice to the one who's working. But we are both working. So now it's just: Be nice!"
Screen Stars Volume 34 No 5 (May 1976)
Some marriages are made in heaven. But all too often that doesn't apply to show business. All too often those marriages are plagued by temperament, ego trips and jealousy. All too often the "I do's" of stars end up being dissolved in a Las Vegas courtroom. But for Martin Landau and Barbara Bain that will never be the route, for their marriage was made in heaven and is thriving in the outer space regions of Space: 1999!
Actually this couple almost never made it down the aisle, for one simple reason: they hated each other on first sight! Remembers Landau: "I thought she was an empty headed model who had a lot of nerve." And agrees Bain: "The truth is we couldn't stand each other. He hated me and I hated him. When I first saw him at the Curt Conway Acting School in New York, I wanted to throw up!"
However, those feelings didn't last long, for when Barbara and Martin met at a party less than two weeks later, she admits: "Suddenly I was in love. Martin wasn't ugly and crude. He was a very quiet and gentle man. I wanted to marry fast before some other girl found out the truth about him!"
A year later they did tie the knot, but their courtship - like their marriage - saw many a battle! Even when Martin proposed they were in the middle of a scream-fest. Says Barbara: "Just as I raised my hand to give him a real hard punch, he shouted: 'Oh hell! Why as we doing all this now when we can have more fun if we got married!'"
While some folks might think it's a bit strange that a married twosome admits publicly to their private spats, Martin and Barbara claim "We try to let the whole world know it when we are throwing pots and pans at each other. With all out might we yell as loud as we can at each other. But when things are going right, we also make violent love, too!"
Actually the Bain-Landau secret is to get all pent-up hostilities and angers out, to leave nothing seething inside to grow and grow and get out of hand. While to those who have stumbled upon the couple when in the middle of a row, it might seem that their relationship is a bit strange, a bit spaced out, Barbara and Martin think their system works. And that's all important, right?
Probably there is a lot of resent built up between the two because of their work schedule Most marrieds see each other in the morning and at night, but have their own jobs and responsibilities to take care of during the day. For Barbara and Martin, though, their marriage is a 24 hour a day one with plenty of outside pressures to add a bit more tension. They have found that tiptoeing around a situation doesn't help, so the sooner they vent their feelings the better. While it might not make for the calmest marriage, it does keep the old blood flowing and add a bit of excitement to their lives. You might say their high-voltage approach keeps the Bain-Landau home lights burning bright!
St Paul Dispatch, Tuesday 31st August 1976 p15
Tonight's Views with P.M.Clepper
Barbara Bain phoned from London last week. She and her husband, Martin Landau, are hard at work filming the second season of 'Space: 1999.'
That takes place, as the title indicates; outside of earth and about 30 years from now.
However, Miss Bain could be forgiven if she also mentioned some events 1976 England.
Such as: While we were talking, there was a fire behind the studio outside London.
It was "just a brush fire," in the Black Woods [Black Park], which, Miss Bain remarked, are now really black.
Such, a fire is no oddity to Bain, whose home,is Southern California. But England is going through a severe drought. They are not equipped here for a brush fire" she told me, "because it is usually damp and green. I was kind of looking at the sky waiting to see a fire-fighting helicopter dropping tons of chemicals on it. But, of course, there is no such thing here."
She also-reports that the unusual amount of sun has left a lot of English people with burnt, peeling noses ... another rarity.
Okay, how about "Space: 1999"
Well, more money is being spent on each episode this season, making it the most expensive regular program on the air. Much of that goes into special effects and monstrous characters. Miss Bain thinks that everybody connected with the technical aspects of the series is more attuned to their jobs after the first year, which was "the shake down."
In addition to some new characters - such as Catherine Schell as a resident alien on the moon - there is a new story editor. Miss Bain emphasized that he is an American. The implication was that he would see to it that the episodes would appeal to this vast audience over here - perhaps with more action. All Miss Bain would say, however, was that he was "tightening the stories and making them interesting".
On A Personal side, I asked about how she, her husband and children survived living half a year in England and half a year in California.
"Very well," she replied, "The children have friends in both places, which means they have revived the art of letter-writing to keep in contact."
Her children are 16 year old Susan who is now taller than her mother. and 11 year-old Julie, about whom her mother commented, "I'll have to stop calling her my little one."
They loved living In England, but the actress- admitted it was difficult sometimes, not to fall In with the English speech pattern.
"Most of our crew are Cockneys and the first weeks of the first year were tough. The first assistant would be talking, and I knew be was talking to me because he was looking right at me, but I couldn't understand him. Now I do...
"We have tea breaks here, which is a very sweet custom. I miss it when I'm in Los Angeles. I want to say, 'Hey where's the tea and biscuits ?'
Unknown publication, 1976
SPACE: 1999 is getting a new face and a new producer to lure new viewers.
The British-made series, which hoped to be the Star Trek of the 1970s but wasn't, got into ratings trouble its first season.
So Independent Television Corporation (I.T.C.) has developed a four-part formula for giving the show extra spark: Drop one character, Dr. Victor Bergman, played by Barry Morse. He will have died off-camera.
Add a beautiful space alien, Maya, who can change herself into a frog, an insect, or even a rock. Maya will be played by Catherine Schell, who appeared with Peter Sellers in Return Of The Pink Panther.
Make the two leading characters - played by husband and wife Martin Landau and Barbara Bain - more human and emotional and generate romances among all the main characters.
Try for some of the Star Trek magic by hiring Fred Freiberger, the producer who oversaw that show's plots, to do the same job for Space: 1999.
Unknown publication, 1977
Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors, Allen Ludden and Betty White, maybe Valerie Harper and Dick Schaal? Which is your favourite TV couple? Fawcett and Majors divorced in 1982, Harper and Schall divorced in 1978
One of the most successful husband and wife teams in show business is Barbara Bain and Martin Landau, although they are often left in the shadows of more spotlighted couples.
The Landaus' marriage is a success story in itself. They've been happily wed for 20 years and have two daughters, Susie, 16, and Julie, 10.
They've managed to remain side by side in their successful television careers that include co-starring in two series together.
They teamed in the well-known MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series in which Martin starred for five years and Barbara for six. Both were in the first 3 seasons, although for the first year Landau was a "special guest star"
The Landaus are filming the second season of SPACE: 1999. Martin plays Cmdr. John Koenig of Moonbase Alpha, the embattled ship that was lost in space when a thermonuclear explosion tore the moon out of Earth's orbit. Alpha isn't a "ship"
Barbara, the winner of three Emmy awards for her MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE role, plays Dr. Helena Russell, the cool and professional chief medical officer on the lunar station.
Until now, the writers have been more worried about realism than character development, but the Landaus said this year is different.
'There are lots of changes this year," Martin says, "and they're all for the better, I think. We (the crew) have more humanity, more humour. Last year we spent so much time under duress there was very "little chance to develop human relationships. "We still have crises, of course," says the 43-year-old actor. "It's still the same basic situation, but having been in space longer, we're more inclined to accept our plight," Martin assures.
One such character development is a budding romance between the commander (Martin) and the medical officer (Barbara).
"Why not?" asks Barbara, who adds that after 20 happy years of marriage, "There must be something special about him."
The Landaus loved the idea of the series from the start. "It all started literally when three people came knocking on our door," Barbara says. "They were from ITC (International Television Corp.), and they came complete with scripts, story ideas and an outline of the show. The more we talked, the more exciting the show became.
"We were both concerned about the fact that science fiction is basically a literary form, and we were afraid we couldn't produce the necessary effects to win over sci-fi fans. Thank God for Sir Lew Grade (who originally put up $6.5 million for the show's production) and the creators of the show. They have made the show look like sci-fi. First- class sci-fi."
SPACE: 1999 is now seen in 101 countries and on 155 U.S. stations. It influenced Norman Lear to try syndication with MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN, which also was turned down by the networks.
Landau wasn't upset by the differences of opinion with the networks because MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE had difficulty getting network time.
"It's easy to sell them on variety or KOJAK or BARETTA," Martin says, 'but not something new.'
The series has been phenomenally popular, and ironically Hollywood has suddenly taken a great interest in science fiction films - 16 are being made. "One of the reasons Barbara and I wanted to do this show is that we anticipated that this might happen," Martin says.
Martin took some acting assignments for a while that kept him travelling. But he didn't like it because "I missed Barbara and the girls." Now the happy couple is back together both on the screen and off.
"There's no question about it, we are each other's best friend in the whole world," Barbara coos. "There's an awful lot of luck in the fact that both Martin and I know in some crazy deep way that we're the best for each other. We lucked out!"
Space: 1999 copyright ITV Studios Global Entertainment