Barbara Bain's story of her marriage:

"My husband nearly killed a man because of me"

By Helen Hendricks

Martin Landau has a violent temper. When something displeases him, he will surely let you know about it and take action. When he sees a wrong done to someone, he will take personal offence. This is especially true in the case of his beautiful wife, Barbara Bain. Sometimes these erratic moods of Martin's frighten Barbara. She doesn't know just when he'll flare up and make a scene. As she said, "One moment I know my husband very well - and the next moment, he surprises me. I'm never quite sure what to expect." Barbara particularly recalls one instance when her husband got so enraged over an incident which involved her, he almost killed a man! She shudders when she things of it; how someone could have been killed because of her and her very protective husband. It happened the night they decided to go to the theatre. They both looked quite handsome, all dressed up for their evening out and both were in a jovial mood. Arriving at the theatre, they were seated immediately. Waiting for the performance to start, they engaged in idle chatter when all of a sudden it happened. A man sitting not too far away from them made a gesture of a somewhat offensive nature to Barbara. Of course Barbara was upset but Martin was beyond reason. The jovial mood he was in just a few seconds before instantly disappeared and was replaced by an uncontrolled anger. Before anyone knew what was happening, Martin had jumped fomr his seat and leaped over to the startled man. Being quite strong, he picked him up and tossed him over six rows. That's right, six whole rows! A tremendous commotion arose and everyone ran over to the unnerved man to see if he was akoay. Fortunately, aside from the severe shock of being thrown over half-dozen rows of seats, he was not injured. But the fact remains that when Martin performed this unrestrained act, he did not know what physical harm would come to this man, and frankly, at that moment of rage, he couldn't have cared less. It could very easily have happened that the man might have hit his head on the edge of one of the seats or broken a few bones. Aside from being severly injured, he could have even been killed .Luckily, he wasn't. Barbara loves her husband with all her heart and it's quite obvious how Martin feels about her. So strong is his love for Barbara that he nearly killed a man because of it.

          That was but one instance when Martin came into physical contact with someone for saying or doing something unkind to Barbara. There were others. Not as extreme as the first, but just as harrowing. Take the time Barbara and Martin were taking a walk and decided to stop at the corner newsstand to buy a magazine. As Barbara was carefully thumbing through one of the magazines to see which one she wanted to buy, the man behind the counter became annoyed. "Look, either buy it or don't," he said in a rude, arrogant tone. Immediately Martin became incensed. He reached down, grabbed the man by his shirt front and lifted him off the ground. Since the man had been behind the counter, they couldn't tell just how tall he was. But as soon as Martin lifted him up, they both saw he was only about five feet tall. In a split second, Martin put him down. He's a six-footer and definitely not a match for a man barely five feet tall. So, nothing drastic happened in this event, but had the man been taller and ready to match muscles with Martin, who knows what might have occurred.

          Aside from his occasional flare-ups, Martin can be a very gentle person. Especially so with their two daughters: Susan, who's almost six, and Juliet, who is three. Said Barbara, "Martin is a demanding father. He's strict, yet gentle at the same time. He's a sentimental man, easily moved. He cares and feels deeply and is extraordinarily compassionate." Martin is also quite even tempered on the set of Mission: Impossible, where they both work. He gets along just swell with all the cast and crew members, provided they stay in line with Barbara, and they hardly ever see his violent side. Once, though, he was scheduled to portray the role of Adolph Hitler. He performed so well, he was absolutely terrifying. The crew had never seen him in that state before. But Barbara had, many a time. As Barbara said of his temper, "He can get angrier quicker than anyone - you can see it happen right before your eyes. But mainly his anger occurs if someone offends me - and that's very sweet."

          Martin has a marvelous sense of his humor is evident, but there are certain instances that stand out more vividly in Barbara's mind than others. One day, about a week after they first me, they were walking down the street and Martin said something so funny, they both couldn't stop laughing for about 20 minutes. Another time they were driving to work and all of a sudden Martin thought about something that had happened to them awhile back and started to laugh. Barbara soon joined in and they didn't stop until they arrived at the studio. When they were first married, they didn't have much money and at one point hardly any food. They were fixing breakfast when they realized all they had in the house was a box of corn flakes and a bottle of champagne that someone had given them. So what did Martin do? Got the champagne, poured it in their bowls of corn flakes and they had breakfast after all. These things might not appear so funny to others, but to the Landaus they have special meaning. It's the little things, the thing that have personal meaning to the two of them that generate warmth and understanding and Martin has a certain way of bringing them out.

Hate at first sight might be an accurate description of the Landau-Bain relationship. Barbara and Martin met when they were both attending acting school in New York. She thought he was stuck-up, too serious and stuffy. He had some unkind words for her too, namely, that she was silly, empty-headed and should forget acting and stick to modelling. (After coming to New York from her native Chicago, Barbara was a high-fashion model and within a year ranked as one of the town's top fashion mannequins. She then became interested in acting.)

          But people do have a right to change their minds and these two sure did. About a week after their first meeting, they met again at a party. Somehow things were different now. They started talking to each other and they really found each other quite interesting. In fact, they talked from ten that evening until four the next morning. And thus was the start of their tomance. So, one can say, it might have been hate at first sight but it certainly turned into love at second sight.

          About a year and a half later, they decided to get married. Martin never actually proposed but used to drop little hints. Like he would buy one record or one book and say it was for the both of them. And this was enough of a hint to Barbara. One morning Martin was free from rehearsal from a play he was doing and at the spur of the moment, they decided to get married, right there and then. They sped over to Manhattan's Municipal Building and had a civil ceremony. It was so unromantic that after they sealed their vows with a kiss, both went their separate ways. Martin went to rehearsal and Barbara had an acting class to attend. Actually, they did plan on getting married but not as soon as they had. On February 10, 1957, exactly ten days after their first ceremony, they had another one. This time a sacred Jewish ceremony and everything was beautiful; just as they both had dreamed a wedding would be. Their families were present and Barbara wore a traditional long white gown and looked ravishing. We really can't blame the elevator operator for looking so startled, though, when he saw Barbara and Martin leave the apartment building dressed as a bride and groom. For, after all, hadn't they already been living in their apartment for ten days as man and wife? Everything, however, was fully explained to him afterwards. To this day, Barbara and Martin celebrate their anniversary on the date of their civil ceremony but their families recognize the date of the religious one.

          Having two careers in the same family doesn't interfere at all with the Landau's happy marriage. They knew they both would have their own careers and before marrying, the only concession they made was never to let their jobs separate them for any long period of time. Once, Barbara had to turn down an offer with a motion picture studio because it meant she would have to be away from Martin. It was decided, though, that if Barbara really had a terrific opportunity which required her to travel, Martin would go along, and vice versa. And so that little agreement made before their wedding has kept them extremely happy during their 11 years of married life.

          Barbara and Martin were signed independently to Mission: Impossible, Barbara was signed first. She was entirely satisfied being a part-time actress until Bruce Geller, creator of Misison, suggested she audition for the part of Cinnamon Carter. "I wanted a sexy broad who was still very much a lady and Barbara was perfect," said Geller. After she was signed, Martin came on as a special guest. But he has appeared so often as a recurring guest star, he is now the show's male lead. Do any problems arise since they're together on screen as well as off? As Barbara happily stated, "Working together is wonderful. We never get tired of working together. It's like - delicious." That should answer the question.

          Martin and Barbara were both nominated for Emmys for their roles in Mission and Barbara walked off with the honors. Barbara said she hadn't felt so excited since her wedding day. Surprised is quite an understatement in describing her reaction that evening. She was sure she wasn't going to win and when they called her name, she thought the name called was Barbara Stanwyck and not Barbara Bain. As elated as she was over winning the Emmy, Barbara only wished Martin could have gotten one too. He didn't, but Martin didn't feel slighted in the least. He was as proud as he could he when his wife won the award. As he said, "I had a feeling of total joy. She deserved the award. As one of my wife's first acting teachers, it gave me great satisfaction to see her win." There is no competition of jealousy in this family. None whatsoever. "We respect each other's competence," said Barbara, "and we let things come as they will."

          Life with Martin has been just wonderful for Barbara. Without him, her life would have been totally incomplete. True, he could be moody, demanding, and at times display a violent temper. But if he were always predictable, wouldn't life be quite dull? Yes, Barbara knows his faults and she knows that she can't change him. And, she doesn't want to either. Because that's why she married Martin. "He still has all the fabulous qualities I originally fell in love with," Barbara mused.

                So, even if he does get a bit overwrought at times and a little uncontrollable, it's only because he loves Barbara so much and can't bear to have her provoked or upset about anything. A truly happy couple are these two, and so complementary to each other that they consider themselves one.