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| Kirkland and Landau Lauded for Versatility By JERRY ROBERTS
Veteran thesps Sally Kirkland and Martin Landau both know a few things about diversity in the entertainment business. The careers of these two Hollywood survivors offer perfect blueprints for those who wish to move beyond the standard range of roles available in film and television. Both are receiving Diversity Awards this year. Something about Sally Sally Kirkland who received a best actress Oscar nomination for her role in the1987 pic "Anna," has made a wide range of offbeat characters in more than 80 movies and TV projects. The daughter of Life magazine fashion editor (also named Sally Kirkland), Kirkland began her career as a trainee at the Actors Studio and soon became an Andy Warhol Factory habitue. One of the most notable new York stage actresses of the 1960's, she seemed to work on the notion that clothing truly was optional Through the years she has performed in over 80 plays, from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" to Sam Shephard's "Curse of the Starving Class" to Vaclav Havel's "Largo Desolato." In 1973, the year her film career kicked into gear, she was equally at home in B-film czar Roger Corman's sexploitationer "The Young Nurses" as in the Academy Award-winning best picture "The Sting." Diversity in Kirkland's case is almost an insufficient word, which is why this self-described ordained minister in the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, Advisory board member for the Institute for Individual & World Peace, Stage producer, TV director, acting and yoga teacher, mentor to numerous up-and-coming minority thesps and board member of multiple childrens help groups has been selected to receive the Pinnacle Award from the Multicultural Motion Picture Assn. at this year's Diversity Awards. "When I got the letter that said that they were giving me this award, I was just blown away," says Kirkland. "Then I found out that my husband from 'EdTV,' Martin Landau, was getting the Life Time Achievement Award." This is all very personal for me. "I've hosted the awards. I was here when they
gave the Kirkland has recently had recurring roles on "Days of Our Lives" and "Felicity," and accepted California Gov. Gray Davis' recent nomination to the board of directors of the California Alliance for Arts Education to bring the arts back to schools. Life of Landau An arts institution unto himself, landau's selection for the association's Lifetime Achievement Award this year reflects the true spirit of the .Diversity Awards. "I've played everything from Adolf Hitler to Simon Wiesenthal," says Landau, who won a supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of declining horror star Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood," and was nominated for his supporting performance in Francis Ford Copal's "Tucker: The Man and His Dreams" and Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors." "I'm very grateful and it's nice to receive awards," Landau says. I'm glade they thought of me, but I always think of lifetime awards as coming at the end of a career. I'm sort of still punching it out, even after 85 films and 500 television shows." Full Resume The organization says the lifetime honor is bestowed on an artist for overall career achievement and diversity. "The great thing about this award is that it's for an appreciation of all cultures," says Landau, whose father was a Jewish emigrant from Austria, his mother a fifth-generation New Yorker. "It is recognition of the contributions of all people in our society, this melange of races, religions, nationalities." Mixing stage, TV and film work in the late 1950's, Landau was gaining notoriety for his work on such small-screen Westerns as "Maverick," "Gunsmoke" and " Wagon Train" when he appeared in 1959 among the ensemble as a G.I. in the Korean War film "Pork Chop Hill" and made a clear impression as one of the heavies in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest." Landau co-starred with his then-wife, Barbara Bain, in "Mission: Impossible," from 1966-69. The veteran of dozens of TV movies, Landau more recently was seen in the features "Mistress," "Silver," "City Hall," Rounders," "EdTV," and "The X-Files" feature. The talented thesp's upcoming projects include his return as Geppetto in "The New Adventures of Pinocchio," directed by Michael Anderson, and the indie pics "Carlo's Wake" and "The Joyriders." Return to Sally Kirkland's ARTICLES
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Article Reprinted from Friday October 8, 1999 DAILY VARIETY |
