Mart Land on His Relatnship Wh Marilyn Monroe, Playg Gay for Hchck, and His Osrs Triumph

GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS
MART LAND: 'I CHOSE TO PLAY LEONARD AS GAY'
MART LAND ON HIS RELATNSHIP WH MARILYN MONROE, PLAYG GAY FOR HCHCK, AND HIS OSRS TRIUMPHR.I.P.THE OSR-WNG ACTOR MART LAND, WHO DIED SUNDAY AT 89, HAD A ROLLERASTER ACTOR’S LIFE AND A FASCATG RELATNSHIP WH ONE OF THE MOST INIC ACTRS OF ALL TIME.TIM TEEMANSENR EDOR AND WRERUPDATED JUL. 17, 2017 9:48AM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 17, 2017 1:00AM EDT PHOTO ILLTRATN BY LYNE LUCIEN/THE DAILY BEASTFOR MART LAND, THE TURNG POT ME WHEN HE FOUND HIMSELF WATCHG THE 1984 AMY AWARDS, “HAVG A BEER MY UNRWEAR, SAYG: ‘I SHOULD BE THERE.’”IN 2012, LAND—THEN 84—RELLED THIS TO ME AN TERVIEW FOR THE TIM OF LONDON AS THE MOMENT HE KNEW HE WANTED TO SAVE HIS REER. STARRG ROL AS A HCHCK VILLA OR THE TV SERI OF MISSN: IMPOSSIBLE WERE LOST TO THE MISTS OF TIME. AGENTS HAD TOLD LAND HE WAS “FISHED.”“IT WAS TRATG. I KNEW WHAT I WAS ABLE TO DO, I WAS AT THE HEIGHT OF MY POWERS BUT NO ONE WAS GIVG ME THE CHANCE,” THE CHARMG AND WRY LAND TOLD ME. AND SO HIS FIGHTBACK BEGAN, NOT SIMPLY FOR REGNN AND GLORY, BUT ALSO JT TO ACT—HIS TE AND ABIDG PASSN. THE REER OF THE AMY AWARD-WNG ACTOR—WHO DIED SUNDAY AT 89 AFTER UNEXPECTED PLITNS DURG A STAY AT THE UCLA MEDIL CENTER—SPANNED MANY GENERATNS, MANY PEAKS AND TROUGHS, AND MANY CHARACTERS ON OUR TV AND CEMA SCREENS. PERHAPS YOU REMEMBER HIM AS ROLL HAND THE ORIGAL TV SERI OF MISSN: IMPOSSIBLE (FOR WHICH LAND WON A TV GOLN GLOBE FOR BT MALE TV STAR 1968), OR—AS IS FOR ME—THE TUNIC-WEARG SILVER FOX COMMANR JOHN KOENIG THE 1970S DRAMA SPACE: 1999. YET, AS THAT 1984 NADIR SHOWED, LAND’S REER WAS UNEVEN TO SAY THE LEAST, GOG OM PLAYG THE VILLA ALED HCHCK’S NORTH BY NORTHWT (1959)—WHICH HE LATER TOLD ME HE LIBERATELY PLAYED AS A GAY MAN—TO A ROLE THE 1981 TV MOVIE THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS ON GILLIGAN’S ISLAND. MICHAEL PUTLAND/GETTY IMAG THE SER MOVIE AWARDS ME LATER LAND’S LIFE, AFTER HE HAD ROED HIMSELF OM THE MID-1980S DOLDMS. FIRST ME A GOLN GLOBE FOR BT SUPPORTG ACTOR, AND AN OSR NOMATN, FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS A FANCIER FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM (1988). LAND’S SEND OSR NOMATN ME FOR PLAYG A SHIFTY AND PANICKED ADULTERER WOODY ALLEN’S CRIM AND MISMEANORS (1989). HE FALLY WON THE BT SUPPORTG ACTOR OSR FOR HIS ROLE AS HORROR MOVIE STAR BELA LUGOSI TIM BURTON’S ED WOOD (1994), AND HE WON THE RRPONDG GOLN GLOBE FOR THAT TOO, AS WELL AS MANY OTHER LRELS. LAND ALSO AMASSED SIX EMMY NOMATNS, CLUDG ONE FOR APPEARG ENTOURAGE. TOUCHSTONE PICTUR/SUNSET BOULEVARD/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAG “IT WAS LIKE AN OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE,” LAND TOLD ME OF WNG THE OSR. THERE ARE WONRFUL PICTUR OF HIM KISSG THE STATUETTE AND GIVG A HUMBLE SALUTE AS HE HOLDS . THAT HUY, AND A GENTLENS, WAS EVINT THE DAY WE MET. JEFF HAYNES/AFP/GETTY IMAG “I FELT I KNEW LUGOSI,” LAND TOLD ME. “LIKE HIM I HAD WORKED FOR GOOD DIRECTORS AND TERRIBLE DIRECTORS. I WENT THKG I WAS GOG TO HAVE A NICE DNER AND PROBABLY BE MISERABLE AT THE END OF THE NIGHT.”“WHEN I W YOU N SEE SAMUEL L. JACKSON [NOMATED FOR PULP FICTN] SAY ‘SH,’ PROBABLY THE MOST HONT REACTN ONE N HAVE.”WHEN I MET LAND 2012, WAS NNECTED TO BURTON’S FRANKENWEENIE, THE FIRST BLACK AND WHE ANIMATN SHOT 3-D, WHICH HAD JT BEEN RELEASED. IN WHAT WAS A REMAKE OF A 1984 BURTON SHORT FILM, LAND VOICED A SCIENCE TEACHER WHO, BY ELECTROCUTG A AD OG TO LIFE, SPIRED A 10-YEAR-OLD VICTOR FRANKENSTE ’60S AMERIN SUBURBIA TO REANIMATE HIS BELOVED AD DOG.NATURALLY, CHAOS OF THE IC AND FAIRLY GOME KD ENSUED, ALL THE MAGNIFICENTLY WEIRD VISNS OF BURTON DISTILLED TO A UNIQUE FORMAT; THE 3-D ELEMENT MAKG PARTICULARLY EYE-POPPG FOR CEMA DIENC. LAND WAS HAPPY: THOUGH HE WAS A WELL-KNOWN NAME, HIS FAME WAS NOT OF THE SUPERSONIC KD ENJOYED BY HIS ONE-TIME BT IEND JAM DEAN OR HIS ONE-TIME PARAMOUR MARILYN MONROE. LAND WAS A LK TO OLD HOLLYWOOD, AND AFTER A REER THAT ZIG-ZAGGED AROUND FILM AND TV, HIS LATER YEARS HE FALLY GAED CRIL LNIZATN.AND SO, OF URSE, LAND HAD TAL TO TELL A NONSCRIPT NFERENCE ROOM OF HIS AGENT DICK GUTTMAN’S LOS ANGEL OFFICE, ALL HIS MAGNIFICENTLY GRAVELLY VOICE. HE WAS BOTH WARM, WONRFUL PANY AND A NDID RANTR.MEETG MARILYNHE HAD MET MONROE—SHE A UPLE OF YEARS HIS SENR—UNR LEE STRASBERG AT THE ACTORS STUD NEW YORK. “SHE WAS THERE BEE SHE WAS DISSATISFIED,” LAND TOLD ME. “PEOPLE PERCEIVED HER AS A HOLLYWOOD BLON BIMBO. SHE WAS VERY NEEDY AND WOULD GO OM BEG ON TOP OF HER GAME TO ABSOLUTELY BEREFT OF ANY SELF-BELIEF OR NFINCE. SHE SEE-SAWED BETWEEN THOSE TWO PERSONALI.”LAND TOLD ME THAT WHEN HE AND MONROE WOULD GO TO THE THEATER, SHE WOULD CHANGE HER OUTFS MANY TIM. “WE’D NEVER SEE THE FIRST ACT OF THE PLAY.”I ASKED IF HE SIRED HER. “SHE WAS TERRIFIC... I DON’T TALK ABOUT THOSE THGS,” HE REPLIED QUIETLY. DID HE HAVE A RELATNSHIP WH HER, I ASKED. “I HAD A RELATNSHIP WH HER. IT WAS JT BEFORE ARTHUR [MILLER, THE PLAYWRIGHT; HE AND MONROE MARRIED 1956]. IT WAS AN TERTG RELATNSHIP, I LOOK AT VERY DIFFERENTLY THAN THE WAY I DID THEN. SHE WAS CREDIBLY ATTRACTIVE BUT VERY DIFFICULT.”I ASKED HOW HE PED WH THAT. “YOU N’T. THAT’S WHY I DIDN’T.” IT LASTED “SEVERAL MONTHS,” HE SAID, HE NOT ABLE TO NEGOTIATE THE POL OF HER PERSONALY. “YEAH, YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHICH ONE WOULD SHOW UP THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHG.” I ASKED IF HE END THE RELATNSHIP. “I DID, BY BEG MORE BY.” WAS SHE UPSET BY THAT? “I DON’T KNOW, PROBABLY. I DIDN’T WANT TO UPSET HER.” BEE SHE WAS AGILE? “Y. I BIED MYSELF WH OTHER THGS.”AFTER THE RELATNSHIP END, LAND AND MONROE SAW EACH OTHER “A UPLE OF TIM PASSG” NEW YORK AND LOS ANGEL, HE TOLD ME.I ASKED LAND IF HE WAS LOVE WH MONROE. “I DON’T KNOW IF I WAS LOVE WH HER OR FASCATED BY HER OR FLATTERED BY HER. SHE WAS CREDIBLY ATTRACTIVE AND FUN TO BE WH MUCH OF THE TIME. WHEN SHE WASN’T SHE WASN’T. I MEAN, THAT WAS THE PROBLEM. SHE ULD GET VERY WHDRAWN.” DID HE WANT TO MARRY HER, I ASKED. “NO, NO. IT WAS ALMOST A FORM OF PURGATORY. I NEVER KNEW WHO [IE, WHICH MARILYN] I WAS GOG TO BE WH.” LAND TOLD ME HE HAD BEEN CHANGG PLAN ROME 1962 WHEN HE READ THAT MONROE HAD DIED. “I WAS HEARTBROKEN. AS THE MYSTERY UNFOLD I WAS MORE AND MORE SHOCKED. IT DIDN’T SEEM POSSIBLE THAT SHE KILLED HERSELF TENTNALLY. IT WAS POSSIBLE SHE TOOK MORE BARBURAT THAN NECSARY, JT LOSG UNT, OR POSSIBLY WAS FOUL PLAY. NOBODY KNOWS.”‘MART, YOU HAVE A CIRC GOG ON INSI YOU’LAND GREW UP BROOKLYN: HIS FATHER HAD BEEN A MACHIST; HIS MOTHER, HE TOLD ME, TOOK HIM TO THE MOVI. HE WAS SENSIVE, AND LOVED ACTG AND DRAWG. WHEN HE LISTENED TO RAD DRAMAS LIKE THE SHADOW WH ORSON WELL, “ALLOWED YOU TO CREATE A SET OF IMAG AND CHARACTERS.”LAND STUDIED ART AT THE PRATT INSTUTE AND BEME A RTOONIST FOR THE DAILY NEWS NEW YORK. (“TIM AND I WORK WELL TOGETHER,” LAND SAID OF BURTON. “I UNRSTAND HIM, WE BOTH STARTED AS RTOONISTS.”)LAND QU THAT JOB AFTER SEEG A IEND ACT AND CIDG HE ULD DO BETTER. HE ATTEND THE ACTORS STUD (STEVE MCQUEEN WAS A FELLOW STUNT), AND LATER HE BEME S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TUTORG SUCH STARS AS JACK NICHOLSON AND ANJELI HTON. HE HEAD THE HOLLYWOOD BRANCH UNTIL HIS ATH. HCHCK SAW LAND’S STAGE PERFORMANCE PADDY CHAYEFSKY’S MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND ST HIM NORTH BY NORTHWT (1959), SAYG: “MART, YOU HAVE A CIRC GOG ON SI YOU. OBVLY IF YOU N DO THAT PART YOU N PLAY THIS LTLE TRKET.” IN THE MOVIE, LAND’S CHARACTER WANTS TO GET RID OF EVA MARIE SAT’S BEE, LAND CID, HIS CHARACTER “HAD TO BE GAY; SHE WAS TERFERG WH HIS RELATNSHIP” WH JAM MASON’S CHARACTER. “I MA SUBTLE; I KNEW BIG CI THEY’D GET . HCH LOVED . PEOPLE TOLD ME: ‘DON’T PLAY GAY. IT WILL AFFECT YOUR REER.’ I SAID: ‘I’M AN ACTOR.’” METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER HE RELLED TO ME MEETG HIS IEND JAM DEAN—“HE WAS A FARM BOY, I WAS A NEW YORKER”—AT AN OPEN STG LL. DEAN ASKED HIM HOW THE PROCS WORKED, AND LAND, OBSERVG HOW DIFFERENT THEY LOOKED, DUCED THEY WOULD NOT PETE FOR ROL. REGARDG MONROE AND DEAN’S EARLY ATHS, LAND TOLD ME: “IT’S SO HARD BEE EVERYONE ELSE I’VE KNOWN WHO DIED GOT OLD—THEY’RE BOTH OZEN TIME.”LAND WAS MARRIED TO THE ACTRS BARBARA BA OM 1957 UNTIL THEIR DIVORCE 1993: A “NATURAL END,” HE TOLD ME. THEY HAD MET AT AN ACTG CLASS, AND SPACE: 1999 FANS WILL REMEMBER THEY STARRED OPPOSE EACH OTHER THAT SHOW. (THEY HAD FIRST STARRED ALONGSI ONE ANOTHER MISSN: IMPOSSIBLE.) LAND IS SURVIVED BY BA AND THEIR TWO DGHTERS SIE AND JULIET. SILVER SCREEN COLLECTN/GETTY IMAG FACG AGEISM HOLLYWOODLAND CHERISHED HIS LATE-REER RENAISSANCE. “AGEISM IS SOMETHG THAT DO EXIST,” HE TOLD DEADLE APRIL. “AS A YOUNG ACTOR, I WAS WORKG MUCH MORE READILY, AND BEG OFFERED MORE THGS. I DON’T LIKE TO DO WHAT I LL ‘THE GNTERS’—A CHARACTER WHO SS AT A TABLE AND GNTS, AND YOUNG PEOPLE MAKE FUN OF. I TURN A LOT OF THOSE DOWN. I LIKE A CHARACTER THAT IS STILL ALIVE, AND IS NECSARILY THKG, AND EHER GROWS OR DIMISH, OR WHATEVER.”AS FOR NEVER MAKG THE A-LIST, LAND SEEMED SANGUE. “I THK WOULD HAVE HELD ME BACK A CERTA WAY,” HE TOLD ME. “I PLAYED A WI VARIETY OF ROL.” OTHERS HAD “GREAT REERS AND BEME MAJOR STARS, BUT I PLAYED MORE THGS, HAD MORE FUN, AND I’M STILL DOG .”INED HE WAS. AFTER FRANKENWEENIE ME MORE ROL: THE RED MAPLE LEAF WH KRIS KRISTOFFERSON AND JAM CAAN; REMEMBER, ALONGSI CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER; AND, MOST RECENTLY, THE LAST POKER GAME OPPOSE PL SORVO. THREE OTHER PROJECTS ARE LISTED AT VAR STAG OF PRODUCTN ON LAND’S IMDB PAGE: HERSTORY, WHOUT WARD, AND NATE & AL.‘AN ACTOR’S ACTOR’WHEN ME TIME TO SAY FAREWELL THAT DAY 2012, LAND TOLD ME HE HAD GREATLY ENJOYED OUR NVERSATN. HE SUGGTED TO ME AND TO GUTTMAN THAT, SHOULD HE EVER E TO WRE , WOULD I LIKE TO WORK ON HIS MEMOIR WH HIM?NOTHG EVER ME TO PASS, ALTHOUGH I WAS EXTREMELY HEARTENED TO READ TONIGHT, VIA DEADLE, THAT LAND HAD BEEN WORKG ON A MEMOIR AT THE TIME OF HIS ATH. A DOCUMENTARY, APPROPRIATELY TLED AN ACTOR’S ACTOR: THE LIFE OF MART LAND, IS ALSO APPARENTLY VELOPMENT.LAND WAS BOTH QUE THE STORYTELLER AND ALSO A TE ACTOR'S ACTOR, SO BOTH PROJECTS, SHOULD THEY REACH UN WILL BE FASCATG. LAND BELIEVED ACTG, RATHER THAN STARDOM, PASSNATELY—AS BOTH CRAFT AND VOTN. THAT MIGHT EXPLA HIS LONGEVY AND LATE--LIFE TRIUMPHS. IT CERTALY ILLUMAT WHY WAS AN HONOR AND PLEASURE TO MEET AND SPEND TIME WH MART LAND. TIM TEEMAN

GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS

In typil Hchck-ian fashn, the "Master of Spense" often employed his films subtle referenc to gay culture, fyg nservative attus of the late '50s. Did Mart Land play a homosexual North by Northwt? Did Aled Hchck really show gay sex on-screen Rope, albe an unual way?

And, most surprisgly, did Hchck pict a gay marriage way back 1938’s The Lady Vanish?

If he wanted to refer to homosexualy, as he did at least 10 of his movi, Hchck would e what are now lled “gay s.

MART LAND: 'I CHOSE TO PLAY LEONARD AS GAY'

” The are subtle referenc that gay people and their alli would regnize but uld pass by most of the dience unnoticed. Hchck was exposed to vibrant gay muni both England and Hollywood, and he worked wh many gay and bisexual profsnals var aspects of film productn, cludg wrers and actors.