Martin Landau, the Oscar winning actor, has died at the age of 89.

As a young actor, Mr Landau played small roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, as well as in Cleopatra and The Greatest Story Ever Told.

He also became a full time cast member of the Mission Impossible TV series, and a short-lived British TV series, Space: 1999.

However, it was in the latter part of his career that he played his most memorable roles. He won a Golden Globe for his role as Abe Karatz in Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker: The Man and His Dream in 1988, as well as scooping an Oscar nomination. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Judah in Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989). Describing Mr Landau, Woody Allen said:

“Of all the actors I've ever worked with, he gives expression to my dialogue exactly as I hear it. His colloquialisms, his idiom, his inflection is exactly correct”.

But it was his performance in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, where he played actor Bela Lugosi, which scored him his biggest accolades – he won both an Oscar and a second Golden Globe for his portrayal of the washed-up former Dracula star.

Although he was known for his repertoire of different accents, he often played Jewish roles. In Rounders, for example, he played a Jewish judge, Abe Petrovsky, while in Have a Little Faith he played Rabbi Albert Lewis.

Mr Landau, who was born in Brooklyn in 1928 to Morris and Selma Landau, was married to Barbara Bain (actual name, Mildred Fogel) from 1957 until their divorce in 1993. He passed away in Los Angeles on Saturday. He is survived by two daughters, Susan and Juliet.