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(1931– ). American actress.
At this point, unfortunately, the accountants at Desilu decided
that they could save a lot of money by not paying Landau as much as
they had promised, a move that predictably prompted his departure
and, more grievously, forced Bain to quit the series as a matter of
wifely loyalty. As it happens, Landau did turn out to be eminently
replaceable—with Leonard NIMOY, suddenly
available after the cancellation of Star Trek—but all of the women subsequently brought in to take Bain's
place proved that she was irreplaceable, since none of them ever came
close to matching her appeal and quiet aura of authority.
The next misfortune that afflicted Bain's life was a phone call
from Gerry and Sylvia ANDERSON, who had decided
that she and Landau would be the perfect American stars for their
new series Space: 1999. As was so often the case, they were wrong; for while
Landau at least tried to convey some energy and conviction in response
to some of the most ridiculous stories ever presented in a science
fiction series, Bain, who had seemed so commanding in boardrooms and
cocktail parties, looked uncertain and confused in outer space, as
she listlessly went through the motions of portraying Dr. Helena Russell.
Trapped in an unflattering silver jumpsuit, she didn't even look very
attractive (which should serve, by the way, to refute the absurd theory
that the Andersons' series should be considered watchable because
of Sylvia's excellent sense of fashion). The second-season introduction
of Catherine Schell as a beautiful alien was manifestly an effort
to compensate for Bain's inadequacies by bringing in another strong
female presence, but Schell turned out to be another one of the Andersons'
poor choices, and the series was soon put out of its misery.
The Landaus then returned to America, confident that no
experience could ever be as humiliating as being in Space: 1999—a confidence shattered when they found themselves in
something called The Harlem Globetrotters
on Gilligan's Island, the sort of movie identified by its title as irredeemably
awful. In the 1980s, like many actresses
in their fifties, Bain began finding worthwhile parts hard to come by even as
husband Landau made a remarkable comeback—unhappily disparate career paths
that undoubtedly led to the couple's divorce in 1993. Recently, she has taken a
few old-lady parts while concentrating more on her widely appreciated charitable
work. Although she did reprise the role of Cinnamon Carter in a nostalgic
episode of Diagnosis Murder,
"Discards," what little attention she now receives is usually linked to her
miserable work on Space: 1999, a
series that is now unaccountably being described as a "cult classic." But the
lucky people who were able to watch the first three seasons of Mission: Impossible know what a real
cult classic is.
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