Martin Landau

Has anyone noticed how alike "Tucker" and "Ed Wood" are? Both are stories of failure made bearable by the boundless optimism of its lead character. Both are loving re-creations of a period in our history when dreams were still possible. Both have a meeting with an icon of its protagonist--Howard Hughes in "Tucker" and Orson Welles in "Ed Wood." And both had a transcendent supporting performance by Martin Landau as a lost man who at the end of his life found a family and someone to believe in him. STEVE BARR Culver City

Academy Award-winning producer-director Sydney Pollack will be the featured guest at a "Close Up" seminar at 5 p.m. on June 29 at Paramount Studios' Main Theatre, 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. Actor Martin Landau will moderate the event, which is presented by Actors Studio West. The evening will include a discussion of Pollack's work, film clips and a question-and-answer period. Tickets are $50 and $80. Information: (213) 660-TKTS.

Milton Berle celebrates his 82nd birthday and 75 years in show business tonight in a royal fashion. Mr. Television will be feted aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach with a television-shaped cake. Guests include TV stars of past and present, including Morey Amsterdam, Nancy Walker, Martin Landau, Richard Moll, Tina Louise, Erik Estrada and Pia Zadora. The party is part of the Queen Mary's salute to 1939--the year the boob tube was born.