Karl Malden Dead at 97

Photo Courtesy of Warner Brothers

The award winning character actor Karl Malden, was best known over his sixty year career for the TV detective series “The Streets of San Francisco” and as a TV spokesman for American Express, died of natural causes today at his home in Brentwood, California. At the age of 97.

Malden received the Academy Award in 1952 Best Supporting Actor in for Elia Kazan’s A Streetcar Named Desire, in which he reprised the role he created in the Broadway production. He was nominated for each of the five seasons of “Streets of San Francisco,”; but won his first Emmy for the 1984 miniseries “Fatal Vision.”

A highly Regarded member of the Hollywood community, Malden was president of the board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1989-91. He was also an active member of The Screen Actors Guild , serving on the board in the ‘60s and ‘70s. In 2003 Malden was honored with the SAG lifetime achievement award.

Stardom finally came to Malden after almost two decades of supporting roles on stage and screen. Critic Herbert Mitgang of the The New York Times said, “Malden represents the serious actor who had triumphed over what was once considered the greatest handicap -- lack of glamour.” He was famous for his bulbous nose (the result of several football injuries in high school).

He was born Karl Malden Sekulovich to Serbian immigrant parents on March 22, 1912 in Chicago. He joked that he had changed his name “to fit theater marquees.” He earned a basketball scholarship to Arkansas State Teacher’s College.

Malden played supporting roles on Broadway in such plays as “Key Largo,” “Sons and Soldiers,” and “Uncle Harry.” During World War II he served as a private in Army and acted in Moss Hart’s Army Air Force’s production of “Winged Victory”.

Malden's  first post-war appearance was in Kazan’s poorly received production of Maxwell Anderson’s “Truckline Cafe.” Kazan cast him in Arthur Miller’s highly acclaimed “All My Sons,” In the Pulitzer Prize winning “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Malden created the role of Mitch, Blanche DuBois’ naive suitor. Richard Watts Jr. said he was “one of the ablest young actors extant.”

He won an Oscar for the 1951 screen version of Streetcar Named Desire along with Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter, after having appeared in such films as The Gunfighter and Boomerang. He also worked in such films as Ruby Gentry, I Confess and, most memorably, was nominated again for Best Supporting Actor as a priest in Kazan’s On the Waterfront. Malden continued to work on the stage, returning for the revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms” and Joseph Hayes’ “The Desperate Hours.”

Malden was perfect as Jimmie Piersoll’s domineering father in Robert Mulligan’s Fear Strikes Out 1957 and as General Omar Bradley in Franklin Schaffner’s Patton 1969.

Other well known screen roles were in Kazan’s adaptation of Tenessee Williams’ “Baby Doll,” as a villain in Marlon Brando’s One Eyed Jacks, a rare singing role in the film version of Gypsy and supporting parts in Birdman of Alcatraz, How the West Was Won, The Cincinnati Kid, Cheyenne Autumn, and Nuts.

From 1972 to 1977, Malden starred as the hard nosed police detective partner of young Micahel Douglas in the “Streets of San Francisco,” Later he starred as a Pittsburgh steelworker in the short lived TV series “Skag.”

He won an Emmy for playing a retiree who doggedly pursues his daughter’s murderer in the TV mini-series “Fatal Vision.” He played in numerous made-for TV movies including Word of Honor, With Intent to Kill, Call Me Anna, Absolute Strangers and They’ve Taken Our Children: The Chowchilla Kidnapping.

In addition to his service with the Motion Picture Academy and SAG, Malden also taught acting at various colleges around the country.

Malden is survived by his wife, former actress Mona Greenberg in perhaps the longest lasting marriage in Hollywood history. They were married in 1938 and celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in December. He is also survived by daughters Mila and Carla, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.