R.I.P. Karl Malden

July 2, 6:26 PMClassic TV ExaminerDoug Krentzlin

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           Karl Malden & Montgomery Clift in Hitchcock's I Confess (Warner Bros.)

Yesterday brought the sad news that yet another beloved entertainment figure has passed away. Karl Malden, who managed to live to the age of 97, may not have been as much of a household name as Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, who both died last week, but truth be told, his contributions to the film and television mediums were far more substantive.

Malden was one of those great character actors who were never anything less than superb no matter what the quality of the production he was performing in. Despite being best known to television fans as Detective Lt. Dan Stone on The Streets of San Francisco and his appearances in American Express commercials (“Don’t leave home without it”), Malden’s career is inexorably tied to those of director Elia Kazan and frequent co-star Marlon Brando.

It was Kazan who gave Malden his breakthrough role as Mitch in the stage and screen versions of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (both starring Brando) for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1951. Four years later, Malden was again nominated for an Academy Award for his role as crusading priest Father Barry in On the Waterfront which reunited him with Kazan and Brando. (This time is was Brando’s turn to win an Oscar.)

Even before The Streets of San Francisco, Malden was often cast as a police detective in such notable films as Kazan’s Boomerang (1947), Henry Hathaway’s Kiss of Death (1947), Otto Preminger’s Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) and Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess (1953). He also played many a villain, most memorably in the 60s spy thrillers Murderers Row (with Dean Martin as Matt Helm) and Billion Dollar Brain (with Michael Caine as Harry Palmer).

So long, Karl Malden. You will be sorely missed.