Remembering Karl Malden - Dies at 97, Screen Everyman
By Sophie Eager
Jul 2, 2009
Veteran Hollywood actor Karl Malden, an Academy Award winner and one-time Indiana steelworker, died on Wednesday of natural causes, his family said. He was 97. "Karl lived a rich, full life," said Academy of Arts and Motion Pictures president Sid Ganis. "He has the greatest and most loving family, [and] a career that has spanned the spectrum of the arts from theatre to film and television, to some very famous commercial work."
Remembering Karl Malden - Screen Everyman Dies at 97 (Image: Splash News)
Malden won a supporting actor Oscar in 1951 for his role as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire. He was nominated again as best supporting actor in 1954 for his performance as Father Corrigan in On the Waterfront. In both films, he co-starred with Marlon Brando. He was president of the academy from 1989 to 1992. Known for his fabulously bulbous nose, Malden said his trademark feature came about when he broke it a few times playing basketball or football. He joked he was the only actor in Hollywood "whose nose qualifies him for handicapped parking".
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Eva Marie Saint, who co-starred with him in On the Waterfront, said: "When you worked with him, he was the character ... He was the consummate actor and he loved acting. He was dear and smart. Whatever he did, he enjoyed life." Among Malden's more than 50 film credits were: Patton, in which he played General Omar Bradley, Pollyanna, Fear Strikes Out, The Sting II, Bombers B-52, Cheyenne Autumn and All Fall Down. He won five Emmys for the television drama The Streets of San Francisco.
One of his most controversial films was Baby Doll in 1956, in which he played a dullard husband whose child bride is exploited by a businessman. For many years Malden was also the commercial face of American Express, famously exhorting the public in TV ads: "Don't leave home without it." Malden, who was born Mladen George Sekulovich in Chicago, is survived by his wife of 70 years, Mona, daughters Mila and Cara, his sons-in-law, three granddaughters and four great grandchildren.
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