Actor Karl Malden has passed away peacefully of nautral causes, aged 97. Although he was never one of the beautiful or glamorous of people, he gave some of the best performances ever seen on screen, becoming one of the most in demand character actors of the 1950s and 1960s.
His many achievements include winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his marvellous role as Mitch in Elia Kazan’s 1951 film adapatation of A Streetcar Named Desire. He also gave standout performances as Father Barry in On The Waterfront, Archie in Babydoll, Harvey in Birdman Of Alcatraz and General Bradley in Patton. However he will probably be best remembered to US audiences as Det. Lt. Mike Stone in the TV series The Streets Of San Francisco, opposite a young Michael Douglas. Malden also earned an Emmy for the mini-series Fatal-Vision in 1984.
Malden was born Mladen Skeulovich to a Czech mother and Serbian immigrant father on March 22, 1912 in Chicago. After graduating high school, he toured with a semi-pro basketball team and worked in a steel mill before following his true dreams and finding work on the stage. It was during his early years in the theatre that he met Elia Kazan, who later became pivotal to bringing Malden’s talents to the big screen. Even after his movie success, Malden still made regular stage appearances. He retired from acting in the early 90s, not long after his 80th birthday and around the same time stepped down as President of the Screen Actors Guild, after a five year term.
Karl only came out of retirement once, to play Father Thomas Kavanaugh in an episode of ‘The West Wing’ in 2000, although he did release a memoir, ‘Where Do I Start?’, in the late 90s and was one of the main voices that called for Elia Kazan’s controversial honorary Oscar in 1999.
Karl Malden died at his home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, although anyone who’s seen A Streetcar Named Desire or On The Waterfront will know that his wonderful performances will live for a long time to come.
“I’m a workaholic. I love every movie I’ve been in, even the bad ones, every TV series, every play, because I love to work. It’s what keeps me going.” – Karl Malden