Karl Malden, the bulbous-nosed character actor who won a Best Supporting Oscar for his role as Mitch, the guiless suitor of Blanche DuBois in the 1951 classic A Street Car Named Desire - a role he created on Broadway - and lent his particular brand of gravitas to American Express commercials in the 1980s, died Wednesday of natural causes in his Brentwood, Calif., home, his family announced. He was 97.
He would go on to star in more than 50 Hollywood films, often playing richly complex and often dark characters, while also making a mark on the small screen starting in 1972, on The Streets of San Francisco. He played a veteran police investigator who takes under his wing a young greenhorn, played by Michael Douglas.
Malden continued to work in TV after the series was cancelled in 1977, winning an Emmy as a father who solves his daughter and grandchildren's murderer in the non-fiction 1984 TV movie Fatal Vision. More recently, he played a priest in a 2000 episode of West Wing.
Besides his wife of 70 years, Mona, Malden is survived by daughters Mila and Cara and their husbands, three granddaughters, and four great grandchildren.
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Comments (7)
Malden was a great actor th... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Paul Hooson | July 2, 2009 4:48 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Malden was a great actor that many younger persons don't recall which is a real shame. He was also the face of American Express for 26 years. If not for old age, I bet he would have continued making more modern films. Further, that badly broken nose gave him real character as well. As a priest in ON THE WATERFRONT and in THE STREEST OF SAN FRANCISCO he was terrific. An actor's actor for sure. Funny thing, but there's a minor actor who I believe is named Dale Herd, who looks somewhat like Karl Malden.
1. Posted by Paul Hooson | July 2, 2009 4:48 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 2, 2009 16:48
2. Posted by GarandFan | July 2, 2009 7:27 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Malden was a class act. But who gets all the notice and adulation? Yeah, a pedophile! Go figure. Now there's talk of charging $25 admission to the memorial service. Class. Real class.
2. Posted by GarandFan | July 2, 2009 7:27 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on July 2, 2009 19:27
3. Posted by LaMedusa | July 6, 2009 12:10 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Michael isn't the one charging for his memorial. Pedophile? God will be his judge as well as the ones who lied about him and used him. The ones who used him are the same ones cashing in with the memorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxkVaYlrfh8
3. Posted by LaMedusa | July 6, 2009 12:10 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 6, 2009 12:10
4. Posted by LaMedusa | July 6, 2009 12:18 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
I want also to add, that people who still don't get how talented and brilliant Michael was, are too fuggin busy believing media fodder. It is no coincidence he lost his life in the U.S. Had he not come back here, he might still be alive.
4. Posted by LaMedusa | July 6, 2009 12:18 PM |
Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on July 6, 2009 12:18
5. Posted by LaMedusa | July 6, 2009 12:45 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Oh, good grief! I got so riled I forgot to say RIP, Karl Malden. A wonderful and distinguished actor.
5. Posted by LaMedusa | July 6, 2009 12:45 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 6, 2009 12:45
6. Posted by GarandFan | July 6, 2009 6:18 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Sorry LaMedusa, MJ was as one-dimensional as you can get. "Talented Freak" would be what he rates. As for Shakedown Al Sharpton, that idiot can take his "National Day of Mourning" idea and shove it up his fat ass.
6. Posted by GarandFan | July 6, 2009 6:18 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on July 6, 2009 18:18
7. Posted by hugo chavez | July 31, 2009 11:10 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Karl you were my hero and had a much larger nose than MJ
7. Posted by hugo chavez | July 31, 2009 11:10 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 31, 2009 23:10