Karl Malden
1912–2009
With his bulbous nose, rough-hewn features, and gruff voice, Karl Malden knew he wasn’t leading man material. So early on, he recalled, “I strived to be No. 1 in the No. 2 parts I was destined to get.” Over seven decades, Malden’s no-nonsense, working-class demeanor made him one of Hollywood’s most reliable and durable actors.
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His stardom was a far cry from his upbringing as Mladen Sekulovich, the son of an immigrant Serbian steelworker in Gary, Ind., said The Washington Post. He initially worked with his father but left the mills to study acting in Chicago, and debuted on Broadway in 1937. After serving in World War II, he returned to Broadway in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. In the latter he played the naïve Mitch, “who romances an emotionally fragile Southern belle” played by Jessica Tandy. For the 1951 movie version, he won an Oscar.
As an actor, Malden “moved easily up and down the levels of society and the IQ scale,” thoroughly researching his roles at every step, said the Los Angeles Times. In preparation for his Oscar-nominated performance as Father Barry, a priest fighting the mob in On the Waterfront (1954), he spent 11 days with the Rev. John Corridan, who had inspired the character. As the unpretentious Gen. Omar Bradley in Patton (1970), Malden initially wanted in one scene to “really let go” at George C. Scott’s vainglorious title character for overstepping his authority. But Bradley, whom Malden had consulted, urged him to act calmly. When Malden asked why, Bradley replied, “Because I’ve got one more star on my shoulder than he has.”
Malden probably won his greatest fame—along with four Emmy nominations—as Lt. Mike Stone in the 1970s television show The Streets of San Francisco, co-starring Michael Douglas as his junior partner, said the Associated Press. In 1973, amid the show’s success, he began “a lucrative 21-year sideline and a place in pop culture with his ‘Don’t leave home without them’ ads for American Express travelers checks.” The ads were widely spoofed, with fans gleefully chanting the line to Malden’s face. But he was happy to endure the mockery for the financial independence the gig gave him: “I don’t have to jump at anything and everything that comes my way.”
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1989 to 1992, Malden received a Screen Actors Guild award for lifetime achievement in 2004. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Mona, and two daughters.
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