Obituary - Karl Malden
Obituary by Jack Foley
VETERAN actor Karl Malden has died at the age of 97, it has been confirmed.
Malden, a respected actor of stage and screen, was perhaps most famous for his long-running role as Detective Mike Stone in hit ’70s series The Streets of San Francisco alongside Michael Douglas.
But he also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1951, for his performance in A Streetcar Named Desire, and was nominated again in 1954.
Malden, who died at home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on Wednesday (July 1, 2009) had been in poor health for several years. His family said he had died of natural causes.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1912 and raised in Gary, Indiana, Malden was a former steelworker and teacher who subsequently decided to study acting at the Goodman Theater Dramatic School in Chicago.
He then chose to take his talents to New York, where he became involved with the fabled Group Theater.
He made his stage debut in 1937 and struck up a theatrical partnership with legendary director Elia Kazan, who cast Malden in a host of successful Broadway shows.
But after serving in World War Two, he decided to switch his attentions to movie and quickly landed his big break in 1940’s They Knew What They Wanted, in which he shone.
Malden quickly became an in-demand film star, winning an Oscar for his performance as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951, and his film career flourished throughout the 1’0s and ’60s, with parts in movies such as Birdman of Alcatraz, How the West Was Won, Gypsy, The Cincinnati Kid and Patton.
He avoided moving into television for many years, but eventually succumbed to the role of gruff homicide detective Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco, which ran from 1972 to 1977. He appeared in 120 episodes and was nominated four consecutive times for an Emmy.
But he finally won an Emmy for the 1984 mini-series Fatal Vision.
In addition, Malden was honoured with Life Achievement Awards at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival in 1998 and the Screen Actors Guild Awards of 2004. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which can be found at 6231 Hollywood Boulevard.
Malden was married to actress Mona Graham for more than 70 years, one of the longest partnerships in Hollywood history.