March 22, 1912 - July 1, 2009

KARL MALDEN PASSES AWAY AT

AGE 97

In a career that spanned more than seven decades, Oscar winning actor Karl Malden was featured in classic films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and One-Eyed Jacks, as well as roles in Baby Doll, How the West Was Won, and Patton. His best known role was that of Lt. Mike Stone on the television series The Streets of San Francisco, and during the 1980′s was the spokesman of American Express, who reminded us card members, “Don’t leave home without it!“

Malden was born Mladen George Sekulovich on March 22, 1912 in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Gary, Indiana.  He changed his name from Mladen Sekulovich to Karl Malden when he was 22.  Switching the “a” and “l” in Mladen and making it Malden. He then took his grandfather’s first name, and it became Karl Malden. The reason for this was because the first theatre company he was in wanted him to shorten his name for the marquee. He thought they wanted to fire him and were using his name as an excuse, so he changed it not to give them the excuse.

In September 1934, Malden decided to leave his home in Gary, Indiana, to pursue formal dramatic training at the Goodman School, which was then associated with the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and would later become part of DePaul University. Eventually, he made his way to New York City and appeared as an actor on Broadway in 1937, did some radio work and made his film debut with a small role in the film They Knew What They Wanted.

He began acting in several plays with the Group Theatre, and it was during this time he would be introduced to a young Elia Kazan who he would later work with on A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951 and in 1954′s On The Waterfront, both starring Marlon Brando.

He starred in dozens of films from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, such as Fear Strikes Out (1957), Pollyanna (1960), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Gypsy (1962), How the West Was Won (1962), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Patton (1970), playing General Omar Bradley. After Summertime Killer (1972), he appeared in the made-for-television film The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1989) (as Leon Klinghoffer).

In 1972, Malden starred as Lt. Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco. Filmed originally as a made-for-television movie, ABC  quickly signed on to carry it as a series.  Michael Douglas was hired to play Lt. Stone’s young partner, Inspector Steve Keller. The series ended in 1977, when ABC cancelled the series after Michael Douglas left the show to pursue other projects and the show’s ratings took a nose dive.  Malden was nominated for this role four times for a Primetime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, but never won.

In 1980, Malden starred in Skag, an hour-long drama that focused on the life of a foreman at aPittsburgh steel mill. Malden played a character named Pete Skagska, a simple man trying to keep his family together. The pilot episode for the series had Skag temporarily disabled by astroke, and explored the effects it had on his family and co-workers. Skag suffered poor ratings, but critics hailed it, even going to great lenghts to keep it on the air by taking full page ads out in the newspapers. Nevertheless the series was canceled after only a handful of episodes.

Malden’s last role in film or television was in 2000 in the highly acclaimed first season episode of the The West Wing titled “Take This Sabbath Day“.  Malden portrayed a Catholic priest and used the same Bible he had used in On The Waterfront.

One of his more familiar and often duplicated roles on television was that of spokesman for American Express Travelers Cheques in the 1970′s and 1980′s and his famous tag-line, “Don’t leave home without them”, became a household phrase.

On December 18, 1938, Malden married Mona Greenberg, who survives him.

Their marriage was one of the longest in Hollywood history, lasting more than 70 years.  In addition to his wife, Malden is survived by daughters Mila and Cara, his sons-in-law, three granddaughters, Alison, Emily, and Cami, and four great-grandchildren, Mila, Stella, Charlie, and Thomas Karl.

In 1997, Malden published his autobiography, When Do I Start?, written with his daughter Carla.