Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born on
March 22,
1912) is an
Oscar-winning
American actor, known for his expansive manner. In a career that spanned over seven decades, he starred in films such as
A Streetcar Named Desire,
On the Waterfront and
One-Eyed Jacks, with the late
Marlon Brando, and also starred in the blockbuster movie,
Patton. Among other notable film roles are Archie Lee Meighan in
Baby Doll and Zebulon Prescott in
How the West Was Won both starring
Carroll Baker. His best-known role was on television as Lt. Mike Stone on the popular
1970s
crime drama,
The Streets of San Francisco. Towards the end of his acting career, he guest-starred on an episode of
The West Wing.
The eldest of three brothers and star and breadwinner of his family, Malden was born
Mladen Sekulovich in
Chicago,
Illinois. His parents were a
Serb father, Petar Sekulovich, and Minnie Sekulovich, a
Czech mother who was a
seamstress. The family moved from
Chicago,
Illinois to the Serbian neighborhood of Gary, Indiana in
1917, when Karl was five years old. It is in Gary where his father would work in the steel mills and as a milk man. The Sekulovich family roots trace back to the city of
Bileća in
Herzegovina. Mladen spoke
Serbian until he was in
kindergarten. Mladen's father had a passion for music, as Petar began organizing for the choir. As a teenager, he joined the Carol George Choir. In addition, his father produced
Serbian plays at his church and most of his father's friends seemed to enjoy them. Petar also taught students how to act, memorizing every line that an actor would usually perform, and nobody was allowed on stage until they were ready. Young Mladen took part in many of these plays, including a version of
Jack and the Beanstalk but most centering on the community's Serbian heritage. In
high school, while he spoke two different languages, including
English, he was a popular student and was the star of the school's basketball team. His team was 1 point short of winning the game, he threw the ball into the hoop, with only 1 second left to spare, and his team won the game at the very last minute, and he saved the team's victory. His school's team also went to a series of regional tryouts, from sectional to regional. He also participated in the drama department, and was narrowly elected senior class president. Due to the financial situation of the family, neither of his parents attended his plays or his basketball games. According to his autobiography, it was playing basketball where Malden broke his nose twice by taking elbows to the face. He even had a
nose job to repair it. After the surgery, he had
rhinophyma - (his trademark is that of his
bulbous nose). After his graduation from
Emerson High School in
1931, with high grades, he briefly planned to leave
Gary,
Indiana, to move to
Arkansas, where he would hoped to get a college athletics scholarship. But upon his arrival during the depression, the college did not admit him due to his focus on basketball and refusal to play football; and he went back to his native,
Gary,
Indiana. From
1931 until
1934, he worked as a factory worker in the
steel mills, just like his father had.
In September of 1934, Malden decided to leave his native
Gary,
Indiana to pursue formal dramatic training at the
Goodman Theater, the dramatic arm of the
Chicago Art Institute. He had been working in the
steel mills in
Gary, Indiana for the last three years, but had not even saved enough money to pay for one semester of schooling. Making a deal with the director of the program, he gambled what little money he did have, agreeing that if he impressed the staff during his first semester, he would be given a full scholarship to the Goodman, which he eventually was. He worshipped and loved the school that put out a series of plays he acted in. He spent a lot of his time at the school performing in the children's theater branch of the program and this is where he would meet his future wife, Mona Greenberg. He graduated from college in
1937, but soon after, being short of funds once again, Malden had no choice other than to head back to
Gary,
Indiana.
His miserable life in his hometown came to an end as he traveled to
New York City, and found some more appropriate plays for the city. He first appeared as an actor on
Broadway in
1937, then did some
radio work, before becoming a
movie character actor in
1940, where his first film was
They Knew What They Wanted (1940). He also attended the Group Theatre where he began acting in many plays and was introduced by a young
Elia Kazan, who would soon work with him on (
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and
On the Waterfront (1954)). His acting career was interrupted by
World War II and Malden served as a
noncommissioned officer in the US
8th Air Force. While in the War, he was offered a small and important role in
Winged Victory (1944). After the war in
1945, he resumed his acting career, receiving yet another small supporting role in the play,
Truckline Cafe, with a young, unfamiliar actor,
Marlon Brando. He also guest-starred in both
The Ford Theatre and
The Armstrong Circle Theatre. Jobs were getting harder to find for him as he was in his mid-30s and was about to give up. He received a co-starring role in the play,
All My Sons with the help of director,
Elia Kazan. With that success, he then crossed over into movies.
Malden resumed his film acting career in the
1950s, starting with
The Gunfighter (1950), which followed by
Halls of Montezuma (1950). The following year, he starred in
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), where he played a card-playing friend of Stanley's,
On the Waterfront (1954), where he played a priest who must testify against mob bosses. In
Baby Doll (1956), he played a power-hungry sexual man who had been frustrated by a teenaged wife. When that movie was in theaters, the
Catholic Churches thought it was a sin; as Malden would be the star of his own family, in real-life. Before and after he arrived in
Hollywood, he starred in dozens of films of the late
1950s to the early
1970s, such as,
Fear Strikes Out (1957),
Pollyanna (1960),
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962),
How the West Was Won (1962),
The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and
Patton (1970) (playing Gen
Omar Bradley). On this film, he played an officer who had an injured brother, in real-life, which proved to be the blockbuster movie of
1970, after all the movies he starred in (
A Streetcar Named Desire and
On the Waterfront). After his last film,
Summertime Killer (1972), movies were getting harder to find, however, he also starred in the television movie
The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1989) (as wheelchair-bound senior citizen
Leon Klinghoffer).
The Streets of San Francisco
After years of starring in film and theater, producer
Quinn Martin approached Malden in 1972 with a view to doing
The Streets of San Francisco. While the concept originated as a made-for-television movie,
ABC quickly signed on to carry it as television series.
In the early
1930s, Malden had attended New York Summer Stock with then-unknown
Kirk Douglas. Four decades later, Martin hired
Michael Douglas to play Lt. Stone's young partner, Inspector Steve Keller, alongside Malden. The show would take off from there.
On
Streets, Malden played Lt. Mike Stone, a widowed veteran cop whose more than 20 years of experience is paired with a young officer recently graduated from college. During its first season, it was a ratings winner among many other
1970s
crime dramas, where it served as
ABC's answer to such shows such as
Ironside,
Kojak and
The Rockford Files.
In
2004, his co-star (
Michael Douglas) wanted to congratulate his longtime mentor and friend of more than 30 years for Malden's performance, and at the same time, he also presented the
Lifetime Achievement Award to his co-star at the
2003 Screen Actors Guild Awards, for Malden's six decades of his own acting. At the same time, Douglas was also praised for his relationship with Malden, as he named him one of his all time favorite actors. On many episodes, both Malden & Douglas would perform a lot of car chase scenes as well as a lot of detective work. The series also moved its production from
Los Angeles to
San Francisco, during the second season. At one time, Malden wanted to bring his father, Petar Sekulovich, to
San Francisco,
California, to guest-star on one episode of
Streets, but he refused because the father's son was meant to go there, and just because he was a Sekulovich. For his work as Lt. Stone, Malden was nominated for
Emmys twice between 1976 and 1977, for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series; but he only won one
Emmy in 1976. That same year, his co-star (
Michael Douglas) left the show professionally, not only to become a successful movie actor, therefore following his father's
Kirk Douglas's and
Karl Malden's footsteps, in-between; but to also produce the movie,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Douglas was replaced by character actor
Richard Hatch, for the series' fifth, and final season; and the show took a nosedive in the ratings as the storyline involved on Inspector Keller's job as a teacher; while his boss was still at work with a new partner.
ABC decided to cancel
The Streets of San Francisco series after a run of 5 seasons and 119 episodes, but Malden enjoyed playing an enduring cop and will probably always be best remembered for this role.
He famously delivered the line "Don't leave home without it!" in a series of US television commercials for
American Express in the 1970s and 1980s.
Karl Malden won the 1951
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for
A Streetcar Named Desire and was nominated in 1954 for his supporting role in
On the Waterfront. Karl Malden is a past president of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In October of 2003, Malden was named the 40th recipient of the
Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.
On November 12, 2005, the L.A. Barrington Station renamed the building, Karl Malden Post Office, in Los Angeles, California, in honor of his proud achievements, which was followed by a passage of a bill founded by U.S. Congressman,
Henry Waxman.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Karl Malden has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6231 Hollywood Blvd. In
2005, he was inducted into the
Western Performers Hall of Fame at the
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma.
Karl Malden inspired the newsgroup
alt.fan.karl-malden.nose.
In
1976, his father, Petar Sekulovich died of old age. To honor the memory of his father, Malden had a big role in
Twilight Time, six years later. It was a private film that was watched by a few people.
Malden has been married to Mona Graham since
December 18,
1938. Their marriage is the second longest in
Hollywood history.
Bob Hope's sixty-nine year marriage to
Dolores Hope, which lasted from
February 19,
1934 until his death on
July 27,
2003, is the longest.
They Knew What They Wanted (
1940)
Winged Victory (
1944)
13 Rue Madeleine (
1947)
Boomerang! (
1947)
Kiss of Death (
1947)
The Gunfighter (
1950)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (
1950)
Halls of Montezuma (
1951)
A Streetcar Named Desire (
1951)
The Sellout (
1952)
Diplomatic Courier (
1952)
Operation Secret (
1952)
Ruby Gentry (
1952)
I Confess (
1953)
Take the High Ground! (
1953)
Phantom of the Rue Morgue (
1954)
On the Waterfront (
1954)
Baby Doll (
1956)
Fear Strikes Out (
1957)
Bombers B-52 (
1957)
The Hanging Tree (
1959) (also director)
Pollyanna (
1960)
The Great Impostor (
1961)
One-Eyed Jacks (
1961)
Parrish (
1961)
All Fall Down (
1962)
Birdman of Alcatraz (
1962)
How the West Was Won (
1962)
Gypsy (
1962)
Come Fly with Me (
1963)
Dead Ringer (
1964)
Cheyenne Autumn (
1964)
The Cincinnati Kid (
1965)
Nevada Smith (
1966)
Murderers' Row (
1966)
Hotel (
1967)
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (
1967)
Billion Dollar Brain (
1967)
Blue (
1968)
Hot Millions (
1968)
Patton (
1970)
The Cat o' Nine Tails (
1971)
Wild Rovers (
1971)
Summertime Killer (
1972)
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (
1979)
Meteor (
1979)
Miracle on Ice (
1981)
Twilight Time (
1982)
The Sting II (
1983)
Dario Argento's World of Horror (
1985) (documentary)
Billy Galvin (
1986)
Nuts (
1987)
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (
2003) (documentary)
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Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Karl Malden
