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Karl Malden
Age: 97 (passed away Jul. 1st, 2009)
Height: 6' 0 1/2"
Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Born: Mar. 22nd, 1912
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Karl Malden's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: Born to a Czech mother and a Serbian father in Chicago, on March 22, 1912, Karl Malden didn't learn how to communicate a single word of English until he was in kindergarten. Raised in Gary, IN, a medium-sized steel town, Malden--like many other young men in Gary--got a job in a steel factory when he finished school. He worked there for three years until 1934 when, fed up with the drudgery of manual labor, he took a Depression-era gamble and left to follow another goal. After a short time at Arkansas State Teacher's College, he attended the Goodman Theater Dramatic School and never looked back. Three years later he went to New York City to find fame. He rapidly became involved with the Group Theater, an awesome organization of actors/directors who were changing the face of Broadway. Malden's own unforgettable face was shortly in the media when he made his stage debut in 1937. His performance attracted the attention of fledgling director Elia Kazan. With Kazan directing, Karl blazed a trail across the Broadway boards in plays like "All My Sons" by Arthur Miller (I) and "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams. He returned unscathed from duty in the armed services and then immersed himself in his work. Fortunately, his short "vacation" had not harmed his career. From the "Golden Era" of Broadway, he made a transition to the screen, starting with his first appearance in They Knew What They Wanted (1940). Jobs came came and fast, and in 1951 he won the Oscar for his performance as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). He was showing himself to be a consummate performer, whether tackling roles that had to be delivered with great moral weight or those requiring none whatsoever, like that of Father Corrigan in On the Waterfront (1954) or the Southern lecher Archie Lee in Baby Doll (1956). A later role came as Capt. Wessels, in John Ford (I)'s Cheyenne Autumn (1964). The film, Ford's last, was shot in his beloved Monument Valley. Malden found his greatest fame, however, in the early 1970s on the small screen, as Det. Mike Stone in the hit series "The Streets of San Francisco" (1972), co-starring with future movie star Michael Douglas (I). He came into millions of homes every week for five years. He also became the pitchman for American Express, a position he held for 21 years. The crowning glory of his career was in 1988 when he was elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a title he held for five years. Not one to rest on his laurels, Malden recently wrote his memoir entitled, "When Do I Start?: A Memoir."
TRIVIA:
- Received both of his Oscar-nominations for movies also starring 'Marlon Brando' (qv).
- Best remembered on TV for his starring role as Lt. Mike Stone on _"The Streets of San Francisco" (1972)_ (qv).
- Was also good friends with the late 'Telly Savalas' (qv).
- On December 12, 2008, just six days before his 70th wedding anniversary, Malden was inducted into the Wall of Legends, at St. Sava Church in San Gabriel, California, where Milan Opacich paid tribute to a wonderful man who was a great benefactor of a Catholic church.
- In high school he played basketball and was president of his class. He broke his nose twice playing sports as a teenager.
- Graduated from Chicago Art Institute in 1937, and came back to Gary, Indiana, without work or money.
- Long before 'Michael Douglas (I)' (qv), worked with him, Malden's friendship with Douglas' father began in 1940, when a 23-year-old unfamiliar actor, 'Kirk Douglas (I)' (qv), attended New York Summer Stock with him, prior to Kirk's summer vacation from college. This association led Kirk's son to having a co-starring role opposite Kirk's classmate in _"The Streets of San Francisco" (1972)_ (qv), at the time Michael's father said to him that he was about to learn a lot from his father's classmate.
- His family had lived longer lives than their son, Karl: his father, Petar Sekulovich, died at age 96, in 1976, two decades later, his mother, Minnie Sekulovich, died at age 104, in 1996.
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