July 1, 2009 4:00pm
Actor Karl Malden has died at the age of 97.
A face for radio!
Most famous for his role as Lt Mike Stone in the 1970’s TV show The Streets of San Francisco, I remember him more as Father Barry in On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando. He’s the man who convinces Brando’s character, Terry Malloy, to testify against union/mobster boss Johnny Friendly, played by Lee J Cobb. Malden. On the Waterfront was also the movie that had the number 19 all-time movie line according to AFI. The line, spoken by Brando, was, “I could have been a contender.” If you’ve never seen it, it’s a great movie.
Malden won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire.
He also had a role as General Omar Bardley, in one of my all time favorite films, Patton, which starred George C Scott, and Malden was also the first to speak the line, “Don’t leave home without them,” in all those American Express commercials.
The thing I find most impressive in his bio is that Malden had been married to Mona Greenberg since 1938, and she survives him. That’s over 70 years folks. Their marriage was one of the longest in the history of Hollywood.
RIP and God bless you Mr Malden.
Here’s Mr Malden in one of those famous commercials-
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
