Streets of San Francisco star method man Malden gone at 97.
The Academy Award winner's career spanned seven decades and was featured in such classics as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando, AND Patton.
With junior partner Michael Douglas he roamed the Streets of San Francisco for five seasons for producer Quinn Martin.
Malden was born Mladen Sekulovich in Gary, Indiana of Serbian descent in 1912. After knocking around a few years on Broadway as a journeyman thesp he met director Elia Kazan at the Group Theatre. Kazan later cast him in Streetcar and On the Waterfront.
Malden's acting career took a back seat to WW2 in which he served in the 8th Army Air Force as a non-com officer.
When Karl was discharged, with the help of Kazan, he first appeared in the Arthur Miller drama All My Sons and then film hit after hit including Hitchock's I Confess, Fear Strikes Out with Tony Perkins, Baby Doll with Carol Baker, How the West Was Won in Cinemascope and as Gen. Omar Bradley in Patton.
He also had a long run as TV pitchman for American Express immortalizing the catch phrase -- "Don't leave home without it" in a zillion commercials.
Malden also enjoyed one of the few rare long-lasting Hollywood marriages, having been wed to Mona Greenberg since 1938.
"I'm a workaholic," Malden said. "I love every movie I've been in, even the bad ones, every TV series, every play, because I love to work. It's what keeps me going."
