Actor Karl Malden died 1 July 2009 of natural causes. Born Mladen Sekulovich on 22 March 1912 in Chicago, Illinois, he won an Academy Award in 1952 (supporting actor in A Streetcar Named Desire), an Emmy in 1985 (supporting actor in a special, for Fatal Vision), and the Screen Actors Guild’s Life Achievement Award in 2004. He was nominated for another Oscar, four more Emmys, and three Golden Globes.
He was born to immigrant parents (his mother was Czech, his father, Serbian), and only learned English when he got to kindergarten. After shcool, he worked in a steel factory, and then went to study at the Goodman Theater Dramatic School. In 1937, he went to New York City, and debuted in the Broadway production of Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy the same year. He took some time off to serve in the Army during World War II. Upon his return, director Elia Kazan chose him for several productions, including All My Sons and A Streetcar Named Desire. His movie debut came in They Knew What They Wanted (1940), and he appeared in On the Waterfront, Cheyenne, and then starred in television’s The Streets of San Francisco (1972-77).
His few genre roles include: Unsolved Mysteries (1987), Alice in Wonderland (1985), Meteor (1979), Il gatto a nove code (The Cat o’ Nine Tails, 1971), and Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954). Malden slowed down in his later years, taking only a few roles in the 1990s. His last was an episode of The West Wing in 2000. He served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1989 to 1992.
Malden married Mona Greenberg on 18 December 1938, and is survived by her and their two daughters, Mila and Carla. He also leaves three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.