VETERAN Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden, the star of classic movies A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, has died aged 97.
His agent Budd Moss said the actor died in his sleep at home in Los Angeles in the early hours of yesterday.
Malden, who made his big-screen debut in 1940, appeared with some of the biggest names in cinema during his long career, including Marlon
Brando, Vivien Leigh, Montgomery Clift and Rod Steiger.
But he will be best remembered for his role as a tough-talking detective in the 1970s television series The Streets of San Francisco, starring alongside a young Michael Douglas.
Born to a Czech mother and a Serbian father in Chicago in 1912, the then Mladen George Sekulovich worked in steel mills and then as a milkman before going to drama school in Chicago.
He moved to New York to try to find fame, making his stage debut in 1937 and going on to star in Broadway hits such as All My Sons and A Streetcar Named Desire, before landing a small role in the film They Knew What They Wanted in 1940.
Malden – who won an Oscar in 1951 for best supporting actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire and was nominated for the same award three years later for On the Waterfront – went on to become president of the motion picture Academy.
His other films included Baby Doll and Cheyenne Autumn.
Although his star turn as police detective Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco was his best-known role, he was also a familiar face on television screens as the face of American Express, with the famous catchphrase: "Don't leave home without it."
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