thatcrazycajun | In Memoriam: Karl Malden, 1912-2009

One of the finest actors on screens both large and small is gone. Karl Malden passed away today at the ripe old age of 97, of "natural causes" in his sleep at his Los Angeles home. He had his most famous TV role alongside Michael Douglas in the Quinn Martin-produced detective series The Streets of San Francisco, also for ABC, and also played real-life World War II Gen. Omar Bradley in the film Patton. Yahoo! News has posted an obituary for Malden here.

Just short of making his century mark, Malden leaves behind a 75-year legacy of more than 50 films, and starring, supporting or guest roles in almost as many TV shows, a stint heading up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and one of its Oscar® awards for Best Supporting Actor. He also worked for over two decades as the face and voice of American Express Travelers' Cheques in TV ads, famously intoning "Don't leave home without them." Probably my favorite role of Karl's was as a NASA administrator recruiting Sean Connery's disillusioned scientist for help saving Earth from impending doom in the film Meteor. This was a cheesy 1979 skiffy flick that presaged more recent films such as Armageddon and Deep Impact, and co-starred Martin Landau as a US general, the late Henry Fonda as the President and Brian Keith as a Soviet scientist whose lines were all in Russian, with the also late Natalie Wood as his translator..

But it wasn't all cheese; Karl also had roles in films like A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, as well as the aforementioned Patton, and worked opposite stars of the caliber of Connery, George C. Scott, Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Thanks to