Karl Malden: 1912-2009

I first knew him as the likable General Bradley in Patton, one of my favorite films during my high school years. Yet Malden was an extremely versatile actor, not blessed with movie star good looks he channeled his talent into a large variety of character rolls. He could be a strong authority figure like in Bird Man of Alcatraz, he could be great moral figures like Bradley or the crusading priest he played in On The Waterfront, one of his many collaborations with director Elia Kazan. Yet he could also play pathetic figures, characters hypnotic in their desperate grasp for dignity, like his Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell in A Streetcar Named Desire. I personally keep thinking about his loathsome Archie Lee Meighan in the Tennessee Williams scripted Baby Doll. Here is a character we should despise, he set fire to his competitors mill, he openly lusts for an underage girl, but Malden finds true pathos in this character who has grand dreams beyond his ability, and is thusly doomed to inevatable failure. There was little it seems that was beyond Malden as an actor though, he also gave back to his field as a President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Of the recent rash of celebrity deaths Malden’s was in many ways the lest tragic given his advanced age, but to me his was perhaps the greatest lost, as I greatly respect and have long loved the work of this talented man.