Karl Malden

Karl Malden, the eldest of three sons, was born Mladen Sekulovich (Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Секуловић) in Chicago, Illinois, on March 22, 1912, which was his mother's 20th birthday. He was raised in a home at 457 Connecticut Street in Gary, Indiana.[9][10]

His Serb father Petar Sekulović (1886–1975) worked in the steel mills and as a milkman, and his mother, Minnie (née Sebera) Sekulovich (March 22, 1892 – July 15, 1995), was a Czech seamstress and actress.[11] The Sekulovich family's roots trace back to Podosoje near Bileća, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Malden spoke only Serbian until he was in kindergarten; he remained fluent in the language until his death. Malden's father, who had a passion for music, organized the Serbian Singing Federation, uniting immigrant choral ensembles across the United States.[12]

Monument to Karl Malden in Belgrade, Serbia

As a teenager, Malden joined the Karageorge Choir and acted in church plays produced by his father.[13] He took part in many of these plays, which included a version of Jack and the Beanstalk, but mostly centered on the community's Serbian heritage. In high school, he was a popular student and the star of the basketball team (according to his autobiography, Malden broke his nose twice while playing, taking elbows to the face and resulting in his trademark bulbous nose).[14]

He participated in the drama department and was narrowly elected senior class president. Among other roles, he played Pooh-Bah in The Mikado. After graduating from Emerson High School in 1931 with high marks, he briefly planned to leave Gary for Arkansas, where he hoped to win an athletic scholarship, but college officials did not admit him owing to his refusal to play any sport besides basketball. From 1931 until 1934, he worked in the steel mills, as had his father.[15]

He changed his name from Mladen Sekulovich to Karl Malden at age 22, something director Elia Kazan urged him to do.[16] He anglicized his first name by swapping its letters "l" and "a" and used it as his last and taking his grandfather's first name as his own.[17] This was because the first theatre company he was in wanted him to shorten his name for its marquee. He thought that they wanted to fire him and were using his name as an excuse; although that was not the case, he still changed his name to give them no excuse.[16]

Malden later stated that he regretted changing his name and tried to insert the name Sekulovich wherever possible in his work.[18] For example, as General Omar Bradley in Patton, as his troops slog their way through enemy fire in Sicily, Malden says "Hand me that helmet, Sekulovich" to another soldier. In Dead Ringer, as a police detective in the squad room, Malden tells another detective: "Sekulovich, gimme my hat." In Fear Strikes Out, Malden, playing Jimmy Piersall's father John, introduces Jimmy to a baseball scout named Sekulovich. In Birdman of Alcatraz, as a prison warden touring the cell block, Malden recites a list of inmates' names, including Sekulovich (Malden's father was not pleased, as he told his son "Mladen, no Sekulovich has ever been in prison!").[19] In On the Waterfront, in which Malden plays the priest, among the names of the officers of Local 374 called out in the courtroom scene is Mladen Sekulovich, Delegate (played by Fred Gwynne). Perhaps the most notable usage of his real name, however, was in the television series The Streets of San Francisco, where Malden's character, Mike Stone, employed a legman (played by Art Passarella) with that name.[20]

In September 1934, Malden left Gary, Indiana, to pursue formal dramatic training at the Goodman School (later part of DePaul University), then associated with the Goodman Theater in Chicago. Although he had worked in the steel mills in Gary for three years, he had helped support his family and was consequently unable to save enough money to pay for his schooling. Making a deal with the director of the program, he gave the institute the little money that he did have, with the director agreeing that, if Malden did well, he would be rewarded with a full scholarship. He won the scholarship.

When Malden performed in the Goodman's children's theater, he wooed actress Mona Greenberg (stage name: Mona Graham), who married him in 1938. He graduated from the Chicago Art Institute in 1937. Soon after, without work or money, Malden returned to his hometown.

He eventually traveled to New York City, and first appeared as an actor on Broadway in 1937. He did some radio work and in a small role made his film debut in They Knew What They Wanted.[21]

Malden also joined the Group Theatre, where he began acting in many plays and was introduced to a young Elia Kazan, who later worked with him on A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954) and Baby Doll (1956).[22]

His acting career was interrupted in 1942 by the Second World War, during which he served as a noncommissioned officer in the 8th Air Force of the United States Army Air Corps.[3] While in the service, he was given a small role in the United States Army Air Forces play and film Winged Victory.[1][2][23][24] Malden was discharged in 1946 as a Sergeant and was awarded the Air Force Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.[3]

After the war, Malden resumed his acting career on Broadway, playing yet another small supporting role in the short-lived Maxwell Anderson play Truckline Cafe (1946), with a then-unknown Marlon Brando. The next year, director Elia Kazan gave Malden a co-starring role in Arthur Miller's breakout play All My Sons. By the end of that year he had joined the legendary original cast of Tennessee Williams's landmark drama A Streetcar Named Desire, also directed by Kazan, playing Harold "Mitch" Mitchell. With that high-profile theatre success, he then crossed over into steady film work.

Malden appeared in a small role in the film noir Kiss of Death (1947) during the run of All My Sons, but didn't resume his film acting career until 1950, starting with The Gunfighter and Where the Sidewalk Ends, then and Halls of Montezuma (1951). For Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (also 1951), he recreated his role as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell, Stanley Kowalski's best friend, who starts a romance with Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh). For this performance, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His other films during this period included Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess (1953) with Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter, and On the Waterfront (1954) — where he received his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — playing a priest who influences Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) to testify against mobster-union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb).

Malden hugging actresses Pina Pellicer (right) and Katy Jurado (left) while they stare at Marlon Brando in One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

In Baby Doll (1956), Malden's last colaboraton with Kazan, he played the leading role, a man sexually frustrated by a teenaged wife. The film was condemned by the Legion of Decency and did not air long. He also played the lead in Bombers B-52 (1957), but most of his film work was in supporting roles.

He co-starred in dozens of films from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, such as Fear Strikes Out and Time Limit (both 1957). The latter picture was Malden's only directing credit of a film, but when Delmer Daves was taken ill during the shooting of The Hanging Tree (1959), Malden took over direction of the movie for two weeks — Pollyanna (1960), appeared in Marlon Brando's directed film entitled One-Eyed Jacks (1961), Birdman of Alcatraz, Gypsy, How the West Was Won (all 1962), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Patton (1970), playing General Omar Bradley.

Malden's wife, Mona (the former Mildred Greenberg), graduated from Roosevelt High School in Emporia, Kansas, where she attended Kansas State Teachers College, now Emporia State University. He first visited the campus with her in 1959, and was impressed by the ESU Summer Theatre. He returned in the summer of 1964 to teach, working with the actors in the company. Upon leaving, he gave his honorarium to establish the Karl Malden Theater Scholarship still given today.[25]

In 1963, he was a member of the jury at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival.[26]

Malden delivered the line "Don't leave home without them!" in a series of U.S. television commercials for American Express traveler's cheques in the 1970s and 1980s. He also advertised the American Express card, with the famous opening line, "Do you know me?" These ads were occasionally spoofed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

From 1990 to 2009, Malden was a member of The United States Postal Service's Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) which evaluates potential subjects for U.S. postage stamps and reports its recommendations to the Postmaster General.[30][31]

On December 18, 1938, Malden married Mona Greenberg (May 9, 1917 – July 13, 2019[32][33]), who survived him. Their marriage was one of the longest in Hollywood's history,[34] with their 70th wedding anniversary occurring in December 2008. In addition to his wife, Malden was survived by his daughters Mila and Carla, and his son-in-law Tom. His other son-in-law Laurence predeceased him in 2007.[35] Malden's mother lived to 103 years of age.

In 1997, Malden published his autobiography, When Do I Start?, written with his daughter Carla.[36]

Karl Malden's grave at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery

Malden died at his home in Los Angeles on July 1, 2009, at the age of 97. He was reported to have been in poor health for several years.[37][38][39] He is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.[40]

Malden's friend and former co-star Michael Douglas wrote a tribute to Malden for Time's "Milestones" section.[41]

Malden won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for A Streetcar Named Desire and was nominated in 1954 for his supporting role in On the Waterfront. Malden was a past president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In October 2003, he was named the 40th recipient of the Screen Actors' Guild's Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.

In 1985, he was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his performance as Freddy Kassab in Fatal Vision. The same year, he was also awarded an honorary doctoral degree in fine arts by Emporia State University.[25]

In May 2001, Malden received an honorary degree, doctor of humane letters, from Valparaiso University. Michael Douglas presented Malden with a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild on February 22, 2004.[42] On November 11, 2004, Douglas also presented Malden with the Monte Cristo Award of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, which is given for "distinguished careers exemplifying Eugene O'Neill's standard of excellence and pioneering spirit." Among other past winners were Jason Robards, Zoe Caldwell, Edward Albee, August Wilson, and Brian Dennehy.

On November 12, 2005, the United States House of Representatives authorized the United States Postal Service to rename the Los Angeles Barrington Postal Station as the Karl Malden Postal Station in honor of Malden's achievements. The bill, H.R. 3667, was sponsored by Representatives Henry Waxman and Diane Watson.

For his contribution to the film industry, Malden has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6231 Hollywood Blvd. In 2005, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[43] In November 2018, a monument to Karl Malden was revealed in Belgrade, Serbia.[44]

Decorations

Award or decoration		Country	Date	Place
	Medal of White Angel[45]	Serbia and Montenegro	2004	Belgrade
	Order of Saint Sava (First Grade)[46]	Serbian Orthodox Church	October 6, 2004	Belgrade

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Karl Malden.

• Karl Malden at IMDb
• Karl Malden at the Internet Broadway Database