Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden has died at the age of 97.
Karl Malden, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning character actor who was best known over his six-decade career as the star of TV series "The Streets of San Francisco" and a series of American Express commercials, died of natural causes Wednesday at his home in Brentwood, Calif. He was 97.
Tall and heavyset, Malden was highly regarded for his versatility. He excelled at roles with an Everyman quality such as Mitch, the naive suitor of Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire." He originated the role on Broadway and won a supporting actor Oscar for Elia Kazan's 1951 film adaptation.
Though he was nominated for each of the five seasons of "Streets of San Francisco," in which he starred opposite a young Michael Douglas, Malden won his Emmy for the 1984 miniseries "Fatal Vision."
Douglas considered Malden to be his "true mentor" as an actor. Douglas made a point of saluting his longtime friend, calling him a "caring, thorough and generous teacher" while accepting the AFI Life Achievement Award on June 11.
"Karl more than anyone got me to understand that an actor is just one of a whole team that makes a TV series or movie work," Douglas said. "Thanks to him, I learned about the dichotomy of standing alone in a craft where one must collaborate."
