Karl Malden 1912 – 2009
Jul 3rd, 2009 | By Bock | Category: FilmKarl Malden has died at the age of 97.
You know, I always liked him.  He had an honesty about him that you couldn’t walk away from, and the list of his movies is staggering, though many of them are utter rubbish. This is a working actor, Mladen George Sekulovich, who changed his stage-name to Karl Malden, and who missed no opportunity to evoke his true name in his films.
So far, so good, but I have to confess something to you. This was supposed to be a gentle eulogising of a great old screen stalwart. In fact, I sat down and wrote an entire post saying what a wonderful guy he was and how much the world would miss him, but it was all horseshit, so I tore it up and threw it in the bin.
He wasn’t a wonderful old anything. He was just old. 97 years old and well past his departure date. He did well for a man with a penis on the end of his nose, and what more could anyone hope for?
Old penis-nose co-starred in dozens of movies, some of which were good, and some of which were absolute shite. He fronted an appalling TV series with sidekick Michael Douglas, called the Streets of San Francisco — a QM production — complete with cheesy 70s haircuts, check jackets, stilted, clichéd dialogue and very, very bad theme music.
Achievement? Not exactly.
He was in On the Waterfront but nobody cared. He played Omar Bradley in Patton, but everyone was watching George C Scott. He had a reasonably decent supporting role in Streetcar Named Desire, but that’s about the extent of it. In his other four hundred films, he played a priest : Father Kowalski.
Look. He made it to 97, and that’s ok. That’s very good indeed.  Well done Mladen.
A good actor, but not a great one. An attendant lord. One that will do to swell a progress, start a scene or two.
Rubbish. Total bollocks.
Look at him in On The Waterfront and The Cincinatti Kid. He is up against two of the greatest actors ever on the screen, and he is holding his own just fine.
He was 40 when he made it to the screen, in spite of his looks, because Kazan brought some great dramatic talent from the stage to the screen.
Don’t piss on a fine actor when he’s dead in the name of faux contrarianism.
Your first impulse was right. Malden was great.
I hope he had a dignified old age. I heard stories of Van Johnson doing dinner theatre in his 90s.
So, the point of this post is to say that a dead man wasn’t that great…
why bother?
dead right taylor,the man held his own on screen with the greats,remember him in birdman of alcatraz as the warden,brilliant,or as the priest in on the waterfront.
Note to self: nothing but feelgood posts in future.
I was wondering what was at the end of his nose. Was he in any movies with Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Now that would be a post !!
In fairness when we were in one channel land in the 70s we had to sit through Act 1 II and II of the SOSF and we barely knew where Dublin was then – it was exotic.
Michael Douglas didn’t exactly make any classic movies and he has worn the same suit in every movie since SOSF.
Great insightful post….. and is he really dead?
BTW – I am 98 tomorrow can you write a post about me I have done nuttin
SOSF was a genre defining classic where I learnt the meaning of the word epilogue.
Did you mention gritty, or grizzled about Karl? Or knurly?
Bock you really are a miserable old bollox. You started off well and then had to get a few digs in there. As someone said already whats the point of this post? Did your fingers need some exercise or something. And as for the Streets of San Francisco, that was a great show!
It was shite.
Just go and watch Wimbledon and forget Malden will ya.
And the A-Team was no good either.
not your normal funny self Bock,that was nasty…..what was the point?,cheesy haircuts and check jackets in Streets?,it WAS the 70’s!….what were you wearing?…..nappies?
It depends who you ask really whether it was Shite or not. To you it was Shite, so it was. Personally i loved the a-team as a kid but can’t sit through an episode now but still watch pro wrestling(it is real)
Karl Malden r.i.p. seem to remember ’streets of….. being on RTE 2 when it first came out, one of the only shows on it then, probably would’nt watch it now but in those days it was exotic and I luved the cars etc, wheted my appetite to explore the big wide world, never did get to ’san-fran’ though!!! Full of ‘poofs’ I’m told, ended up in sydney instead, and guess wot! full of even more of ‘em! ah well! ps. I’m neither homophobic or gay btw, just a comment! good stuff Mr. Malden.
Those shots from the top of the hill right down to the ocean……magic ! Good old fashioned ” good guys do good things ” thats what KM represented whether it was true or not.
Bock you’ve been travelling, taking great shots, sipping beer at glorious sunsets, coming home to glorious sunshine, are you losing the will to enjoy, throw us a fuzzy feeling man for crissake !
Sorry Bock,
but you are sadly mistaken here. The man was a fine actor. A fine actor who had to make a living, hence the quantity of his output but let us not forget the quality.
and the A-Team was shite?….”quit your jibbar-jabbin” Bock
I thought Karl was great in Tom Thumb. He managed to look much taller than Russ Tamblyn. Now that’s REAL acting !