Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American stage, movie and television actor who first achieved acclaim in the original Broadway productions of Arthur Miller's All My Sons and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire in 1946 and 1947.

He also played in high-profile Hollywood films such as I Confess (1953), Baby Doll (1956), The Hanging Tree (1959), Pollyanna (1960), One-Eyed Jacks (1961), How the West Was Won (1962), Gypsy (1962), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Patton (1970).

From 1972 to 1977, he portrayed the leading role of Lt. Mike Stone in the primetime television crime drama The Streets of San Francisco.

Film and culture critic Charles Champlin described Malden as "an Everyman, but one whose range moved easily up and down the levels of society and the IQ scale, from heroes to heavies and ordinary, decent guys just trying to get along",[5] and at the time of his death, Malden was described as "one of the great character actors of his time"[6] who created a number of "powerhouse performances on screen".

[8] 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.

[9][10] His Serb father Petar Sekulović (Serbian: Петар Секуловић; 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.

[18] For example, as General Omar Bradley in Patton,[19] as his troops slog their way through enemy fire in Sicily, Malden says "Hand me that helmet, Sekulovich" to another soldier.

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.

[23] 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).

[3] While in the service, he was given a small role in the United States Army Air Forces play and film Winged Victory.

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.

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).

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).

In Baby Doll (1956), Malden's last collaboration with Kazan, he played the leading role, a man sexually frustrated by a teenaged wife.

He also starred in Pollyanna (1960), One-Eyed Jacks (1961) (working again with Brando), Birdman of Alcatraz, Gypsy, How the West Was Won (all 1962), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Patton (1970), in which he portrayed General Omar Bradley.

Malden's character Stone was a widowed veteran cop with more than 20 years of experience, who is paired with Keller, an officer recently graduated from college.

During its first season, The Streets of San Francisco was a ratings winner among many other 1970s crime dramas, and served as ABC's answer to such shows as Hawaii Five-O, Adam-12, Ironside, Barnaby Jones, Kojak, McMillan & Wife, Police Woman, The Rockford Files, and Switch.

For his work as Lt. Stone, Malden was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series four times between 1974 and 1977, though he never won.

Malden told Sports Illustrated[29] in December 1980 that he had never actually met Herb Brooks in preparation for his portrayal of him, but he studied him on videotape, especially his eyes.

Malden portrayed Leon Klinghoffer in the 1989 TV movie The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro, the only person to die in the 1985 terrorist incident.

His last acting role was in 2000 in the first-season episode of The West Wing titled "Take This Sabbath Day" in which he portrayed a Catholic priest, using the same Bible he had used in On the Waterfront.

Among other past winners were Jason Robards, Zoe Caldwell, Edward Albee, August Wilson, and Brian Dennehy.