Posted on 07/02/2009 8:20:50 AM PDT by Bokababe
Yesterday Academy Award winning actor Karl Malden died at age 97 of natural causes at home with his family. His long and varied career was rich with intelligently crafted roles. He is survived by his wife of 70 years Mona, two daughters Karla and Mila, three granddaughters and four great grandchildren.
It was a little over five years ago that I had the privilege of meeting Karl Malden for the first time at his home in West Los Angeles along with his kind and beautiful wife Mona. I was there to do an interview that would later be published in the American Srbobran.
But right now, that first meeting seems so long very long ago because it was before Karl Malden laughed and squawked like a chicken at me for me taking the path of least resistance with someone we both knew and weren't fond of. It was before he surprised my husband & I that first Christmas morning, calling to wish us Merry Christmas. And it was before I told him on several of his recent birthdays that 90+ years old wasn't old enough for a fighter like him to go -- he had to shoot for 100. And he almost made it.
I am not going to pretend that Karl Malden was "my best friend", but he was a special and dear human being to those who got the chance to spend time with him and I was lucky enough to have had that privilege.
My heart goes out to all his family and especially his wife Mona. Thank you for sharing him with us.
Below is that interview I did with him from 2003 that says more about him in his own voice than I can say with my own right now....
(Excerpt) Read more at serbblog.blogspot.com ...
I'm glad to have experienced his artistic acumen!
He was great in Patton-one of the best movies ever made.
I loved that movie as a little girl, but I completely forgot that he did that film until a few years ago when I watched it again. Cried like a baby, too.
The scene where the chaplins are being conducted on a tour of his living quarters. When one spies the bible on the nightstand he askes when Patton reads the bible and his response is "Every god damned night!" was excellent.
Mauldin was a lifelong treat for me and he will be missed.
Not a scene was wasted,very tight directing.Also,I believe
it was produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
I had no idea he was that old.......wow!...and such a sterling career too
A Ford Coup?
Karl Malden was certainly one of the most capable actors of the 20th century. A couple of my favorite KM performances were in “The Hanging Tree”, “Nevada Smith” and “One Eyed Jacks”. All gritty westerns where he really shined.
Wow- 97 years old! Rest in Peace, Karl Malden.
And after so many, many acclaimed pictures, he starred on TV in the Streets of San Francisco” with Michael Douglas. Definitely one of the greatest careers of all time for a character actor. RIP Mr. Malden.
Wasn’t he also in “Twelve Angry Men”?
What a great role model for the American people Karl Malden was. Yet everyone now seems so fixated on every despicable tidbit of MJ’s truly pathetic and dysfunctional life.
That's because dysfunction is "interesting". It is, in its own way, a form of entertainment -- a creepy and emotionally dysfunctional (in its own right) form of entertainment, but entertainment none the less. It keeps people's minds off of their own inadequacies.
In all honesty, when I interviewed Karl Malden, I thought that he was going to be about as interesting as a baloney sandwich. But I was wrong. He was far sharper, well read and deeper a human being than I expected.
A priest friend of mine once said to me "There are no new sins -- just the same ones over and over- but there are always new ways of doing good." It's the same with people -- there are only so many ways to be bad, but many more ways of being good. Problem is that this society doesn't know that yet.
Obviously you’re right. The fact that Karl Malden was a faithful husband and a devoted father and grandfather and had the longest marriage in Hollywood seems to be of little interest these days. He was also a modest person and not an egomaniac narcissist like so many other Hollywood celebutards.
I loved the role he played in Patton which I must have seen a million times. The way he played Gen. Omar Bradley who was very modest and deeply concerned with the welfare of the troops I think very much reflected upon his true life personality and character.
Hollyweird could sure use a lot more Karl Maldens and a lot fewer MJs...IMHO.
They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
What a fascinating interview! I read the whole thing. I enjoyed that the focus of the interview was on his coming from a hard-working immigrant family. I grew up in Chicago with my immigrant grandparents next door—they came from Sweden. The story is so familiar. And as a Lutheran pastor, I deal with old folks—immigrants or the children of immigrants—all the time. I’m glad that Mladen Sekulovich (Karl Malden) stayed true to his roots!
When another great - Elia Kazan - was finally recognized by the leftist Hollywood establishment a few years before his death, Karl Malden was one of the few who stood up and paid homage to Kazan.
Those who appreciate the talents and patriotism of Elia Kazan will never forget this generous gesture of respect.
(What an excellent website too)
Thanks, Pastor H!
The ethnic immigrant experience of a particular time is one that is shared by most all ethnic immigrants of that era.
Among the Serbs of the late 19th and early 20th century, I always heard so much about working in the coal mines of PA and WV. I finally went on a tour of a coal mine in PA about ten years ago and there on the tram that they once rode underground, were instructions in about 15 different languages -- Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, German, etc. In other words, people from all those ethnicities were all coal miners and lived a similar immigrant life. It was not unique.
BTW My brother-in-law is also a Lutheran Pastor in Topeka, Kansas.
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