ACTOR · BORN 1912 · DIED 2009
Karl Malden
- Born
- 22 March 1912, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Died
- 1 July 2009
- Known for
- On the Waterfront (1954), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Patton (1969), The West Wing (1999)
52 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (52)
- #001
Although Karl Malden worked in steel mills for several years, he had not saved enough money to study at the Goodman Theatre, the drama division of the Art Institute of Chicago. He struck a deal with the program's director: gambling his meager savings, he agreed that if he could impress the staff in his first term, he would be given a full scholarship.
- #002
Born Mladen Sekulovich, Karl Malden always regretted having to change his name to become an actor. Proud of his heritage, he insisted that a character carry his own surname whenever he appeared in a film or on television: in On the Waterfront (1954), Fred Gwynne's character was named "Sekulovich."
- #003
Long before Michael Douglas worked with him, Malden's friendship with Douglas's father began in 1940, when 23-year-old Kirk Douglas, then an unknown actor, joined him at New York Summer Stock before Kirk's college summer break. This relationship led to Kirk's son starring opposite Kirk's classmate in The Streets of San Francisco (1972). Michael's father told him he would learn a great deal from his father's classmate.
- #004
Karl Malden played basketball in high school and was class president. In his youth he broke his nose twice while playing sports. He began acting when he was only 15.
- #005
The Maldens married in 1938 and remained married until his death in 2009, making it the third-longest marriage in Hollywood history; it trailed only Art Linkletter and Lois Foerster's 74 years (married 1935-2010) and the record-holding 75 years of Norman Lloyd and Peggy Lloyd, surpassing Bob Hope and Dolores Hope's 69 years (from 1934 until her death in 2003).
- #006
On December 12, 2008, just six days before his 70th wedding anniversary, Malden was inducted into the Wall of Legends at St. Sava Church in San Gabriel, California, where Milan Opacich paid tribute to him as a wonderful man and a great benefactor of a Serbian Orthodox church.
- #007
His father, Petar Sekulovich, worked in steel mills and as a milkman, while his mother, Minnie Sekulovich, was a seamstress.
- #008
Both of Karl Malden's Oscar nominations came for films that also starred Marlon Brando.
- #009
Karl Malden served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Air Force.
- #010
Karl Malden appeared in four films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), How the West Was Won (1962) and Patton (1970). Of these, On the Waterfront (1954) and Patton (1970) were the winners in the category.
- #011
For decades he delivered the tagline in American Express commercials ("Don't leave home without it"), which became a national catchphrase.
- #012
Karl Malden was of Serbian and Czechoslovak descent.
- #013
At Elia Kazan's insistence, he changed his name from Mladen Sekulovich to Karl Malden, taking his maternal grandfather's name as his first name and altering several letters of his own name for his surname. Malden remained a strong friend of the famous director even after Kazan was rebuked by the Hollywood community for naming names before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952. He strongly supported Kazan's controversial lifetime achievement Oscar honor, arguing that there was no place for politics when the business came to rewarding artistic merit.
- #014
Born the eldest of three sons of Serbian immigrants Petar and Minnie Sekulovich, he grew up in the Serbian community of Gary, Indiana, where his father worked as a milkman.
- #015
Karl Malden always prepared meticulously, studying a script carefully long before stepping into the role.
- #016
Seeing no future for himself in the factories, he quit working in the steel mills at age 22 to train as an actor at the Goodman Theatre.
- #017
Karl Malden had two daughters, Mila Malden and Carla Malden. Carla is the co-author of his autobiography, "When Do I Start."
- #018
He was offered a scholarship to attend the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where he met his future wife, Mona Malden (née Mona Greenberg), a fellow scholarship student. They married in 1938 and remained married for more than 70 years until Karl's death on July 1, 2009.
- #019
Karl Malden's family moved to Gary, Indiana, when he was five years old. There he attended and graduated from Emerson High School in 1931. He joined the drama department in high school and was narrowly elected senior class president. Among other roles, he played Pooh-Bah in The Mikado.
- #020
In his youth, Karl Malden was a professional basketball player.
- #021
Karl Malden served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) from 1989 to 1992.
- #022
Six years after his father's death, Karl Malden traveled to his father's real-life homeland of Yugoslavia, where he helped with the production of a private film, Twilight Time (1982).
- #023
On November 11, 2004, Michael Douglas, his former co-star on The Streets of San Francisco (1972), presented Karl Malden with the Monte Cristo Award of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, for Lifetime Achievement. Along with Malden, recipients included Jason Robards, Zoe Caldwell, Edward Albee, August Wilson and Brian Dennehy.
- #024
During and after the production of The Streets of San Francisco (1972), Karl Malden remained good friends with Michael Douglas.
- #025
From 1968 to 1989, Karl Malden was the commercial spokesman for American Express Travelers Cheques.
- #026
Karl Malden is one of eight actors nominated for an Oscar for a performance as a priest. The others, in chronological order, are: Spencer Tracy for San Francisco (1936) and Boys Town (1938); Charles Bickford for The Song of Bernadette (1943); Bing Crosby for Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945); Barry Fitzgerald for Going My Way (1944); Gregory Peck for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944); Jason Miller for The Exorcist (1973); and Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008). Tracy, Crosby and Fitzgerald won the Oscar for their performances.
- #027
After graduating from high school as class valedictorian, Karl Malden briefly left Gary, Indiana, to move to Arkansas, hoping to earn an athletics scholarship to college. Because he refused to play football in addition to basketball, the college turned him down, and he therefore returned to his hometown of Gary, Indiana.
- #028
Karl Malden received an honorary degree (Doctor of Humane Letters) from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana (2001).
- #029
Karl Malden's closest friends included: Norman Lloyd, Harry Morgan, Lee J. Cobb, Angela Lansbury, Telly Savalas, Jane Wyman, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Robert Wagner, Shelley Winters, Eva Marie Saint, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Vivien Leigh, Eli Wallach, Kirk Douglas, Natalie Wood, Montgomery Clift, Arthur Kennedy, Richard Widmark and Carroll Baker.
- #030
Karl Malden attended and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago (1937), then returned to Gary, Indiana, jobless and penniless.
- #031
After young Dick York came out of the men's room into the hallway, Malden was looking for him to play the role in 'Tea and Sympathy.' He thought York was the right person for the role, which ultimately paid off.
- #032
Karl Malden was close friends with The Magnificent Seven (1960) star Brad Dexter, who was also of Serbian descent.
- #033
Before becoming a successful actor, Karl Malden worked in steel mills.
- #034
On February 8, 1960, Karl Malden was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6231 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- #035
Both Karl Malden and his co-star [Michael Douglas] spent time with San Francisco Police Department detectives off the set of [The Streets of San Francisco (1972)] to give the series an air of authenticity. The San Francisco Police Department detectives liked both Malden and Douglas, whom they described as "very fine fellows."
- #036
Karl Malden's father, Petar Sekulovich, produced Serbian plays and gave acting lessons at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church. Mladen (later Malden) joined the Karageorge Choir at the church in his youth.
- #037
Karl Malden met Harry Morgan in the play "Golden Boy." They would remain friends for more than 70 years, until Malden's death on July 1, 2009.
- #038
There is some dispute over whether Karl Malden was born in Chicago or in Gary, Indiana (the latter of which he often mentioned because he spent his childhood there). However, birth records show that no Mladen Sekulovich was born in Gary in 1912, while one is shown to have been born in Chicago that year. The census also indicates that his parents lived in Chicago until 1917.
- #039
On November 12, 2005, the Barrington Station post office in Los Angeles, California, was renamed in his honor in recognition of his proud achievements. This was followed by the passage of a bill introduced by U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman.
- #040
He brought in Eva Marie Saint, whom he had met while working at an acting workshop in New York.
- #041
He appeared in five films alongside Richard Widmark: Kiss of Death (1947), Halls of Montezuma (1951), Take the High Ground! (1953), How the West Was Won (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964).
- #042
He died exactly five years after his close friend (and frequent co-star) Marlon Brando.
- #043
He appeared in five films selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), One-Eyed Jacks (1961), How the West Was Won (1962) and Patton (1970).
- #044
His surname is constantly mispronounced, with the first syllable pronounced "Mal" rather than "Moll" (rhyming with "Pal," as in "Malice").
- #045
He was a graduate of the Stella Adler Acting Studio.
- #046
In 1993 he was inducted into the Steel City Hall of Fame (Gary, Indiana).
- #047
In 1971, he accepted the Best Director Oscar on behalf of Franklin J. Schaffner, who was not present at the ceremony.
- #048
He was a jury member at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1963.
- #049
He had his first theater experience in The Golden Boy at the Group Theatre.
- #050
His daughters Mila and Carla were born in 1952 and 1954, respectively.
- #051
He was the father-in-law of Laurence Starkman.
- #052
He shared the same name as Carl Reiner (though spelled differently) and had nearly identical birth and death dates (each off by two days). Both men were in their late nineties at the time of their deaths.
Continue through the archive
On the Waterfrontas Father Barry
A Streetcar Named Desireas Harold Mitchell- How the West Was Wonas Zebulon Prescott (segment: The Rivers)
- I Confessas Inspector Larrue
- Birdman of Alcatrazas Harvey Shoemaker
- Nutsas Arthur Kirk
- Baby Dollas Archie Lee Meighan
- The Streets of San Franciscoas Detective Lt. Mike Stone
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
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