Malden Brought Depth, Morals to Film Roles

Actor Karl Malden, who died at age 97, was a fine performer who stood for good principles and conveyed a sense of moral responsibility in his performances.

Malden was instrumental in pushing the Motion Picture Academy to give a lifetime achievement award to writer-director Elia Kazan, who directed Malden in perhaps his best and most memorable role, that of Father Berry in “On the Waterfront.”

Kazan had been an outcast in Hollywood for several decades before the 1999 award, because of his opposition to communism. Malden’s support of him carried a great risk of ostracism by Hollywood’s political correctness police.

A measure of Malden’s integrity is that he was married to the same woman for seventy years and was surrounded by family members when he died. (more…)

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Tags: "One-Eyed Jacks", "The Streets of San Francisco", Baby Doll, communism, Elia Kazan
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 7:03 am in Classic Hollywood | 17547028 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/07/03/malden-brought-depth-moral-responsibility-to-film-roles/Malden+Brought+Depth%2C+Morals+to+Film+Roles2009-07-03+14%3A03%3A45S.T.+Karnick

Karl Malden Has Died

Some of you might remember the 1999 Academy Awards, the year the great Elia Kazan was finally given an honorary Oscar. The decision to honor Kazan was met with controversy and anger, especially among those who pride themselves on their tolerance, open-mindedness, charity and forgiveness. You see, before Kazan knew better he flirted with Communism, but being a true liberal with an open mind, after learning of the horrors of Stalin’s regime he turned against it and then committed a Hollywood sin worse than furthering an ideology responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths, he named names.

Knowing full well what it would mean, it was Karl Malden, a former Academy President, who proposed and publicly pushed for Kazan to receive this long overdue tribute. And that, along with a 70-year marriage, says an awful lot about the man.

The actor was just as impressive. The simple way to describe him would be as a beefy everyman, but that too easily dismisses a natural and very real screen presence that made him one of the most recognizable faces in the country. Malden worked with some of the most powerful actors of the last fifty years, Brando, McQueen, George C. Scott, Burt Lancaster, and yet he never got lost in the scene. He knew how to watch another actor, he knew how to listen and this kept our eye on him as we waited for what he’d do next. (more…)

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Tags: Baby Doll, Elia Kazan, Fear Strikes Out, Karl Malden, Streecar Named Desire
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 11:07 am in Classic Hollywood, News | 17541815 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/07/02/karl-malden-has-died/Karl+Malden+Has+Died2009-07-02+18%3A07%3A26John+Nolte