Unfortunately not all of us will live to 97, and with a body of work to leave behind which is as impressive and accomplished as the legendary Karl Malden, who has died today, aged 97.So many of us will leave this world with unfinished business, with things not achieved, but Malden is one of those rare talents of cinema who you believe fulfilled his ambitions, and he left a lasting legacy that couldn't have been improved on. But yet for such a great body of work, I always felt he was never truly given the recognition he deserved and history will forever deem him in the shadows of other giants. His three most famous roles; On the Waterfront, his Best Supporting Oscar winning role in A Streetcar Named Desire and his left field villain performance in One-Eyed Jacks, were all up against that titanic screen stealer Marlon Brando. You look too at Patton, and his brief scenes in that film would be over-shadowed by George C. Scott's amazing role.
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View more news videos at: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/video. However it's none of those movies that I know Malden best. Instead it's his role as the chief detective in Alfred Hitchcock's superb thriller I, Confess which I remember most fondly, and of course the very famous "Don't Leave Home Without Them" American Express ads.
Obsessed With Film's Alex Diaz emailed me a few hours asking me if he could write an obituary for Malden, and of course I agreed. Malden is a talent worth eulogizing, and it will be my pleasure to post that in the coming days. Watch out for it.