Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich,
Serbian Cyrillic: Младен Ђорђе Секуловић; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009)
was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he featured in classic
Marlon Brando films such as
A Streetcar Named Desire,
On the Waterfront and
One-Eyed Jacks. Among other notable film roles were Archie Lee Meighan in
Baby Doll, Zebulon Prescott in
How the West Was Won and
General Omar Bradley in
Patton. His best-known role was on television as Lt. Mike Stone on the 1970s
crime drama,
The Streets of San Francisco. During the 1980s he was spokesman for
American Express, reminding cardholders "Don't leave home without it".
Early life
Malden, the eldest of three brothers, was born in
Chicago, Illinois[See Childhood and Family in Karl Malden] and raised in
Gary, Indiana. His mother, Minnie (née Sebera) Sekulovich (1893 - 1995), was a
Czech seamstress and actress, and his Serbian father, Petar Sekulović (1886 - 1975), worked in the steel mills and as a milkman.
[www.filmreference.com/film/4/Karl-Malden.html] The Sekulovich family roots trace back to Podosoje near the city of
Bileća in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Malden spoke the
Serbian language until he was in kindergarten. Malden's father had a passion for music, and organized a choir. As a teenager, Malden joined the
Karageorge Choir. In addition, his father produced Serbian plays at his church and taught acting. A young Malden took part in many of these plays, which included a version of
Jack and the Beanstalk, but mostly centered on the community's Serbian heritage. In
high school he was a popular student and the star of the
basketball team (according to his autobiography, Malden broke his nose twice while playing, taking elbows to the face and resulting in his trademark bulbous nose). He participated in the drama department, and was narrowly elected senior class president. Among other roles, he played Pooh Bah in
The Mikado. After graduating from
Emerson High School in 1931 with high marks, he briefly planned to leave Gary for
Arkansas, where he hoped to win an athletic scholarship, but college officials did not admit him owing to his refusal to play any sport besides basketball. From 1931 until 1934, he worked in the
steel mills, as had his father.
He changed his name from
Mladen Sekulovich to
Karl Malden at age 22. He anglicized his first name by switching the letters "l" and "a" and making it his last name; then he proceeded to take his grandfather's first name.
[www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/01/karl.malden.obit/index.html] This was because the first theatre company he was in wanted him to shorten his name for the marquee. He thought they wanted to fire him and were using his name as an excuse, although this was not the case, so he changed it not to give them the excuse.
