Good-bye, Karl

After last week, with its multiple celebrity deaths, I was really hoping to take a breather from the obituary beat. But no such luck, apparently. The latest sad news:

Karl Malden, one of Hollywood’s strongest and most versatile supporting actors, who won an Oscar playing his Broadway-originated role as Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” died today. He was 97.

Malden starred in the 1970s TV series “The Streets of San Francisco” and was the longtime American Express traveler’s-check spokesman, warning travelers to not leave home without it. He died of natural causes at his home in Brentwood, said his daughter Mila Doerner.

According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Malden’s final dramatic performance was in an episode of The West Wing back in 2000. (Video clip here.) But as TV Squad tells it, “His last appearance in general was a few weeks ago. AFI gave a Life Achievement Award to Michael Douglas, and Malden videotaped a congratulations for him. Douglas costarred in The Streets of San Francisco with Malden for several years. The show will air on TV Land July 19.”

Click here for much more from the Los Angeles Times. I’m still looking forward to The New York Times’ tribute to Malden, but meanwhile, its Arts Beat column covers this death in brief.

READ MORE: “The War on Celebrities Continues: Karl Malden Is Dead,” by Jaime J. Weinman (Something Old, Nothing New); “Karl Malden 1912-2009,” by Andrew O’Hehir (Salon); “A Character Actor of Intensified Normalness,” by A.O. Scott (The New York Times); “Karl Malden 1912-2009,” by Ruthe Stein (San Francisco Chronicle).