Malden's craft helped make great movies

We also saw the new-to-home-video "Time Limit," a taut thriller starring Richard Widmark, which is the only film Malden directed (he also plays a small, uncredited role). And a few episodes of "The Streets of San Francisco."

Cited in many of last week's stories were the most obvious choices — Malden's Oscar-winning portrayal of Blanche's awkward suitor in "A Streetcar Named Desire"; as the priest who becomes a spiritual adviser to Marlon Brando's character in "On the Waterfront"; the detective investigating a murder in Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess"; the by-the-book warden in "Birdman of Alcatraz"; and as Gen. Omar Bradley, who offers sound counsel to George C. Scott's hot-headed "Patton."

In addition to "On the Waterfront," Malden also played men of the cloth in "Pollyanna," "The Great Imposter" and in his final acting role on the TV series "The West Wing" (in 2000).

TV was also good to Malden, not only with "The Streets of San Francisco," which ran for five years, but in the excellent, albeit short-lived, blue-collar dramatic series "Skag" and the TV movies "Miracle on Ice," "Fatal Vision" and "The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro."

Malden won his Oscar for "A Streetcar Named Desire," but he was also nominated for "On the Waterfront" and earned four Emmy nominations for "The Streets of San Francisco"; he won an Emmy for "Fatal Vision."

And there are many more movies that contain sterling Malden performances, far too many to list here.

Most of those listed above are on DVD, with the exception of "The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro," which has never been on home video. "Fatal Vision," "Miracle on Ice" and the pilot for "Skag" were released on VHS but have not found their way to DVD.

In an age when reliable character actors are few and the roles they are given are short-shrift, it's important to look back on movies that knew how to use an ensemble cast, even in star-laden vehicles.

And to remember the value of sterling character actors like Karl Malden, without whom each of these films would be a lesser work.

E-MAIL: hicks@desnews.com