MELISSA BLOCK, host:
Actor Karl Malden died today in Los Angeles. He was 97. He was perhaps best known for two television roles late in his career, but Malden made a big impression on audiences decades earlier. On Broadway, he played Blanche DuBois' shy suitor in "A Streetcar Named Desire," a role he reprised on the big screen. He won an Oscar.
In 1954, he played Father Corrigan in "On the Waterfront," encouraging longshoreman to fight mob injustice.
(Soundbite of movie, "On the Waterfront")
Mr. KARL MALDEN (Actor): (As Father Barry) What they did to Joey and what they did to Dugan, they're doing to you and you, you, all of you. And only you, only you with God's help have the power to knock them out for good.
BLOCK: It was while playing high school basketball that Malden got elbowed in the face, giving him his distinctive, bulbous nose. His looks may have kept him from being regularly cast as the guy who gets the girl, but that just meant he got the juicy character parts.
Karl Malden died today. He was 97. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.