THE HAT SQUAD: KARL MALDEN

Academy Award winning actor Karl Malden has passed away at the age of 97. He made over fifty films including "Patton", "The Birdman Of Alcatraz", "Baby Doll", "On The Waterfront" (for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor), and "A Streetcar Named Desire" (recreating his Broadway role of Mitch, for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor).

On TV, he appeared in nine TV movies, many of which had him portraying real-life figures like Herb Brooks, Elmo Zumwalt, Jr., and Leon Klinghoffer. He also played The Walrus in an adaptation of "Alice In Wonderland".

But in Toobworld, he is best known for playing Lt. Mike Stone, a 20 year veteran police inspector working 'The Streets Of San Francisco', and as himself in a series of commercials he made for American Express Traveler's Cheques and for the American Express credit card over a 21 year period.

He also played the title role of Pete Skagska, a Pittsburgh steelworker felled by a stroke in the short-lived 'Skag'. His last character appearance on TV was as President Jed Bartlet's former priest in a first season episode of 'The West Wing'. (Father Tom Cavanaugh, like all of the characters in 'The West Wing', can be found in an alternate TV dimension and not Earth Prime-Time.)

He was a solid, dependable actor who never disappointed, and Toobworld is richer for the characters he provided.

TV SERIES
"Skag" .... Pete "Skag" Skagska

"The Streets of San Francisco" .... Detective Lt. Mike Stone

TV PILOTS
Skag (1980) .... Pete 'Skag' Skagska

TV SEQUELS
Back to the Streets of San Francisco (1992) .... Mike Stone

TV MOVIES
They've Taken Our Children: The Chowchilla Kidnapping (1993) .... Ed Ray

Absolute Strangers (1991) .... Fred Zusselman

Call Me Anna (1990) .... Doctor Harold Arlen

The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1989) .... Leon Klinghoffer

My Father, My Son (1988) .... Elmo Zumwalt Jr.

Fatal Vision (1984) .... Freddy Kassab

With Intent to Kill (1984) .... Thomas E. Nolan

Miracle on Ice (1981) .... Herb Brooks

Word of Honor (1981) .... Mike McNeill

TV GUEST APPEARANCES
"The West Wing" .... Father Thomas Cavanaugh
- Take This Sabbath Day (2000)

"Armstrong Circle Theatre"
- Anything But Love (1950)

TV COMMERCIALS
American Express

LITERARY ADAPTATIONS
Alice in Wonderland (1985) .... Walrus

Captains Courageous (1977) .... Disko Troop

"The Ford Theatre Hour"
- Little Women (1949)
"Good night, and may God bless."

BCnU.....