Malden said he got his celebrated bulbous nose when he broke it a couple of times playing basketball or football, joking that he was “the only actor in Hollywood whose nose qualifies him for handicapped parking.”
Actor Karl Malden has died at age 97.
Malden won an Oscar in 1951, as best supporting actor in A Streetcar Named Desire. His heyday was the 1970s, when he starred with Michael Douglas in the hep cop show The Streets of San Francisco and began a lucrative 21-year run as the “Don’t leave home without them” pitchman for American Express traveler’s checks.
He also did a fine job playing sensible General Omar Bradley (opposite George C. Scott as the not-so-sensible General George Patton) in the Oscar-winning 1972 film Patton.
Here’s a taste of Malden’s old AmEx routine, followed by a short spoof from late-night host Johnny Carson.