I loved him in A Streetcar Named Desire and Patton, too.
Yeah, another one here who thought he’d died years ago!
Being a young’un I didn’t know who Malden was at first, but after a little searching I discovered he was in one of my favorite scenes on The West Wing.
At 97 I’m sure God wasn’t all that surprised to see him today.
One of the interesting things about him is that, since his rreal name was Mladen Sekulevich, he tried to get his own names into films. Quoth the IMDb:
I’d heard that in Patton, the soldier Malden ( as Omar Bradley) borrows a helmet from after he loses his own was “Mladen”.
Also, second of Gary, Indiana’s famous scions to die within a week
Last time I saw him- a couple of years ago or so on an interview program- I was amazed at how “the same” he looked and sounded as he always had. Apparently his 90s were mostly relatively good years.
Anyway, RIP.
I guess that leaves Gloria Stuart to go for the celebrity centenarian crown. Last I heard she was doing well enough and she turns 99 this week.
I have met very few movie stars in person, but I did meet him (in SF) a few years ago and he was incredibly nice and gracious. RIP.
Ebert says: "As an in-joke, he succeeded in working the name Mladen Sekulovich into the screenplays of “On the Waterfront,” “Birdman of Alcatraz,” “Fear Strikes Out,” and “Patton,” in which he played Gen. Omar Bradley. In the popular TV series “The Streets of San Francisco, his character employed an assistant with the name.”
RIP, Mladen. 
In his first scene in “Patton,” he says to a private, “HAnd me those field glasses, Sekulavich.” He was always finding ways to mention that name.
In the short-lived TV drama “Skag,” he played the foreman at a steel mill in Western Pennsylvania. I remember a scene where he was yelling, “Listen, Sekulavich, I’ve had enough of your goofing off! Get to work!”
Damn it. Now I just spent 30 minutes looking a clips from the West Wing. Thanks a lot.
My pleasure. 
RIP, Karl.
I suggest that we start titling any new death threads (for the next few weeks) as: “Summer 2009 Celebrity Deathwatch: Name”. I know he was 97, but still, this shit is getting ridiculous.
That’s Quinn Martin.
Although in San Francisco the error is understandable.
And Olivia de Havilland just turned 93 on Wednesday. Go Olivia!
Although I have met many celebrities, my only sighting of Karl Malden was in a large hotel in LA - it was a meeting of the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science regarding the upcoming Oscar telecast that year (1993? 1994? I forget.). I believe he was head of the organization at that time.
I saw the small sign near a conference room and stood quietly behind the door and was able to listen in a bit. Thought I would get great tidbits to relate to friends - but from my evil eavesdropping, all I heard was tidbits from a very boring meeting about stuff that was so uninteresting that I didn’t remember what I heard five minutes later. Karl was going through the agenda and it was pretty much like any meeting - boring - but it was kinda cool to hear him talk.
Gee, I missed this. I only really remember him from "The Streets of San Francisco (and those AmEx commercials). I remember a young actor named Michael Douglas starting his career on that show. He’s achieved some fame of his own.