July 1, 2009, 3:36 pm
Karl Malden Dies
By Dave Itzkoff

Associated Press file photo

Karl Malden, a former steelworker who won an Oscar for his role as Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” died Wednesday.Karl Malden, the Academy Award-winning actor whose films included “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “On the Waterfront,” died Wednesday, The Los Angeles Times reported. He was 97.

Mr. Malden, who worked in the steel mills of Gary, Ind., and served in the Army Air Force in World War II, later found fame on Broadway in Tennessee Williams’s “Streetcar Named Desire,” where he originated the role of Mitch. He reprised the role in Elia Kazan’s 1951 film adaptation and won the Academy Award for best supporting actor. He later starred for five seasons on the crime drama “The Streets of San Francisco” with Michael Douglas, and enjoyed a surprise resurgence in a popular series of American Express commercials.

A full obituary will follow on nytimes.com.

Watch video of Karl Malden with Vivien Leigh in a scene from “A Streetcar Named Desire”: