Karl Malden with Vivien Leigh in the 1951 film "A Streetcar Named Desire." More Photos »

Karl Malden, left, and his partner, played by Richard Hatch, gathered information in "The Streets of San Francisco." More Photos >

Karl Malden in 1950. More Photos >

It’s a face that you can’t help noticing. Not handsome in the usual movie-star way, by any means, but — befitting a man who defined what it meant to be a character actor — full of character. The jutting chin and oft-broken nose curve toward each other as though affixed to a Punch-and-Judy puppet, but Karl Malden’s face was not made for comedy. Like his voice, pitched between a honk and a growl, it was an instrument full of gravity and dignity, capable of showing strong measures of menace, passion and hurt.