FACTBOX: Facts about Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden

(Reuters) - Facts about Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden, who died on Wednesday at the age of 97:

* Malden won an Academy Award for his 1951 supporting role as the hapless Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire." His 1954 portrayal of a priest in "On the Waterfront" earned him an Oscar nomination.

* He was nominated for four Emmys as lead actor for the television drama "The Streets of San Francisco" in the 1970s but did not win an Emmy until his role in the miniseries "Fatal Vision" in 1985.

* Malden acknowledged he lacked leading-man looks and made a career of playing characters who were plain-spoken and gruff, yet often with an understated dignity about them.

* His bulbous nose was his trademark. He broke it twice playing sports in high school.

* Malden, whose parents were of Serb and Czech origin, was born Mladen George Sekulovich in Chicago on March 22, 1912. He often paid tribute to his original name by working it into his movies.

* As a longtime spokesman for American Express travelers checks, Malden made the catch phrase "Don't leave home without them" famous.

* Malden was a past president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and in 2003 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild.

* Malden was a member of the U.S. Postal Service's Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which meets to consider designs for new U.S. postal stamps. A postal building in Los Angeles was named for him in 2005.

(Writing by Bill Trott and Laura Isensee; Editing by Steve Gorman)