Oscar winning actor Karl Malden dies at 97

Malden returned the compliment in a taped message played back for Douglas at the ceremony, saying, "I wish Michael could have been my son. I'm so proud of him."

"The Streets of San Francisco" ran from 1974 until 1977. The following decade, Malden won an Emmy as the father of a murdered woman in fact-based NBC miniseries "Fatal Vision."

As his career waned, Malden found himself at the center of a controversy surrounding his longtime friend, Kazan, who had been shunned by the Hollywood establishment since naming names of alleged Communists to the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee in 1952.

It was Malden who proposed at a 1999 board meeting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that Kazan receive a special Oscar honoring his body of work. The award was given over the protests of many film industry veterans who believed Kazan's actions during the "blacklist" era were unforgivable.

Malden is survived by his wife of more than 70 years, Mona, whom he married in 1938. They had two children.

(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)