{"id":581,"date":"2009-07-02T08:26:44","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T08:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html"},"modified":"2009-07-02T08:26:44","modified_gmt":"2009-07-02T08:26:44","slug":"karl-malden-beloved-actor-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html","title":{"rendered":"Karl Malden, beloved actor–and pastor, of sorts…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\"Brando<\/span>Like too many people, I suspect, I never watched “On the Waterfront” straight through until well into adulthood. And probably just as well, because I could appreciate it–and the labor priest and activist Fr. Pete Barry, played by Karl Malden, who passed away July 1 at the age of 97. <\/p>\n

Part of what made the film resonate with me is that I was living in Weehawken at the time, and attending Mass in Hoboken, at Sts. Peter & Paul Church, where interirors of the film were shot. (Exteriors were mainly at Our Lady of Grace a few blocks away.) <\/p>\n

But I was also “raised by Jesuits,” in a sense, and Malden’s portryal was based on the real-life Jesuit, Fr. John Corridan. Remarkably, Malden died 25 years to the day after Corridan, whose New York Times obit is here<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n

Fordham’s Jim Fisher has written extensively about Corridan and “On the Waterfront,” and I think has noted that one of the most “Catholic” films of all time had no Catholics involved in its creation: Elia Kazan directed, and Bud Schulberg wrote the script, e.g. But it is based on Corridan’s ministry, and captures the reality of that time of American Catholic life. <\/p>\n

At America’<\/em>s blog, Fr. Jim Martin has an appreciation<\/strong><\/a>, which includes excerpts from this essay<\/strong><\/a> by Jim Fisher about Corridan and the fascinating story behind the making of this movie classic:<\/p>\n

\n

Between 1951 and 1953 Schulberg produced numerous versions of a Waterfront screenplay while deals for the film project were made, then broken. The renowned director Elia Kazan came on board in 1952. After meeting the street-smart, earthy Corridan at Xavier, Kazan grilled Schulberg: “Are you sure he’s a priest? Maybe he’s working there for the waterfront rebels in disguise.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

Schulberg viewed Corridan as “the antidote to the stereotyped Barry Fitzgerald-Bing Crosby” portrayal of the priesthood “so dear to Hollywood hearts.” Corridan agreed and exhorted Kazan and Schulberg to “make a Going My Way<\/i> with substance.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

The project was turned down by every major studio in Hollywood before finally being rescued by independent producer Sam Spiegel. Corridan served as adviser on the film and helped secure clearances from the Port Authority for the use of piers in Hoboken, where the film was shot in late autumn 1953. <\/strong><\/p>\n

He also provided the filmmakers with his speeches and writings on waterfront conditions, including the famous “Christ is on the waterfront” speech he had first presented at a Jersey City chapter of the Knights of Columbus in 1948. In On the Waterfront<\/i>, Fr. Pete Barry (Karl Malden) provides a stirring rendition of the speech over the body of a slain longshoreman. Kazan and Schulberg refused repeated demands by the producers to shorten the scene, which is the moral core of the film since it persuades longshoreman Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) to follow his conscience and testify against waterfront criminals. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As Paul Moses noted at dotCommonweal, that speech is as good a social encyclical as any the pope will issue on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Malden had a remarkable career, which is detailed in the NYTimes obit<\/a> and the LATimes obit<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n

So where are we with the “rule of threes” in celebrity deaths? David Carradine, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon, now Karl Malden–or is that a myth?!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like too many people, I suspect, I never watched “On the Waterfront” straight through until well into adulthood. And probably just as well, because I could appreciate it–and the labor priest and activist Fr. Pete Barry, played by Karl Malden, who passed away July 1 at the age of 97. Part of what made the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,6,7,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-catholic","category-church","category-history","category-politics","category-pop-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nKarl Malden, beloved actor-and pastor, of sorts... - Pontifications<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Karl Malden, beloved actor-and pastor, of sorts... - Pontifications\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like too many people, I suspect, I never watched “On the Waterfront” straight through until well into adulthood. And probably just as well, because I could appreciate it–and the labor priest and activist Fr. Pete Barry, played by Karl Malden, who passed away July 1 at the age of 97. Part of what made the…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pontifications\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-02T08:26:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pontifications\/files\/import\/imgs\/Brando%20%26%20Malden.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Gibson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Karl Malden, beloved actor-and pastor, of sorts... - Pontifications","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Karl Malden, beloved actor-and pastor, of sorts... - Pontifications","og_description":"Like too many people, I suspect, I never watched “On the Waterfront” straight through until well into adulthood. And probably just as well, because I could appreciate it–and the labor priest and activist Fr. Pete Barry, played by Karl Malden, who passed away July 1 at the age of 97. Part of what made the…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html","og_site_name":"Pontifications","article_published_time":"2009-07-02T08:26:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pontifications\/files\/import\/imgs\/Brando%20%26%20Malden.jpg"}],"author":"David Gibson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html","name":"Karl Malden, beloved actor-and pastor, of sorts... - Pontifications","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pontifications\/files\/import\/imgs\/Brando%20%26%20Malden.jpg","datePublished":"2009-07-02T08:26:44+00:00","dateModified":"2009-07-02T08:26:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/#\/schema\/person\/122b0877ab87552bb8f14c366dd43e71"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pontifications\/files\/import\/imgs\/Brando%20%26%20Malden.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pontifications\/files\/import\/imgs\/Brando%20%26%20Malden.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/karl-malden-beloved-actor-and.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Karl Malden, beloved actor–and pastor, of sorts…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/","name":"Pontifications","description":"Catholic Faith and Culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/#\/schema\/person\/122b0877ab87552bb8f14c366dd43e71","name":"David Gibson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/19b\/19bb39c535cd2d776c73c7941f42622cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/19b\/19bb39c535cd2d776c73c7941f42622cx96.jpg","caption":"David Gibson"},"description":"DAVID GIBSON is an award-winning religion journalist, author, filmmaker, and a convert to Catholicism. He came by all those vocations by accident, or Providence, during a longer-than-expected sojourn in Rome in the 1980s. Gibson began his journalistic career as a walk-on sports editor and columnist at The International Courier, a small daily in Rome serving Italy's English-language community. He then found a job as a newscaster and writer across the Tiber at the English Programme at Vatican Radio, an entity he describes as a cross between NPR and Armed Forces Radio for the pope. The Jesuits who ran the radio were charitable enough to hire Gibson even though he had no radio background, could not pronounce the name \"Karol Wojtyla,\" and wasn't Catholic. Time and experience overcame all those challenges, and Gibson went on to cover dozens of John Paul II's overseas trips, including papal visits to Africa, Europe, Latin America and the United States. When Gibson returned to the United States in 1990 he returned to print journalism to cover the religion beat in his native New Jersey for two dailies. He worked first for The Record of Hackensack, and then for The Star-Ledger of New Jersey, winning the nation's top awards in religion writing at both places. In 1999 he won the Supple Religion Writer of the Year contest, and in 2000 he was chosen as the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year. Gibson is a longtime board member of the Religion Newswriters Association and he is a contributor to ReligionLink, a service of the Religion Newswriters Foundation. Since 2003, David Gibson has been an independent writer specializing in Catholicism, religion in contemporary America, and early Christian history. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Boston Magazine, Commonweal, America, The New York Observer, Beliefnet and Religion News Service. He has produced documentaries on early Christianity for CNN and other networks and has traveled on assignment to dozens of countries, with an emphasis on reporting from Europe and the Middle East. He is a frequent television commentator and has appeared on the major cable and broadcast networks. He is also a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on Catholicism, religion in America, and journalism. Gibson's first book, The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful are Shaping a New American Catholicism (HarperSanFrancisco), was published in 2003 and deals with the church-wide crisis revealed by the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The book was widely hailed as a \"powerful\" and \"first-rate\" treatment of the crisis from \"an academically informed journalist of the highest caliber.\" His second book, The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World (HarperSanFrancisco), came out in 2006 and is the first full-scale treatment of the Ratzinger papacy--how it happened, who he is, and what it means for the Catholic Church. The Rule of Benedict has been praised as \"an exceptionally interesting and illuminating book\" from \"a master storyeller.\" Born and raised in New Jersey, David Gibson studied European history at Furman University in South Carolina and spent a year working on Capitol Hill before moving to Italy. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter and is working on a book about conversion, and on several film and television projects.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/author\/dgibson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}