Oscar Winning Actor

Karl Malden, a versatile Oscar-winning actor who built a six-decade Hollywood career playing heroes and heavies -- and, often, relatable ordinary men -- yet who was certain he was best known as a commercial pitchman for American Express, has died. He was 97. Malden died Wednesday of natural causes at his Brentwood home, said Mila Doerner, a daughter. He received his Academy Award for playing Mitch in the 1951 film "A Streetcar Named Desire," a role he originated on Broadway.

Dustin Hoffman is as surprised as anyone to see himself — after five decades on the stage and big screen — showing up on television. When he mentioned his interest in the show "Luck," the David Milch-Michael Mann horse-racing series on HBO, his friends and colleagues were not optimistic. "People said, 'Oh, no, you're into television!'" he recalls, sitting in a hotel suite with the show's creators during a recent press tour. "'It causes divorce, it maims people physically; you knock out so many pages a day….'" Part of what drew him to a television part was the chance to act in a program that — unlike a film — could take every role seriously.

Morgan Freeman is neighing like a horse recalling one of his earliest "acting" memories. "I always was an actor," said the 74-year-old who won the supporting actor Oscar for 2004's "Million Dollar Baby. " "I didn't become an actor, this is what I was meant to do. I remember an incident when I was 5 years old. I had a friend, and we used to play different kinds of games. " One day in rural Mississippi, Freeman and his friend were playing horse and buggy. "What you do is that you get a clothes line and wrap it around yourself if you are the horse," he said.

What Oscar-winning actor was Ronald Reagan's best man when he married Nancy Davis in 1952? William Holden

Actor Jack Nicholson has sold his Malibu spread for $3.5 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service. It came on the market in February at $4.25 million. The 70-acre property, zoned for equestrian use, includes a ranch-style main house, a caretaker home, a tennis court, a cabana, a putting green, a swimming pool, a grotto-style spa and miles of trails. The single-story main home, built in 1966, has mountain and ocean views. Its 2,313 square feet of living space contain three bedrooms, two bathrooms and maid's quarters.

TV movie: Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. will star in "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story," a TV movie about the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.

Jerry Crowe claims that Morgan Freeman is an Oscar-winning actor (Morning Report, July 21). What year and for what did Mr. Freeman win this award? JONATHAN SCHWARTZ Dix Hills, N.Y.

What Oscar-winning actor known for his tough guy, athletic roles made his Broadway debut in the short-lived 1945 play "A Sound of Hunting"? Burt Lancaster

Q: Jerry Stiller appeared with what Oscar-winning actor in 1974's "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" A: Walter Matthau

What Oscar-winning actor was Ronald Reagan's best man when he married Nancy Davis in 1952? William Holden

What Oscar-winning actor known for his tough guy, athletic roles made his Broadway debut in the short-lived 1945 play "A Sound of Hunting"? Burt Lancaster

Actor Jack Nicholson has sold his Malibu spread for $3.5 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service. It came on the market in February at $4.25 million. The 70-acre property, zoned for equestrian use, includes a ranch-style main house, a caretaker home, a tennis court, a cabana, a putting green, a swimming pool, a grotto-style spa and miles of trails. The single-story main home, built in 1966, has mountain and ocean views. Its 2,313 square feet of living space contain three bedrooms, two bathrooms and maid's quarters.

Morgan Freeman is neighing like a horse recalling one of his earliest "acting" memories. "I always was an actor," said the 74-year-old who won the supporting actor Oscar for 2004's "Million Dollar Baby. " "I didn't become an actor, this is what I was meant to do. I remember an incident when I was 5 years old. I had a friend, and we used to play different kinds of games. " One day in rural Mississippi, Freeman and his friend were playing horse and buggy. "What you do is that you get a clothes line and wrap it around yourself if you are the horse," he said.

Q: Jerry Stiller appeared with what Oscar-winning actor in 1974's "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" A: Walter Matthau

A Palm Springs estate built in 1977 for Oscar-winning actor William Holden has come on the market at $5.5 million. Sitting on 2.5 acres in the gated Southridge neighborhood, the 8,000-square-foot desert retreat has mountain and city light views, custom-carved double entry doors, high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and a master bedroom suite with dual fireplaces, a 36-foot-long walk-in closet, a TV area, a sunken terrazzo spa tub and an...

Starring in a popular TV series is a highlight of any actor's career -- but it can also be a trap. Once a series is over, it's hard for many stars to get off what one veteran called "the island of lost actors." For Gerald McRaney, getting off that island was doubly hard since he was identified with two hit series, "Simon & Simon" (1981-89) and "Major Dad" (1989-93). But McRaney has made the great escape in fine fashion, and today the 62-year-old actor finds himself much in demand for movie, stage and TV roles with some of the top talents in Hollywood, including J.J. Abrams ("Lost")

Morgan Freeman was discharged Thursday from a Tennessee hospital after the Oscar-winning actor was treated for broken bones and other injuries sustained in a weekend car crash in Mississippi. Kathy Stringer, a spokeswoman for the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, said Freeman was discharged but gave no other details. The 71-year-old actor was hospitalized after the accident Sunday left him with a broken arm, broken elbow and shoulder damage.

Oscar-winning actor and longtime Connecticut resident Paul Newman has joined fellow actor Katharine Hepburn, humorist Mark Twain and baseball great Jackie Robinson in the Connecticut Hall of Fame. Newman was inducted posthumously Thursday at the state Capitol in Hartford, where the longtime Westport resident was remembered for his award-winning acting career and wide array of philanthropic works. Newman, who died in September at age 83, set up camps for severely ill children and launched his Newman's Own foods line in 1983 on a lark -- a venture that, to date, has raised $265 million for charities worldwide.

On a rainy night nearly 14 years ago, Haing Ngor parked his gold Mercedes in a graffiti-lined alleyway behind his apartment on the edge of Chinatown. The Cambodian refugee-turned-actor had won an Academy Award for his role in 1984's "The Killing Fields," but he still lived in a tiny apartment where he kept his Oscar next to a large Buddha statue. As he stepped out of his car, gunshots echoed off the alley walls. A neighbor rushed outside to find Ngor slumped on the pavement of his carport.