LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Oscar winner Karl Malden,  the character actor acclaimed for film roles in “A Streetcar  Named Desire” and “On the Waterfront” before gaining TV fame as  a leading man in “The Streets of San Francisco,” died yesterday at age 97.

Also remembered as the commercial spokesman for American  Express travelers checks, sternly warning tourists, “Don’t  leave home without them,” Malden died in his sleep at his Los  Angeles-area home, according to his longtime agent, Budd Moss.  He said the actor had been in failing health in recent years.

In a career spanning seven decades, Malden made his mark  portraying plain-spoken men of gruff manners, though he was  noted for bringing an understated, natural dignity to many of  his roles.

He acted in the plays of Arthur Miller and Tennessee  Williams, as well as in the films of directors Elia Kazan,  Alfred Hitchcock and John Frankenheimer.

Malden, whose trademark bulbous nose was broken twice while  playing high school sports, often said he was keenly aware that  he lacked the looks of a leading man.

“There were times when certain leads would come along, and  I’d say, ‘Gee, I could do that,’“ Malden recalled in a 2004  interview with Reuters. “But … you’ve got to have a great  nose. You’ve got to have great eyes. Everything that an actor  has to have to be that leading man, I don’t have. So I made the  best with what I had.”