Friday, July 3, 2009

Actor Karl Malden is being remembered in Emporia for ties he had to the city and Emporia State University.

Malden, who died on Wednesday, married an Emporia girl and taught a workshop at Emporia State's Summer Theatre. A scholarship named for Malden is still awarded to a theater student every year.

Malden's wife, Mona, graduated from Roosevelt High School and attended Kansas State Teachers College, which is now Emporia State University. They celebrated their 70th anniversary last December.

He visited the campus with her in 1959 and returned in the summer of 1964 to teach actors at the summer theater company. In 1985, Malden was awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree by the university.