Charles Santore, Streets of San Francisco: Karl Malden and Michael Douglas

Streets of San Francisco was a crime drama about two police officers who investigated homicides. Veteran officer Lieutenant Michael Stone had been recently assigned to the San Francisco Police Department’s Bureau of Inspectors after working as a detective for twenty years. Stone’s partner was Assistant Inspector Steve Keller, an enthusiastic twenty-eight-year-old rookie with no prior experience in police work.

To make the show more authentic, actors Karl Malden (1912–2009) and Michael Douglas (born 1944) spent time observing the San Francisco police, and the officers there took a liking to both of them. Malden and Douglas developed a strong professional bond and a close personal relationship during their time on Streets of San Francisco. At the 1996 People’s Choice Awards, twenty years after they last worked together, Malden admitted that he viewed Douglas as the son he never had; Douglas returned the compliment, stating that Malden was his mentor.