Roscoe Karns
Acting
- Born:
- 1891-09-06
- Died:
- 1970-02-06
- Place of birth:
- San Bernardino, California, USA
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Roscoe Karns (September 7, 1891 – February 6, 1970) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 150 films between 1915 and 1964. He specialized in cynical, wise-cracking (and often tipsy) characters, and his rapid-fire delivery enlivened many comedies and crime thrillers in the 1930s and 1940s. Though he appeared in numerous silent films, such as Wings and Beggars of Life, his career didn't really take off until sound arrived. Arguably his best-known film role was the annoying bus passenger Oscar Shapeley, who tries to pick up Claudette Colbert in the Oscar-winning comedy It Happened One Night (1934), quickly followed by one of his best performances as the boozy press agent Owen O'Malley in Howard Hawks' Twentieth Century. (Six years later, he co-starred as one of the reporters in another Hawks classic, His Girl Friday.) In 1937, Paramount teamed him with Lynne Overman as a pair of laconic private eyes in two B comedy-mysteries, Murder Goes to College and Partners in Crime. From 1950 to 1954, Karns played the title role in the popular DuMont Television Network series Rocky King, Inside Detective. His son, character actor Todd Karns, also appeared in that series. From 1959 to 1962, Karns was cast as Admiral Walter Shafer in seventy-three of the ninety-five episodes of the CBS military sitcom/drama series, Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper in the title role of a United States Navy physician, and Abby Dalton as nurse Martha Hale. His final film was another Hawks comedy, Man's Favorite Sport?, in 1964. Karns was born in San Bernardino, California, and died in Los Angeles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Roscoe Karns, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Known For
Filmography
Man's Favorite Sport?
The Lucy Show
Hennesey
Onionhead
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
December Bride
Rocky King, Detective
Inside Detective
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Speed to Spare
Devil's Cargo
The Inside Story
That's My Man
Vigilantes of Boomtown
Avalanche
I Ring Doorbells
One Way to Love
Hi, Good Lookin'!
The Navy Way
Minstrel Man
Old Acquaintance
His Butler's Sister
Riding High
Stage Door Canteen
My Son, The Hero
You Can't Escape Forever
Yokel Boy
Woman of the Year
A Tragedy at Midnight
Road to Happiness
Half Shot at Sunrise
The Gay Vagabond
Black Eyes and Blues
Footsteps in the Dark
Petticoat Politics
Meet the Missus
Ladies Must Live
They Drive by Night
Saturday's Children
Double Alibi
His Girl Friday
That's Right – You're Wrong
Everything's on Ice
Dancing Co-Ed
King of Chinatown
Thanks for the Memory
You and Me
Tip-Off Girls
Dangerous to Know
Scandal Street
Partners in Crime
On Such a Night
Night of Mystery
Murder Goes to College
Clarence
Cain and Mabel
Three Married Men
Three Cheers for Love
Border Flight
Woman Trap
Two-Fisted
Front Page Woman
Alibi Ike
Four Hours to Kill!
The Woman in Red
Red Hot Tires
Wings in the Dark
I Sell Anything
Elmer and Elsie
Shoot the Works
Twentieth Century
Come On, Marines!
It Happened One Night
Alice in Wonderland
The Women in His Life
One Sunday Afternoon
Gambling Ship
A Lady's Profession
Today We Live
Grand Slam
Lawyer Man
Under-Cover Man
If I Had a Million
They Call It Sin
Night After Night
One Way Passage
The Crooked Circle
Two Against the World
Week-End Marriage
The Roadhouse Murder
Play Girl
Stowaway
High Pressure
Ladies of the Big House
Left Over Ladies
Pleasure
Laughing Sinners
Many a Slip
Dirigible
The Gorilla
The Costello Case
Man Trouble
Little Accident
Safety in Numbers
Troopers Three
New York Nights
This Thing Called Love
Copy
The Flying Fleet
The Shopworn Angel
Object: Alimony
Jazz Mad
Moran of the Marines
Beggars of Life
Win That Girl
Warming Up
The Vanishing Pioneer
Something Always Happens
The Desert Bride
The Trail of '98
Beau Sabreur
The Jazz Singer
Wings
Ten Modern Commandments
Ritzy
You'd Be Surprised
Dollar Down
The Overland Limited
The Foolish Virgin
The Midnight Express
Bluff
The Ten Commandments
Other Men's Daughters
Conquering the Woman
The Trouper
Her Own Money
The Man Tamer
The Life of the Party
The Family Honor
Poor Relations
A Western Governor's Humanity
A Species of Mexican Man
From Champion to Tramp
Mr. Carlson of Arizona