Roscoe Karns
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1891-09-06
Day of Death
1970-02-06 (78 years old)
Place of Birth
San Bernardino, California, USA
Roscoe Karns
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
Acting
(1964)
Man's Favorite Sport?
as Major Phipps
(1958)
Onionhead
as 'Windy' Woods
(1948)
The Inside Story
as Eustace Peabody
(1948)
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
as Officer Carmody
(1948)
Speed to Spare
as Kangaroo
(1948)
Devil's Cargo
as Lt. Hardy
(1947)
Vigilantes of Boomtown
as Bill Delaney
(1947)
That's My Man
as Toby Gleeton
(1946)
I Ring Doorbells
as Stubby
(1946)
Avalanche
as Red Kelly
(1946)
One Way to Love
as Hobie Simmons
(1944)
Minstrel Man
as Lasses White
(1944)
Hi, Good Lookin'!
as Archie
(1944)
The Navy Way
as Frankie Gimble
(1943)
Old Acquaintance
as Charlie Archer
(1943)
His Butler's Sister
as Fields
(1943)
Riding High
as Shorty
(1943)
Stage Door Canteen
as Roscoe Karns
(1943)
My Son, The Hero
as Big-Time Morgan
(1942)
A Tragedy at Midnight
as Cassidy
(1942)
Woman of the Year
as Phil Whittaker
(1942)
Yokel Boy
as Al Devers
(1942)
You Can't Escape Forever
as 'Mac' McTurk
(1941)
Road to Happiness
as Charley Grady
(1941)
The Gay Vagabond
as Arthur Dixon / Jerry Dixon
(1941)
Petticoat Politics
as Joe Higgins
(1941)
Black Eyes and Blues
as Alfred Harmon
(1941)
Footsteps in the Dark
as Monahan
(1941)
Half Shot at Sunrise
as Henry Warren
(1940)
His Girl Friday
as McCue
(1940)
Saturday's Children
as Willie Sands
(1940)
Double Alibi
as Jeremiah Jenkins
(1940)
They Drive by Night
as Irish McGurn
(1940)
Meet the Missus
as Joe Higgins
(1940)
Ladies Must Live
as Pete Larrabee
(1939)
King of Chinatown
as Rip Harrigan
(1939)
Everything's on Ice
as Felix Miller
(1939)
Dancing Co-Ed
as Joe Drews
(1939)
That's Right – You're Wrong
as Mal Stamp
(1938)
Dangerous to Know
as Duncan
(1938)
You and Me
as Cuffy
(1938)
Thanks for the Memory
as George Kent
(1938)
Scandal Street
as Austin Brown
(1938)
Tip-Off Girls
as Tom Benson aka Tommy Logan
(1937)
Murder Goes to College
as Sim Perkins
(1937)
On Such a Night
as Joe Flynn
(1937)
Night of Mystery
as Sergeant Heath
(1937)
Clarence
as Clarence Smith
(1937)
Partners in Crime
as Sim Perkins
(1936)
Cain and Mabel
as Reilly
(1936)
Three Married Men
as Peter Cary
(1936)
Border Flight
as Calico Smith
(1936)
Woman Trap
as Mopsy
(1935)
Wings in the Dark
as Nick Williams
(1935)
Alibi Ike
as Carey
(1935)
The Woman in Red
as Man in court room (uncredited)
(1935)
Four Hours to Kill!
as Johnson
(1935)
Two-Fisted
as Chick Moran
(1935)
Front Page Woman
as Toots O'Grady
(1935)
Red Hot Tires
as Bud Keene
(1934)
Twentieth Century
as Owen O'Malley
(1934)
It Happened One Night
as Oscar Shapeley
(1934)
Come On, Marines!
as Spud McGurke
(1934)
Shoot the Works
as Sailor Burke
(1934)
I Sell Anything
as Monk
(1933)
One Sunday Afternoon
as Snappy Downer
(1933)
Gambling Ship
as Blooey
(1933)
Today We Live
as McGinnis
(1933)
The Women in His Life
as Aloysius Lester
(1933)
Alice in Wonderland
as Tweedledee
(1933)
A Lady's Profession
as Tony
(1933)
Grand Slam
as Contest Radio Announcer
(1932)
If I Had a Million
as Private O'Brien
(1932)
The Roadhouse Murder
as Dale
(1932)
One Way Passage
as S.S. Maloa Bartender (uncredited)
(1932)
The Crooked Circle
as Harry Carter
(1932)
Week-End Marriage
as Jim Davis
(1932)
Under-Cover Man
as Dannie
(1932)
Stowaway
as Insp. Redding
(1932)
They Call It Sin
as Brad - Rehearsal Director (uncredited)
(1932)
Play Girl
as Gambler (uncredited)
(1932)
Night After Night
as Leo
(1932)
Two Against the World
as Segall, reporter
(1932)
Lawyer Man
as Merritt - Reporter (uncredited)
(1931)
Left Over Ladies
as 'Scoop'
(1931)
Many a Slip
as Stan Price
(1931)
Laughing Sinners
as Fred Geer
(1931)
Ladies of the Big House
as Frank - Twenty Questions player (uncredited)
(1931)
Pleasure
as Arnie
(1931)
Dirigible
as Sock McGuire
(1930)
Man Trouble
as Scott
(1930)
The Costello Case
as Blair
(1930)
The Gorilla
as Simmons
(1930)
Safety in Numbers
as Bertram Shapiro
(1930)
Troopers Three
as Bugs
(1930)
Little Accident
as Gilbert
(1929)
The Flying Fleet
as Shipwrecked Radio Operator (uncredited)
(1929)
New York Nights
as Johnny Dolan
(1929)
This Thing Called Love
as Harry Bertrand
(1929)
Copy
as City Editor John Mack
(1928)
The Trail of '98
as Man on Ship (uncredited)
(1928)
Jazz Mad
as Sol Levy
(1928)
Beggars of Life
as Lame Hoppy
(1928)
Something Always Happens
as George
(1928)
Beau Sabreur
as Buddy
(1928)
The Shopworn Angel
as Dance Director
(1928)
Moran of the Marines
as Swatty
(1928)
Win That Girl
as Johnny Norton II
(1928)
The Desert Bride
as Pvt. Terry
(1928)
Warming Up
as Hippo
(1928)
The Vanishing Pioneer
as Ray Hearn
(1927)
The Jazz Singer
as Agent (uncredited)
(1927)
Ten Modern Commandments
as Benny Burnaway
(1927)
Wings
as Lieutenant Cameron
(1926)
You'd Be Surprised
as Party Guest (uncredited)
(1925)
The Overland Limited
as Patrick Henry Madden
(1924)
The Midnight Express
as Switch Hogan
(1923)
The Ten Commandments
as The Boy in the Rain (uncredited)
(1923)
Other Men's Daughters
as Hubert
(1922)
(1922)
Her Own Money
as Jerry Woodward
(1921)
The Man Tamer
as Bradley P. Caldwell Jr
(1920)
The Family Honor
as Dal Tucker
(1920)
The Life of the Party
as Sam Perkins
(1919)
Poor Relations
as Henry
(1915)
From Champion to Tramp
as The Girl's Father
(1915)
(1915)
(1915)
A Western Governor's Humanity
as The Sheriff