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