
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
Acting
(1964)
Man's Favorite Sport?
as Major Phipps
(1958)
Onionhead
as 'Windy' Woods
(1948)
Devil's Cargo
as Lt. Hardy
(1948)
The Inside Story
as Eustace Peabody
(1948)
Speed to Spare
as Kangaroo
(1948)
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
as Officer Carmody
(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)
The Navy Way
as Frankie Gimble
(1944)
Minstrel Man
as Lasses White
(1944)
Hi, Good Lookin'!
as Archie
(1943)
Stage Door Canteen
as Roscoe Karns
(1943)
Riding High
as Shorty
(1943)
Old Acquaintance
as Charlie Archer
(1943)
His Butler's Sister
as Fields
(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)
You Can't Escape Forever
as 'Mac' McTurk
(1942)
Yokel Boy
as Al Devers
(1941)
Footsteps in the Dark
as Monahan
(1941)
The Gay Vagabond
as Arthur Dixon / Jerry Dixon
(1941)
Black Eyes and Blues
as Alfred Harmon
(1941)
Road to Happiness
as Charley Grady
(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)
Ladies Must Live
as Pete Larrabee
(1940)
Meet the Missus
as Joe Higgins
(1940)
Double Alibi
as Jeremiah Jenkins
(1940)
Saturday's Children
as Willie Sands
(1939)
That's Right – You're Wrong
as Mal Stamp
(1939)
King of Chinatown
as Rip Harrigan
(1939)
Everything's on Ice
as Felix Miller
(1939)
Dancing Co-Ed
as Joe Drews
(1938)
You and Me
as Cuffy
(1938)
Scandal Street
as Austin Brown
(1938)
Thanks for the Memory
as George Kent
(1938)
Dangerous to Know
as Duncan
(1938)
Tip-Off Girls
as Tom Benson aka Tommy Logan
(1937)
Clarence
as Clarence Smith
(1937)
On Such a Night
as Joe Flynn
(1937)
Night of Mystery
as Sergeant Heath
(1937)
Murder Goes to College
as Sim Perkins
(1937)
Partners in Crime
as Sim Perkins
(1936)
Woman Trap
as Mopsy
(1936)
Cain and Mabel
as Reilly
(1936)
Three Married Men
as Peter Cary
(1936)
Border Flight
as Calico Smith
(1935)
Front Page Woman
as Toots O'Grady
(1935)
Alibi Ike
as Carey
(1935)
Four Hours to Kill!
as Johnson
(1935)
Two-Fisted
as Chick Moran
(1935)
Wings in the Dark
as Nick Williams
(1935)
The Woman in Red
as Man in court room (uncredited)
(1935)
Red Hot Tires
as Bud Keene
(1934)
It Happened One Night
as Oscar Shapeley
(1934)
Twentieth Century
as Owen O'Malley
(1934)
Come On, Marines!
as Spud McGurke
(1934)
I Sell Anything
as Monk
(1934)
Shoot the Works
as Sailor Burke
(1933)
Alice in Wonderland
as Tweedledee
(1933)
The Women in His Life
as Aloysius Lester
(1933)
Today We Live
as McGinnis
(1933)
One Sunday Afternoon
as Snappy Downer
(1933)
Gambling Ship
as Blooey
(1933)
Grand Slam
as Contest Radio Announcer
(1933)
A Lady's Profession
as Tony
(1932)
If I Had a Million
as Private O'Brien
(1932)
Lawyer Man
as Merritt - Reporter (uncredited)
(1932)
The Roadhouse Murder
as Dale
(1932)
They Call It Sin
as Brad - Rehearsal Director (uncredited)
(1932)
Week-End Marriage
as Jim Davis
(1932)
Night After Night
as Leo
(1932)
Two Against the World
as Segall, reporter
(1932)
One Way Passage
as S.S. Maloa Bartender (uncredited)
(1932)
Under-Cover Man
as Dannie
(1932)
The Crooked Circle
as Harry Carter
(1932)
Play Girl
as Gambler (uncredited)
(1932)
Stowaway
as Insp. Redding
(1931)
Laughing Sinners
as Fred Geer
(1931)
Dirigible
as Sock McGuire
(1931)
Left Over Ladies
as 'Scoop'
(1931)
Many a Slip
as Stan Price
(1931)
Ladies of the Big House
as Frank - Twenty Questions player (uncredited)
(1931)
Pleasure
as Arnie
(1930)
Troopers Three
as Bugs
(1930)
Safety in Numbers
as Bertram Shapiro
(1930)
The Costello Case
as Blair
(1930)
Man Trouble
as Scott
(1930)
Little Accident
as Gilbert
(1930)
The Gorilla
as Simmons
(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)
Warming Up
as Hippo
(1928)
Beau Sabreur
as Buddy
(1928)
Beggars of Life
as Lame Hoppy
(1928)
The Trail of '98
as Man on Ship (uncredited)
(1928)
The Desert Bride
as Pvt. Terry
(1928)
The Shopworn Angel
as Dance Director
(1928)
Jazz Mad
as Sol Levy
(1928)
Moran of the Marines
as Swatty
(1928)
The Vanishing Pioneer
as Ray Hearn
(1928)
Something Always Happens
as George
(1928)
Win That Girl
as Johnny Norton II
(1927)
The Jazz Singer
as Agent (uncredited)
(1927)
Wings
as Lieutenant Cameron
(1927)
Ten Modern Commandments
as Benny Burnaway
(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
(1920)
The Family Honor
as Dal Tucker
(1920)
The Life of the Party
as Sam Perkins
(1919)
Poor Relations
as Henry
(1915)
(1915)
From Champion to Tramp
as The Girl's Father
(1915)
(1915)
A Western Governor's Humanity
as The Sheriff