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
Personal info
Gender
Male
Birthday
1891-09-06
Place of birth
San Bernardino, California, USA
Images
Cast
It Happened One Night
1934
7.82
His Girl Friday
1940
7.40
The Family Honor
1920
0.00
Woman of the Year
1942
6.91
Twentieth Century
1934
6.80
The Ten Commandments
1923
6.50
Petticoat Politics
1941
0.00
Alice in Wonderland
1933
6.00
You Can't Escape Forever
1942
5.40
Moran of the Marines
1928
0.00
Footsteps in the Dark
1941
6.90
You and Me
1938
6.60
They Drive by Night
1940
6.90
Man's Favorite Sport?
1964
6.96
Devil's Cargo
1948
5.50
Her Own Money
1922
0.00
Night After Night
1932
6.20
Ten Modern Commandments
1927
0.00
Wings in the Dark
1935
6.40
Double Alibi
1940
4.50
A Lady's Profession
1933
0.00
Laughing Sinners
1931
5.40
Four Hours to Kill!
1935
5.00
Other Men's Daughters
1923
0.00
If I Had a Million
1932
6.70
Today We Live
1933
6.20
This Thing Called Love
1929
0.00
Alibi Ike
1935
5.80
One Sunday Afternoon
1933
6.30
Saturday's Children
1940
6.40
Front Page Woman
1935
5.80
New York Nights
1929
4.80
Week-End Marriage
1932
6.00
Win That Girl
1928
0.00
A Tragedy at Midnight
1942
4.67
Avalanche
1946
0.00
The Inside Story
1948
6.50
That's Right – You're Wrong
1939
5.70
Cain and Mabel
1936
6.10
Two Against the World
1932
5.60
Safety in Numbers
1930
5.00
My Son, The Hero
1943
0.00
Thanks for the Memory
1938
5.60
Pleasure
1931
3.50
Shoot the Works
1934
5.00
Speed to Spare
1948
5.00
Riding High
1943
4.50
Two-Fisted
1935
7.00
The Woman in Red
1935
6.00
On Such a Night
1937
0.00
Night of Mystery
1937
0.00
Ladies Must Live
1940
6.00
Three Married Men
1936
0.00
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
1948
5.33
Tip-Off Girls
1938
6.00
I Sell Anything
1934
4.50
Partners in Crime
1937
0.00
Troopers Three
1930
7.00
Lawyer Man
1932
5.82
The Crooked Circle
1932
4.80
The Shopworn Angel
1928
0.00
That's My Man
1947
6.00
Murder Goes to College
1937
3.00
King of Chinatown
1939
5.80
Dangerous to Know
1938
6.14
One Way to Love
1946
7.00
Man Trouble
1930
5.00
The Women in His Life
1933
4.00
One Way Passage
1932
7.29
Vigilantes of Boomtown
1947
2.50
Copy
1929
0.00
Hi, Good Lookin'!
1944
5.70
Red Hot Tires
1935
5.80
The Flying Fleet
1929
6.30
The Gorilla
1930
0.00
The Life of the Party
1920
5.20
Old Acquaintance
1943
6.97
Dancing Co-Ed
1939
6.20
I Ring Doorbells
1946
0.00
Dirigible
1931
5.57
Everything's on Ice
1939
4.80
Under-Cover Man
1932
4.50
The Gay Vagabond
1941
0.00
Yokel Boy
1942
4.70
The Jazz Singer
1927
6.10
The Trail of '98
1928
6.20
The Roadhouse Murder
1932
4.33
You'd Be Surprised
1926
6.50
Woman Trap
1936
0.00
Clarence
1937
0.00
Stage Door Canteen
1943
5.80
Minstrel Man
1944
5.00
The Navy Way
1944
5.70
Road to Happiness
1941
5.50
Wings
1927
7.23
Ladies of the Big House
1931
6.00
Onionhead
1958
5.50
Gambling Ship
1933
5.20
They Call It Sin
1932
5.80
Stowaway
1932
5.00
Jazz Mad
1928
0.00
Grand Slam
1933
3.70
Play Girl
1932
5.20
The Vanishing Pioneer
1928
0.00
Come On, Marines!
1934
5.00
His Butler's Sister
1943
7.13
Border Flight
1936
6.00
Black Eyes and Blues
1941
0.00
Half Shot at Sunrise
1941
0.00
Left Over Ladies
1931
0.00
Warming Up
1928
0.00
Meet the Missus
1940
0.00
Little Accident
1930
0.00
The Costello Case
1930
0.00
Beau Sabreur
1928
0.00
The Midnight Express
1924
3.00
Scandal Street
1938
0.00
The Desert Bride
1928
4.70
The Trouper
1922
0.00
Beggars of Life
1928
7.08
Many a Slip
1931
0.00
A Western Governor's Humanity
1915
0.00
A Species of Mexican Man
1915
0.00
From Champion to Tramp
1915
0.00
Mr. Carlson of Arizona
1915
0.00
Something Always Happens
1928
0.00
Poor Relations
1919
0.00
The Overland Limited
1925
0.00