Known For
Acting
Born
Sep 06, 1891
Died
Feb 06, 1970
Place of Birth
San Bernardino, California, USA
Credits
143 titles
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
Filmography
Man's Favorite Sport?
Major Phipps
The Lucy Show
Mr. Foley
Hennesey
Capt. Walter Shafer
Onionhead
'Windy' Woods
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Ed Church
December Bride
Rocky King, Detective
Police Inspector Rocky King
Inside Detective
Police Inspector Rocky King
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Officer Carmody
Speed to Spare
Kangaroo
Devil's Cargo
Lt. Hardy
The Inside Story
Eustace Peabody
That's My Man
Toby Gleeton
Vigilantes of Boomtown
Bill Delaney
Avalanche
Red Kelly
I Ring Doorbells
Stubby
One Way to Love
Hobie Simmons
Hi, Good Lookin'!
Archie
The Navy Way
Frankie Gimble
Minstrel Man
Lasses White
Old Acquaintance
Charlie Archer
His Butler's Sister
Fields
Riding High
Shorty
Stage Door Canteen
Roscoe Karns
My Son, The Hero
Big-Time Morgan
You Can't Escape Forever
'Mac' McTurk
Yokel Boy
Al Devers
Woman of the Year
Phil Whittaker
A Tragedy at Midnight
Cassidy
Road to Happiness
Charley Grady
Half Shot at Sunrise
Henry Warren
The Gay Vagabond
Arthur Dixon / Jerry Dixon
Black Eyes and Blues
Alfred Harmon
Footsteps in the Dark
Monahan
Petticoat Politics
Joe Higgins
Meet the Missus
Joe Higgins
Ladies Must Live
Pete Larrabee
They Drive by Night
Irish McGurn
Saturday's Children
Willie Sands
Double Alibi
Jeremiah Jenkins
His Girl Friday
McCue
That's Right – You're Wrong
Mal Stamp
Everything's on Ice
Felix Miller
Dancing Co-Ed
Joe Drews
King of Chinatown
Rip Harrigan
Thanks for the Memory
George Kent
You and Me
Cuffy
Tip-Off Girls
Tom Benson aka Tommy Logan
Dangerous to Know
Duncan
Scandal Street
Austin Brown