Roscoe Karns
138 movies · 6 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Sep 6, 1891
- Died
- Feb 6, 1970 (age 78)
- Place of birth
- San Bernardino, California, USA
- Also known as
- Roscoe Karnes
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.
Read the full biography
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
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Roscoe Karns: movies and TV shows
Acting (144)
- 1964 Man's Favorite Sport?
as Major Phipps
- 1962
- 1959
- 1958 Onionhead
as 'Windy' Woods
- 1957
- 1954
- 1950
- 1950
- 1948 Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
as Officer Carmody
- 1948 Speed to Spare
as Kangaroo
- 1948 Devil's Cargo
as Lt. Hardy
- 1948 The Inside Story
as Eustace Peabody
- 1947 That's My Man
as Toby Gleeton
- 1947 Vigilantes of Boomtown
as Bill Delaney
- 1946 Avalanche
as Red Kelly
- 1946 I Ring Doorbells
as Stubby
- 1946 One Way to Love
as Hobie Simmons
- 1944 Hi, Good Lookin'!
as Archie
- 1944 The Navy Way
as Frankie Gimble
- 1944 Minstrel Man
as Lasses White
- 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 You Can't Escape Forever
as 'Mac' McTurk
- 1942 Yokel Boy
as Al Devers
- 1942 Woman of the Year
as Phil Whittaker
- 1942 A Tragedy at Midnight
as Cassidy
- 1941 Road to Happiness
as Charley Grady
- 1941 Half Shot at Sunrise
as Henry Warren
- 1941 The Gay Vagabond
as Arthur Dixon / Jerry Dixon
- 1941 Black Eyes and Blues
as Alfred Harmon
- 1941 Footsteps in the Dark
as Monahan
- 1941 Petticoat Politics
as Joe Higgins
- 1940 Meet the Missus
as Joe Higgins
- 1940 Ladies Must Live
as Pete Larrabee
- 1940 They Drive by Night
as Irish McGurn
- 1940 Saturday's Children
as Willie Sands
- 1940 Double Alibi
as Jeremiah Jenkins
- 1940 His Girl Friday
as McCue
- 1939 That's Right – You're Wrong
as Mal Stamp
- 1939 Everything's on Ice
as Felix Miller
- 1939 Dancing Co-Ed
as Joe Drews
- 1939 King of Chinatown
as Rip Harrigan
- 1938 Thanks for the Memory
as George Kent
- 1938 You and Me
as Cuffy
- 1938 Tip-Off Girls
as Tom Benson aka Tommy Logan
- 1938 Dangerous to Know
as Duncan
- 1938 Scandal Street
as Austin Brown
- 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
- 1937 Clarence
as Clarence Smith
- 1936 Cain and Mabel
as Reilly
- 1936 Three Married Men
as Peter Cary
- 1936 Three Cheers for Love
as Doc 'Short Circuit' Wilson
- 1936 Border Flight
as Calico Smith
- 1936 Woman Trap
as Mopsy
- 1935 Two-Fisted
as Chick Moran
- 1935 Front Page Woman
as Toots O'Grady
- 1935 Alibi Ike
as Carey
- 1935 Four Hours to Kill!
as Johnson
- 1935 The Woman in Red
as Man in court room (uncredited)
- 1935 Red Hot Tires
as Bud Keene
- 1935 Wings in the Dark
as Nick Williams
- 1934 I Sell Anything
as Monk
- 1934 Elmer and Elsie
as Rocky Cott
- 1934 Shoot the Works
as Sailor Burke
- 1934 Twentieth Century
as Owen O'Malley
- 1934 Come On, Marines!
as Spud McGurke
- 1934 It Happened One Night
as Oscar Shapeley
- 1933 Alice in Wonderland
as Tweedledee
- 1933 The Women in His Life
as Aloysius Lester
- 1933 One Sunday Afternoon
as Snappy Downer
- 1933 Gambling Ship
as Blooey
- 1933 A Lady's Profession
as Tony
- 1933 Today We Live
as McGinnis
- 1933 Grand Slam
as Contest Radio Announcer
- 1932 Lawyer Man
as Merritt - Reporter (uncredited)
- 1932 Under-Cover Man
as Dannie
- 1932 If I Had a Million
as Private O'Brien
- 1932 They Call It Sin
as Brad - Rehearsal Director (uncredited)
- 1932 Night After Night
as Leo
- 1932 One Way Passage
as S.S. Maloa Bartender (uncredited)
- 1932 The Crooked Circle
as Harry Carter
- 1932 Two Against the World
as Segall, reporter
- 1932 Week-End Marriage
as Jim Davis
- 1932 The Roadhouse Murder
as Dale
- 1932 Play Girl
as Gambler (uncredited)
- 1932 Stowaway
as Insp. Redding
- 1932 High Pressure
as Telephone Salesman (uncredited)
- 1931 Ladies of the Big House
as Frank - Twenty Questions player (uncredited)
- 1931 Left Over Ladies
as 'Scoop'
- 1931 Pleasure
as Arnie
- 1931 Laughing Sinners
as Fred Geer
- 1931 Many a Slip
as Stan Price
- 1931 Dirigible
as Sock McGuire
- 1930 The Gorilla
as Simmons
- 1930 The Costello Case
as Blair
- 1930 Man Trouble
as Scott
- 1930 Little Accident
as Gilbert
- 1930 Safety in Numbers
as Bertram Shapiro
- 1930 Troopers Three
as Bugs
- 1929 New York Nights
as Johnny Dolan
- 1929 This Thing Called Love
as Harry Bertrand
- 1929 Copy
as City Editor John Mack
- 1929 The Flying Fleet
as Shipwrecked Radio Operator (uncredited)
- 1928 The Shopworn Angel
as Dance Director
- 1928 Object: Alimony
as Al Bryant
- 1928 Jazz Mad
as Sol Levy
- 1928 Moran of the Marines
as Swatty
- 1928 Beggars of Life
as Lame Hoppy
- 1928 Win That Girl
as Johnny Norton II
- 1928 Warming Up
as Hippo
- 1928 The Vanishing Pioneer
as Ray Hearn
- 1928 Something Always Happens
as George
- 1928 The Desert Bride
as Pvt. Terry
- 1928 The Trail of '98
as Man on Ship (uncredited)
- 1928 Beau Sabreur
as Buddy
- 1927 The Jazz Singer
as Agent (uncredited)
- 1927 Wings
as Lieutenant Cameron
- 1927 Ten Modern Commandments
as Benny Burnaway
- 1927 Ritzy
as Smith's Valet
- 1926 You'd Be Surprised
as Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1925 Dollar Down
as Gene Meadows
- 1925 The Overland Limited
as Patrick Henry Madden
- 1924 The Foolish Virgin
as Chuck Brady
- 1924 The Midnight Express
as Switch Hogan
- 1924 Bluff
as Jack Hallowell
- 1923 The Ten Commandments
as The Boy in the Rain (uncredited)
- 1923 Other Men's Daughters
as Hubert
- 1922 Conquering the Woman
as Shorty Thompson
- 1922
- 1922 Her Own Money
as Jerry Woodward
- 1921 The Man Tamer
as Bradley P. Caldwell Jr
- 1920 The Life of the Party
as Sam Perkins
- 1920 The Family Honor
as Dal Tucker
- 1919 Poor Relations
as Henry
- 1915 A Western Governor's Humanity
as The Sheriff
- 1915
- 1915 From Champion to Tramp
as The Girl's Father
- 1915