Roscoe Karns

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. 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

Department: Acting

Place of Birth: San Bernardino, California, USA

Birthday: September 06, 1891

Deathday: February 06, 1970

Adult: No

Gender: Male

Popularity:

1.68%

Known For:

It Happened One Night
His Girl Friday
The Family Honor
Woman of the Year
Twentieth Century
The Ten Commandments
Petticoat Politics
Alice in Wonderland
You Can't Escape Forever
Moran of the Marines
Footsteps in the Dark
You and Me
They Drive by Night
Man's Favorite Sport?
Devil's Cargo
Her Own Money
Night After Night
Ten Modern Commandments
Wings in the Dark
Double Alibi
A Lady's Profession
Laughing Sinners
Four Hours to Kill!
Other Men's Daughters
If I Had a Million
Today We Live
This Thing Called Love
Alibi Ike
One Sunday Afternoon
Saturday's Children
Front Page Woman
New York Nights
Week-End Marriage
Win That Girl
A Tragedy at Midnight
Avalanche
The Inside Story
That's Right – You're Wrong
Cain and Mabel
Two Against the World
Safety in Numbers
My Son, The Hero
Thanks for the Memory
Pleasure
Shoot the Works
Speed to Spare
Riding High
Two-Fisted
The Woman in Red
On Such a Night
Night of Mystery
Ladies Must Live
Three Married Men
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Tip-Off Girls
I Sell Anything
Partners in Crime
Troopers Three
Lawyer Man
The Crooked Circle
The Shopworn Angel
That's My Man
Murder Goes to College
King of Chinatown
Dangerous to Know
One Way to Love
Man Trouble
The Women in His Life
One Way Passage
Vigilantes of Boomtown
Copy
Hi, Good Lookin'!
Red Hot Tires
The Flying Fleet
The Gorilla
The Life of the Party
Old Acquaintance
Dancing Co-Ed
I Ring Doorbells
Dirigible
Everything's on Ice
Under-Cover Man
The Gay Vagabond
Yokel Boy
The Jazz Singer
The Trail of '98
The Roadhouse Murder
You'd Be Surprised
Woman Trap
Clarence
Stage Door Canteen
Minstrel Man
The Navy Way
Road to Happiness
Wings
Ladies of the Big House
Onionhead
Gambling Ship
They Call It Sin
Stowaway
Jazz Mad
Grand Slam
Play Girl
The Vanishing Pioneer
Come On, Marines!
His Butler's Sister
Border Flight
Black Eyes and Blues
Half Shot at Sunrise
Left Over Ladies
Warming Up
Meet the Missus
Little Accident
The Costello Case
Beau Sabreur
The Midnight Express
Scandal Street
The Desert Bride
The Trouper
Beggars of Life
Many a Slip
A Western Governor's Humanity
A Species of Mexican Man
From Champion to Tramp
Mr. Carlson of Arizona
Something Always Happens