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 (122 movies)
It Happened One Night
1934
His Girl Friday
1940
The Family Honor
1920
Woman of the Year
1942
Twentieth Century
1934
The Ten Commandments
1923
Petticoat Politics
1941
Alice in Wonderland
1933
You Can't Escape Forever
1942
Moran of the Marines
1928
Footsteps in the Dark
1941
You and Me
1938
They Drive by Night
1940
Man's Favorite Sport?
1964
Devil's Cargo
1948
Her Own Money
1922
Night After Night
1932
Ten Modern Commandments
1927
Wings in the Dark
1935
Double Alibi
1940
A Lady's Profession
1933
Laughing Sinners
1931
Four Hours to Kill!
1935
If I Had a Million
1932
Today We Live
1933
This Thing Called Love
1929
Alibi Ike
1935
One Sunday Afternoon
1933
Saturday's Children
1940
Front Page Woman
1935
New York Nights
1929
Week-End Marriage
1932
Win That Girl
1928
A Tragedy at Midnight
1942
Avalanche
1946
The Inside Story
1948
That's Right – You're Wrong
1939
Cain and Mabel
1936
Two Against the World
1932
Safety in Numbers
1930
My Son, The Hero
1943
Thanks for the Memory
1938
Pleasure
1931
Shoot the Works
1934
Speed to Spare
1948
Riding High
1943
Two-Fisted
1935
The Woman in Red
1935
On Such a Night
1937
Night of Mystery
1937
Ladies Must Live
1940
Three Married Men
1936
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
1948
Tip-Off Girls
1938
I Sell Anything
1934
Partners in Crime
1937
Troopers Three
1930
Lawyer Man
1932
The Crooked Circle
1932
The Shopworn Angel
1928
That's My Man
1947
Murder Goes to College
1937
King of Chinatown
1939
Dangerous to Know
1938
One Way to Love
1946
Man Trouble
1930
The Women in His Life
1933
One Way Passage
1932
Vigilantes of Boomtown
1947
Copy
1929
Hi, Good Lookin'!
1944
Red Hot Tires
1935
The Flying Fleet
1929
The Gorilla
1930
The Life of the Party
1920
Old Acquaintance
1943
Dancing Co-Ed
1939
I Ring Doorbells
1946
Dirigible
1931
Everything's on Ice
1939
Under-Cover Man
1932
The Gay Vagabond
1941
Yokel Boy
1942
The Jazz Singer
1927
The Trail of '98
1928
The Roadhouse Murder
1932
You'd Be Surprised
1926
Woman Trap
1936
Clarence
1937
Stage Door Canteen
1943
Minstrel Man
1944
The Navy Way
1944
Road to Happiness
1941
Wings
1927
Ladies of the Big House
1931
Onionhead
1958
Gambling Ship
1933
They Call It Sin
1932
Stowaway
1932
Jazz Mad
1928
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