Roscoe Karns
Acting
Born September 6, 1891 · San Bernardino, California, USA
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
Films (137)
Man's Favorite Sport?
1964
Onionhead
1958
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
1948
Speed to Spare
1948
Devil's Cargo
1948
The Inside Story
1948
That's My Man
1947
Vigilantes of Boomtown
1947
Avalanche
1946
I Ring Doorbells
1946
One Way to Love
1946
Hi, Good Lookin'!
1944
The Navy Way
1944
Minstrel Man
1944
Old Acquaintance
1943
His Butler's Sister
1943
Riding High
1943
Stage Door Canteen
1943
My Son, The Hero
1943
You Can't Escape Forever
1942
Yokel Boy
1942
Woman of the Year
1942
A Tragedy at Midnight
1942
Road to Happiness
1941
Half Shot at Sunrise
1941
The Gay Vagabond
1941
Black Eyes and Blues
1941
Footsteps in the Dark
1941
Petticoat Politics
1941
Meet the Missus
1940
Ladies Must Live
1940
They Drive by Night
1940
Saturday's Children
1940
Double Alibi
1940
His Girl Friday
1940
That's Right – You're Wrong
1939
Everything's on Ice
1939
Dancing Co-Ed
1939
King of Chinatown
1939
Thanks for the Memory
1938
You and Me
1938
Tip-Off Girls
1938
Dangerous to Know
1938
Scandal Street
1938
Partners in Crime
1937
On Such a Night
1937
Night of Mystery
1937
Murder Goes to College
1937
Clarence
1937
Cain and Mabel
1936
Three Married Men
1936
Border Flight
1936
Woman Trap
1936
Two-Fisted
1935
Front Page Woman
1935
Alibi Ike
1935
Four Hours to Kill!
1935
The Woman in Red
1935
Red Hot Tires
1935
Wings in the Dark
1935
I Sell Anything
1934
Elmer and Elsie
1934
Shoot the Works
1934
Twentieth Century
1934
Come On, Marines!
1934
It Happened One Night
1934
Alice in Wonderland
1933
The Women in His Life
1933
One Sunday Afternoon
1933
Gambling Ship
1933
A Lady's Profession
1933
Today We Live
1933
Grand Slam
1933
Lawyer Man
1932
Under-Cover Man
1932
If I Had a Million
1932
They Call It Sin
1932
Night After Night
1932
One Way Passage
1932
The Crooked Circle
1932
Two Against the World
1932
Week-End Marriage
1932
The Roadhouse Murder
1932
Play Girl
1932
Stowaway
1932
High Pressure
1932
Ladies of the Big House
1931
Left Over Ladies
1931
Pleasure
1931
Laughing Sinners
1931
Many a Slip
1931
Dirigible
1931
The Gorilla
1930
The Costello Case
1930
Man Trouble
1930
Little Accident
1930
Safety in Numbers
1930
Troopers Three
1930
New York Nights
1929
This Thing Called Love
1929
Copy
1929
The Flying Fleet
1929
The Shopworn Angel
1928
Object: Alimony
1928
Jazz Mad
1928
Moran of the Marines
1928
Beggars of Life
1928
Win That Girl
1928
Warming Up
1928
The Vanishing Pioneer
1928
Something Always Happens
1928
The Desert Bride
1928
The Trail of '98
1928
Beau Sabreur
1928
The Jazz Singer
1927
Wings
1927
Ten Modern Commandments
1927
Ritzy
1927
You'd Be Surprised
1926
Dollar Down
1925
The Overland Limited
1925
The Foolish Virgin
1924
The Midnight Express
1924
Bluff
1924
The Ten Commandments
1923
Other Men's Daughters
1923
Conquering the Woman
1922
The Trouper
1922
Her Own Money
1922
The Man Tamer
1921
The Life of the Party
1920
The Family Honor
1920
Poor Relations
1919
A Western Governor's Humanity
1915
A Species of Mexican Man
1915
From Champion to Tramp
1915
Mr. Carlson of Arizona
1915