
Roscoe Karns
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
Notable Appearances
More Movies

It Happened One Night

His Girl Friday

Woman of the Year

Man's Favorite Sport?

Wings

They Drive by Night

If I Had a Million

The Jazz Singer

His Butler's Sister

Alice in Wonderland

The Ten Commandments

Thanks for the Memory

Onionhead

Footsteps in the Dark

Stage Door Canteen

Twentieth Century

The Woman in Red

You and Me

Ladies of the Big House

That's My Man

Dancing Co-Ed

On Such a Night

You'd Be Surprised

A Tragedy at Midnight

A Lady's Profession

Front Page Woman

You Can't Escape Forever

Wings in the Dark

Old Acquaintance

Today We Live

That's Right – You're Wrong

One Way Passage

One Way to Love

Warming Up

They Call It Sin
Clarence

Cain and Mabel

The Trail of '98

This Thing Called Love

The Women in His Life

Dirigible

Dangerous to Know

Two Against the World

Everything's on Ice

Dollar Down

My Son, The Hero

Petticoat Politics

Four Hours to Kill!

Gambling Ship

Woman Trap

Moran of the Marines

Yokel Boy

The Inside Story

The Shopworn Angel

The Life of the Party

Night After Night

Night of Mystery

Murder Goes to College

Lawyer Man

Object: Alimony

King of Chinatown

Road to Happiness

Vigilantes of Boomtown

Saturday's Children

I Sell Anything

One Sunday Afternoon

Tip-Off Girls

The Midnight Express

Laughing Sinners

Stowaway

Ladies Must Live

Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven

Scandal Street

Conquering the Woman

Week-End Marriage

The Navy Way

The Flying Fleet

Shoot the Works

Riding High

Troopers Three

Something Always Happens

Little Accident

The Family Honor

Bluff

Many a Slip

Grand Slam

Border Flight

High Pressure

Beggars of Life

New York Nights

Double Alibi

The Roadhouse Murder

Half Shot at Sunrise

Copy

Minstrel Man

Beau Sabreur

Come On, Marines!

Alibi Ike

Two-Fisted

Other Men's Daughters

Red Hot Tires

Speed to Spare

Safety in Numbers

The Gay Vagabond

Meet the Missus

The Desert Bride

Play Girl

The Trouper

The Gorilla

Avalanche

Three Married Men

Left Over Ladies

The Vanishing Pioneer

Partners in Crime

Devil's Cargo

Under-Cover Man

I Ring Doorbells

Hi, Good Lookin'!

The Crooked Circle

Her Own Money

Man Trouble

Poor Relations

Win That Girl

Ten Modern Commandments

The Costello Case

Jazz Mad

Pleasure

The Foolish Virgin

The Overland Limited

Ritzy




