Roscoe Karns profile
Actor profile

Roscoe Karns

6th September 1891 San Bernardino, California, USA Acting

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

137 Movies 6 TV Shows 143 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Clarence poster
Clarence 12th February 1937 as Clarence Smith
Grand Slam poster
Grand Slam 22nd February 1933 as Contest Radio Announcer
Lawyer Man poster
Lawyer Man 24th December 1932 as Merritt - Reporter (uncredited)
Play Girl poster
Play Girl 12th March 1932 as Gambler (uncredited)
Copy poster
Copy 11th October 1929 as City Editor John Mack
Wings poster
Wings 12th August 1927 as Lieutenant Cameron
Ritzy poster
Ritzy 9th April 1927 as Smith's Valet
Bluff poster
Bluff 12th May 1924 as Jack Hallowell
Hennesey poster
Hennesey 28th September 1959 as Capt. Walter Shafer