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Roscoe Karns

Roscoe Karns

Birthday: 1891-09-07 | Place of Birth: 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

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1964
Man's Favorite Sport?

as    Major Phipps

1948
Devil's Cargo

as    Lt. Hardy

1947
Vigilantes of Boomtown

as    Bill Delaney

1947
That's My Man

as    Toby Gleeton

1944
Hi, Good Lookin'!

as    Archie

1944
The Navy Way

as    Frankie Gimble

1944
Minstrel Man

as    Lasses White

1943
Old Acquaintance

as    Charlie Archer

1943
Riding High

as    Shorty

1942
You Can't Escape Forever

as    'Mac' McTurk

1942
Yokel Boy

as    Al Devers

1942
A Tragedy at Midnight

as    Cassidy

1941
Footsteps in the Dark

as    Monahan

1940
They Drive by Night

as    Irish McGurn

1940
Double Alibi

as    Jeremiah Jenkins

1940
His Girl Friday

as    McCue

1940
Saturday's Children

as    Willie Sands

1939
Dancing Co-Ed

as    Joe Drews

1939
King of Chinatown

as    Rep Harrigan

1938
You and Me

as    Cuffy

1938
Tip-Off Girls

as    Tom Benson aka Tommy Logan

1937
Clarence

as    Clarence Smith

1937
Night of Mystery

as    Sergeant Heath

1936
Three Married Men

as    Peter Cary

1936
Cain and Mabel

as    Reilly

1935
Alibi Ike

as    Carey

1935
Wings in the Dark

as    Nick Williams

1935
Front Page Woman

as    Toots O'Grady