Roscoe Karns
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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
Known for
The Lucy Show
Mr. Foley
Rocky King, Detective
Police Inspector Rocky King
December Bride
December Bride
Charley Allen
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Ed Church
Hennesey
His Girl Friday
McCue
Wings
Lieutenant Cameron
It Happened One Night
Oscar Shapeley
The Ten Commandments
The Boy in the Rain (uncredited)
Stage Door Canteen
Roscoe Karns
Man's Favorite Sport?
Major Phipps
The Jazz Singer
Agent (uncredited)
Twentieth Century
Owen O'Malley
Front Page Woman
Toots O'Grady
If I Had a Million
Private O'Brien
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Officer Carmody
You and Me
Cuffy
Footsteps in the Dark
Monahan
That's Right – You're Wrong
Mal Stamp
Old Acquaintance
Charlie Archer
Onionhead
'Windy' Woods
The Women in His Life
Aloysius Lester
You Can't Escape Forever
'Mac' McTurk
Woman Trap
Mopsy
Road to Happiness
Charley Grady
The Inside Story
Eustace Peabody
Everything's on Ice
Felix Miller
The Flying Fleet
Shipwrecked Radio Operator (uncredited)
King of Chinatown
Rep Harrigan
They Call It Sin
Brad - Rehearsal Director (uncredited)
Red Hot Tires
Bud Keene
One Way Passage
S.S. Maloa Bartender (uncredited)
Saturday's Children
Willie Sands
Dirigible
Sock McGuire
The Gay Vagabond
Arthur Dixon / Jerry Dixon
Laughing Sinners
Fred Geer
The Woman in Red
Man in court room (uncredited)
Beggars of Life
Lame Hoppy
Tip-Off Girls
Tom Benson aka Tommy Logan
That's My Man
Toby Gleeton
You'd Be Surprised
Party Guest (uncredited)
Lawyer Man
Merritt - Reporter (uncredited)
Thanks for the Memory
George Kent
New York Nights
Johnny Dolan
Border Flight
Calico Smith
Night of Mystery
Sergeant Heath
Dancing Co-Ed
Joe Drews
Night After Night
Leo
Today We Live
McGinnis
Little Accident
Gilbert
Wings in the Dark
Nick Williams
On Such a Night
Joe Flynn
Copy
City Editor John Mack
Two-Fisted
Chick Moran
One Sunday Afternoon
Snappy Downer
Come On, Marines!
Spud McGurke
Black Eyes and Blues
Alfred Harmon
The Shopworn Angel
Dance Director
Cain and Mabel
Reilly
Woman of the Year
Phil Whittaker
Clarence
Clarence Smith
Vigilantes of Boomtown
Bill Delaney
The Trail of '98
Man on Ship (uncredited)
The Crooked Circle
Harry Carter
His Butler's Sister
Fields
A Tragedy at Midnight
Cassidy
Riding High
Shorty
Dangerous to Know
Duncan
Grand Slam
Contest Radio Announcer
Alice in Wonderland
Tweedledee
Stowaway
Insp. Redding
One Way to Love
Hobie Simmons
Scandal Street
Austin Brown
The Navy Way
Frankie Gimble
Two Against the World
Segall, reporter
Partners in Crime
Sim Perkins
Yokel Boy
Al Devers
Play Girl
Gambler (uncredited)
I Ring Doorbells
Stubby
A Lady's Profession
Tony
Troopers Three
Bugs
Jazz Mad
Sol Levy
Four Hours to Kill!
Johnson
The Gorilla
Simmons
They Drive by Night
Irish McGurn
Double Alibi
Jeremiah Jenkins
Many a Slip
Stan Price
Beau Sabreur
Buddy
Left Over Ladies
'Scoop'
Hi, Good Lookin'!
Archie
My Son, The Hero
Big-Time Morgan
Avalanche
Red Kelly
Alibi Ike
Carey
Ladies Must Live
Pete Larrabee
Murder Goes to College
Sim Perkins
Under-Cover Man
Dannie
Devil's Cargo
Lt. Hardy
Something Always Happens
George
Speed to Spare
Kangaroo
The Vanishing Pioneer
Ray Hearn
Gambling Ship
Blooey
The Roadhouse Murder
Dale
Man Trouble
Scott
Minstrel Man
Lasses White
Inside Detective
Police Inspector Rocky King
The Costello Case
Blair
Meet the Missus
Joe Higgins
Safety in Numbers
Bertram Shapiro
Week-End Marriage
Jim Davis
The Life of the Party
Sam Perkins
Petticoat Politics
Joe Higgins
Ladies of the Big House
Frank - Twenty Questions player (uncredited)
The Midnight Express
Switch Hogan
Shoot the Works
Sailor Burke
Three Married Men
Peter Cary
Ten Modern Commandments
Benny Burnaway
Pleasure
Arnie
Her Own Money
Jerry Woodward
The Family Honor
Dal Tucker
This Thing Called Love
Harry Bertrand
Warming Up
Hippo
The Desert Bride
Pvt. Terry
Other Men's Daughters
Hubert
Moran of the Marines
Swatty
The Trouper
Win That Girl
Johnny Norton II
I Sell Anything
Monk
Mr. Carlson of Arizona
A Species of Mexican Man
From Champion to Tramp
The Girl's Father
A Western Governor's Humanity
The Sheriff
Half Shot at Sunrise
Henry Warren