Roscoe Karns
Roscoe Karns | |
---|---|
Karns with his wife Mary; still from Rocky King, Inside Detective (1954) | |
Born |
San Bernardino, California, U.S. | September 7, 1891
Died |
February 6, 1970 78) Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1915-1964 |
Spouse(s) |
Mary M. Fraso (m. 1920–1970) |
Children | 2; including Todd Karns |
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.
Biography
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.
Complete filmography
- Mr. Carlson of Arizona (1915 short)
- From Champion to Tramp (1915 short)
- A Western Governor's Humanity (1915 short)
- Beans for Two (1918 short)
- Know Thy Wife (1918 short)
- Brides for Two (1919 short)
- Sally's Blighted Career (1919 short)
- Oh, Susie, Be Careful (1919 short)
- Poor Relations (1919)
- The Family Honor (1920)
- Life of the Party (1920)
- The Man Tamer (1921)
- Too Much Married (1921)
- Her Own Money (1922)
- The Trouper (1922)
- Afraid to Fight (1922)
- Conquering the Woman (1922)
- Other Men's Daughters (1923)
- Down to the Ship to See (1923 short)
- The Ten Commandments (1923) (uncredited)
- Bluff (1924)
- The Midnight Express (1924)
- The Foolish Virgin (1924)
- The Overland Limited (1925)
- Dollar Down (1925)
- You'd Be Surprised (1926) (uncredited)
- Ritzy (1927)
- Wings (1927) as Lieutenant Cameron
- Ten Modern Commandments (1927)
- The Jazz Singer (1927) (uncredited)
- Beau Sabreur (1928)
- The Trail of '98 (1928) (uncredited)
- Something Always Happens (1928)
- The Desert Bride (1928)
- The Vanishing Pioneer (1928)
- Warming Up (1928)
- Jazz Mad (1928)
- Win That Girl (1928)
- Beggars of Life (1928)
- Moran of the Marines (1928)
- Object: Alimony (1928)
- The Shopworn Angel (1928)
- The Flying Fleet (1929) (uncredited)
- Copy (1929 short)
- This Thing Called Love (1929)
- New York Nights (1929)
- Troopers Three (1930)
- Safety in Numbers (1930)
- The Little Accident (1930)
- Man Trouble (1930)
- The Costello Case (1930)
- The Gorilla (1930)
- Dirigible (1931)
- Many a Slip (1931)
- Laughing Sinners (1931) as Fred Geer
- Pleasure (1931)
- Left Over Ladies (1931)
- Ladies of the Big House (1931) (uncredited)
- High Pressure (1932) (uncredited)
- Stowaway (1932)
- Play Girl (1932) (uncredited)
- The Roadhouse Murder (1932)
- Week-End Marriage (1932)
- Two Against the World (1932)
- The Crooked Circle (1932)
- One Way Passage (1932) (uncredited)
- Night After Night (1932)
- They Call It Sin (1932) (uncredited)
- If I Had a Million (1932)
- Under-Cover Man (1932)
- Lawyer Man (1932) (uncredited)
- Grand Slam (1933)
- Today We Live (1933)
- A Lady's Profession (1933)
- Gambling Ship (1933)
- One Sunday Afternoon (1933)
- The Women in His Life (1933)
- Alice in Wonderland (1933)
- Search for Beauty (1934) (scenes cut)
- It Happened One Night (1934) as Oscar Shapeley
- Come On Marines! (1934)
- Twentieth Century (1934)
- Shoot the Works (1934)
- Elmer and Elsie (1934)
- I Sell Anything (1934)
- Wings in the Dark (1935)
- Red Hot Tires (1935)
- Four Hours to Kill! (1935)
- Alibi Ike (1935)
- Front Page Woman (1935)
- Two-Fisted (1935)
- Woman Trap (1936)
- Border Flight (1936)
- Three Cheers for Love (1936)
- Three Married Men (1936)
- Cain and Mabel (1936)
- Clarence (1937)
- Murder Goes to College (1937)
- Night of Mystery (1937)
- On Such a Night (1937)
- Partners in Crime (1937)
- Scandal Street (1938)
- Dangerous to Know (1938)
- Tip-Off Girls (1938)
- You and Me (1938)
- Thanks for the Memory (1938)
- King of Chinatown (1939)
- Dancing Co-Ed (1939)
- Everything's on Ice (1939)
- That's Right—You're Wrong (1939)
- His Girl Friday (1940) as Reporter McCue
- Double Alibi (1940)
- Saturday's Children (1940)
- They Drive by Night (1940) as "Irish" McGurn
- Ladies Must Live (1940)
- Meet the Missus (1940)
- Petticoat Politics (1941)
- Footsteps in the Dark (1941)
- Black Eyes and Blues (1941 short)
- The Gay Vagabond (1941)
- Half Shot at Sunrise (1941 short)
- Road to Happiness (1942)
- A Tragedy at Midnight (1942)
- Woman Of The Year (1942)
- Yokel Boy (1942)
- You Can't Escape Forever (1942)
- My Son, the Hero (1943)
- Stage Door Canteen (1943)
- Riding High (1943) (uncredited)
- His Butler's Sister (1943)
- Old Acquaintance (1943)
- The Navy Way (1944)
- Hi, Good Lookin'! (1944)
- Minstrel Man (1944)
- One Way to Love (1946)
- I Ring Doorbells (1946)
- Avalanche (1946)
- Down Missouri Way (1946)
- Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947)
- That's My Man (1947)
- The Inside Story (1948)
- Devil's Cargo (1948)
- Speed to Spare (1948)
- Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven (1948)
- Onionhead (1958)
- Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roscoe Karns. |