Person
Roscoe Karns
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 specia…
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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
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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1964
Man's Favorite Sport?
Movie Major Phipps
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1962
The Lucy Show
TV show Mr. Foley
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1959
Hennesey
TV show Capt. Walter Shafer
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1958
Onionhead
Movie 'Windy' Woods
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1957
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
TV show Ed Church
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1954
December Bride
TV show
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1950
Rocky King, Detective
TV show Police Inspector Rocky King
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1950
Inside Detective
TV show Police Inspector Rocky King
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1948
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Movie Officer Carmody
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1948
Speed to Spare
Movie Kangaroo
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1948
Devil's Cargo
Movie Lt. Hardy
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1948
The Inside Story
Movie Eustace Peabody
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1947
That's My Man
Movie Toby Gleeton
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1947
Vigilantes of Boomtown
Movie Bill Delaney
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1946
Avalanche
Movie Red Kelly
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1946
I Ring Doorbells
Movie Stubby
More credits
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1946
One Way to Love
Movie Hobie Simmons
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1944
Hi, Good Lookin'!
Movie Archie
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1944
The Navy Way
Movie Frankie Gimble
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1944
Minstrel Man
Movie Lasses White
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1943
Old Acquaintance
Movie Charlie Archer
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1943
His Butler's Sister
Movie Fields
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1943
Riding High
Movie Shorty
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1943
Stage Door Canteen
Movie Roscoe Karns
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1943
My Son, The Hero
Movie Big-Time Morgan
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1942
You Can't Escape Forever
Movie 'Mac' McTurk
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1942
Yokel Boy
Movie Al Devers
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1942
Woman of the Year
Movie Phil Whittaker
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1942
A Tragedy at Midnight
Movie Cassidy
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1941
Road to Happiness
Movie Charley Grady
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1941
Half Shot at Sunrise
Movie Henry Warren
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1941
The Gay Vagabond
Movie Arthur Dixon / Jerry Dixon
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1941
Black Eyes and Blues
Movie Alfred Harmon
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1941
Footsteps in the Dark
Movie Monahan
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1941
Petticoat Politics
Movie Joe Higgins
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1940
Meet the Missus
Movie Joe Higgins
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1940
Ladies Must Live
Movie Pete Larrabee
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1940
They Drive by Night
Movie Irish McGurn
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1940
Saturday's Children
Movie Willie Sands
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1940
Double Alibi
Movie Jeremiah Jenkins
