Roscoe 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.
Acting career
Karns began acting with a San Diego stock company when he was still in high school. "I’ve never earned a dime outside of show business. I can't even claim having a newspaper route as a kid," he claimed.
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.
By the late 1940s Karns was finding it difficult to obtain movie roles, and was considering retiring, but he contacted a friend who worked for the DuMont Television Network, and he was asked to consider coming to New York City to act on television. 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 Captain (then 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.
Personal life
Roscoe Karns was born September 7, 1891, in San Bernardino, California. He married Mary M. Frasco in 1920, and was the father of two children – Mary Karns Hart, and Roscoe Todd Karns, Jr. He was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital, in Los Angeles, on December 18, 1969 and died at the hospital on February 6, 1970.
Filmography
Mr. Carlson of Arizona (1915, Short)
From Champion to Tramp (1915, Short) - The Girl's Father
A Western Governor's Humanity (1915, Short)
Beans for Two (1918, Short) - Jimmy's Friend
Know Thy Wife (1918, Short) - Steve - Bob's Chum
Brides for Two (1919, short)
Sally's Blighted Career (1919, Short)
Oh, Susie, Be Careful (1919, Short)
Poor Relations (1919) - Henry
The Family Honor (1920) - Dal Tucker
Life of the Party (1920) - Sam Perkins
The Man Tamer (1921) - Bradley P. Caldwell Jr
Too Much Married (1921) - Bob Holiday
Her Own Money (1922) - Jerry Woodward
The Trouper (1922) - Neal Selden
Afraid to Fight (1922) - Bertie
Conquering the Woman (1922) - Shorty Thompson
Other Men's Daughters (1923) - Hubert
Down to the Ship to See (1923, Short) - Jack
The Ten Commandments (1923) - The Boy in the Rain (uncredited)
Bluff (1924) - Jack Hallowell
The Midnight Express (1924) - Switch Hogan
The Foolish Virgin (1924) - Chuck Brady
The Overland Limited (1925) - Patrick Henry Madden
Dollar Down (1925) - Gene Meadows
You'd Be Surprised (1926) - Party Guest (uncredited)
Ritzy (1927) - Smith's Valet
Wings (1927) - Lieutenant Cameron
Ten Modern Commandments (1927) - Benny Burnaway
The Jazz Singer (1927) - Agent (uncredited)
Beau Sabreur (1928) - Buddy
The Trail of '98 (1928) - Man on Ship (uncredited)
Something Always Happens (1928) - George
The Desert Bride (1928) - Pvt. Terry
The Vanishing Pioneer (1928) - Ray Hearn
Warming Up (1928) - Hippo
Jazz Mad (1928) - Sol Levy
Win That Girl (1928) - Johnny Norton II
Beggars of Life (1928) - Lame Hoppy
Moran of the Marines (1928) - Swatty
Object: Alimony (1928) - Al Bryant
The Shopworn Angel (1928) - Dance Director
The Flying Fleet (1929) - Shipwrecked Radio Operator (uncredited)
Copy (1929 short) - City Editor John Mack
This Thing Called Love (1929) - Harry Bertrand
New York Nights (1929) - Johnny Dolan
Troopers Three (1930) - Bugs
Safety in Numbers (1930) - Bertram Shapiro
The Little Accident (1930) - Gilbert
Man Trouble (1930) - Scott
The Costello Case (1930) - Blair
The Gorilla (1930) - Simmons
Dirigible (1931) - Sock McGuire
Many a Slip (1931) - Stan Price
Laughing Sinners (1931) - Fred Geer
Pleasure (1931) - Arnie
Left Over Ladies (1931) - 'Scoop'
Ladies of the Big House (1931) - Frank - Twenty Questions player (uncredited)
High Pressure (1932) - Telephone salesman (uncredited)
Stowaway (1932) - Insp. Redding
Play Girl (1932) - Gambler (uncredited)
The Roadhouse Murder (1932) - Jeff Dale
Week-End Marriage (1932) - Jim Davis
Two Against the World (1932) - Segall, reporter
The Crooked Circle (1932) - Harry Carter
One Way Passage (1932) - S.S.Maloa Bartender (uncredited)
Night After Night (1932) - Leo
They Call It Sin (1932) - Brandt - Rehearsal Director (uncredited)
If I Had a Million (1932) - Private O'Brien
Under-Cover Man (1932) - Dannie
Lawyer Man (1932) - Merritt - Reporter (uncredited)
Grand Slam (1933) - Contest Radio Announcer
Today We Live (1933) - McGinnis
A Lady's Profession (1933) - Tony
Gambling Ship (1933) - Blooey
One Sunday Afternoon (1933) - Snappy Downer
The Women in His Life (1933) - Lester
Alice in Wonderland (1933) - Tweedledee
Search for Beauty (1934) - Newspaper Reporter (scenes deleted)
It Happened One Night (1934) - Oscar Shapeley
Come On Marines! (1934) - Spud McGurke
Twentieth Century (1934) - O'Malley
Shoot the Works (1934) - Sailor Burke
Elmer and Elsie (1934) - Rocky Cott
I Sell Anything (1934) - Monk
Wings in the Dark (1935) - Nick Williams
Red Hot Tires (1935) - Bud Keene
Four Hours to Kill! (1935) - Johnson
Alibi Ike (1935) - Carey
Front Page Woman (1935) - Toots O'Grady
Two-Fisted (1935) - Chick Moran
Woman Trap (1936) - Mopsy
Border Flight (1936) - Calico Smith
Three Cheers for Love (1936) - Doc "Short Circuit" Wilson
Three Married Men (1936) - Peter Cary
Cain and Mabel (1936) - Reilly
Clarence (1937) - Clarence Smith
Murder Goes to College (1937) - Sim Perkins
Night of Mystery (1937) - Sgt. Heath
On Such a Night (1937) - Joe Flynn
Partners in Crime (1937) - Sim Perkins
Scandal Street (1938) - Austin Brown
Dangerous to Know (1938) - Duncan
Tip-Off Girls (1938) - Tom Benson aka Tommy Logan
You and Me (1938) - Cuffy
Thanks for the Memory (1938) - George Kent
King of Chinatown (1939) - 'Rip' Harrigan
Dancing Co-Ed (1939) - Joe Drews
Everything's on Ice (1939) - Felix Miller
That's Right—You're Wrong (1939) - Mal Stamp
His Girl Friday (1940) - Reporter McCue
Double Alibi (1940) - Jeremiah Jenkins
Saturday's Children (1940) - Willie Sands
They Drive by Night (1940) - "Irish" McGurn
Ladies Must Live (1940) - Pete H. 'Pighead' Larrabee
Meet the Missus (1940) - Joe Higgins
Petticoat Politics (1941) - Joe Higgins
Footsteps in the Dark (1941) - Monahan
Black Eyes and Blues (1941 short) - Alfred Harmon
The Gay Vagabond (1941) - Arthur Dixon, Jerry Dixon
Half Shot at Sunrise (1941, Short) - Henry Warren
Road to Happiness (1942) - Charley Grady
A Tragedy at Midnight (1942) - Det. Lt. Cassidy
Woman Of The Year (1942) - Phil Whittaker
Yokel Boy (1942) - Al Devers
You Can't Escape Forever (1942) - 'Mac' McTurk
My Son, the Hero (1943) - Big-Time Morgan
Stage Door Canteen (1943) - Himself
Riding High (1943) - Shorty (uncredited)
His Butler's Sister (1943) - Fields
Old Acquaintance (1943) - Charlie Archer
The Navy Way (1944) - Frankie Gimble
Hi, Good Lookin'! (1944) - Archie
Minstrel Man (1944) - Roscoe
One Way to Love (1946) - Hobie Simmons
I Ring Doorbells (1946) - Stubby
Avalanche (1946) - Red Kelly
Down Missouri Way (1946) - Press Agent
Vigilantes of Boomtown (1947) - Billy Delaney
That's My Man (1947) - Toby Gleeton
The Inside Story (1948) - Eustace Peabody
Devil's Cargo (1948) - Lt. Hardy
Speed to Spare (1948) - Kangaroo
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948) - Carmody
Onionhead (1958) - 'Windy' Woods
Man's Favorite Sport? (1964) - Major Phipps
References
External links
1891 births
1970 deaths
Male actors from California
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
American male television actors
Actors from San Bernardino, California
20th-century American male actors
Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery