Roscoe Karns Trailers
Man's Favorite Sport? TrailerOnionhead TrailerTexas, Brooklyn & Heaven Trailer
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.
Most Popular Roscoe Karns Trailers
Total trailers found: 126
11 May 1934
A temperamental Broadway producer trains an untutored actress, but when she becomes a star, she proves a match for him.
05 February 1942
Rival reporters Sam Craig and Tess Harding fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle.
22 February 1933
A Russian waiter in New York City becomes a national celebrity after he develops a "system" for winning at contract bridge.
18 June 1932
In this comedy, a hard-working husband loses his job and his wife becomes the bread winner.
11 July 1935
Ace reporter Curt Devlin and fellow reporter Ellen Garfield love one another, but Curt believes women are "bum newspapermen".
03 September 1932
A socialite finds herself involved in a murder trial that is prosecuted by her boyfriend.
01 March 1940
A man's ex-wife is found murdered, and he finds himself to be the prime suspect.
25 October 1958
An irresponsible student enlists in the Coast Guard expecting to sit out World War II.
30 June 1946
Two T-men track a tax evader and his money to an Idaho ski resort, where a raven tends bar.
01 September 1933
Middle-aged dentist Biff Grimes reminisces about his unrequited love for beautiful Virginia Brush and her husband Hugo, his ex-friend, who betrayed him.
03 March 1933
A couple of down-and-out British aristocrats buy an American roadhouse.
29 November 1940
Gran Higgins falls under the spell of a love-starved widow.
27 November 1943
Two writers, friends since childhood, fight over their books and lives.
24 September 1936
Jennie Mullins and her fiancé Peter Cary are happily in love but their families are miserable about their relationship.
16 February 1935
A professional jockey struggles to fit in with her new husband's upper-crust family in this horsy-set drama.
13 October 1928
Adventures of a marine in China.
01 April 1948
John Calvert takes over as the Falcon in this Poverty-Row continuation of the film series.
30 May 1930
Before handing over a large inheritance, a guardian hires three chorus girls to educate his charge about the "underside" of big-city life.
20 October 1934
Auctioneer Spot Cash Cutler is planning the scam of a lifetime, but will he get burned?
29 May 1936
Frances Farmer's second film is a typical B-programmer from the Paramount lot of 1936--up and coming stars (John Howard, Robert Cummings, Grant Withers, Farmer) in a concerning the Coast Guard and smugglers.
23 November 1923
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf.
08 March 1941
A high-society gent has a secret life - he writes murder mysteries and hangs out with the police attempting to solve crimes.
26 February 1944
The experiences of a disparate group of young men as they make their way through Navy boot camp.
20 March 1928
Fortune hunters from all over the country rushing to the Klondike in 1897 to seek their fortunes in the gold are tested by hardships of the journey.
05 April 1943
Learning that his long-unseen son is soon to arrive for a visit, a small-time con-man enlists the help of his cronies to help him pretend to be a wealthy and important businessman.
29 December 1928
Shortly after the United States enters World War I in 1917, a Broadway actress agrees to let a naive soldier court her in order to impress his friends, but a real romance soon begins.
29 October 1932
A former boxer purchases a classy speakeasy and falls in love with a wealthy society girl.
06 March 1936
A gangland murder is the motivating factor of this fast-moving crime drama. George Murphy stars as reporter Kent Shevlin, whose investigation of the murder leads to a tenure as a temporary FBI agent.
13 March 1942
A film company hires a gangster to mock himself holding up a bank, but he succeeds too well and makes off with the money.
04 May 1940
An inventor and his bride get testy in the city as they try to make ends meet.
05 October 1939
Comedy about a little girl who's uncle makes her an ice skating star, only to take all of her money.
19 January 1929
Six friends, all hoping to become aviators, are to graduate the next day from the United States Naval Academy.
28 December 1929
Show girl Jill Deverne is married to song writer Fred Deverne, and everyone is involved in the Broadway night life and endless parties.
10 October 1942
A demoted reporter (George Brent) and his girlfriend (Brenda Marshall) seek to expose a crime kingpin.
06 October 1927
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer.
25 September 1932
A group of amateur detectives sets out to expose The Crooked Circle, a secretive group of hooded occultists.
12 March 1932
A young innocent falls for a compulsive gambler.
31 January 1941
Pa Higgins has decided to retire but winds up being forced to run for mayor. Ladd is both boyfriend to the Higgins girl and the son of Pa's opponent.
11 April 1935
A detective who has "four hours to kill" before delivering his prisoner, an escaped killer, spends the time in the lobby of a Broadway theater where a musical is playing.
01 February 1931
Dirigible commander Jack Braden and Navy pilot 'Frisky' Pierce fight over the glory associated with a successful expedition to the South Pole and the love of beautiful Helen, Frisky's wife.
03 March 1933
Two lovers are living together and are not married; they had made a promise as children to get married when they grew up, but they "didn't wait.
01 September 1931
A novelist and his younger brother fall in love with the same woman.
29 September 1939
After discovering his star dancer is expecting and can't perform, film producer H.W. Workman and his publicist concoct a scheme to stage a college dance contest to find a new star.
26 September 1936
A chorus girl and a heavyweight boxer are paired romantically as a publicity stunt.
02 December 1932
When his father is murdered, erstwhile conman Nick Darrow asks the cops if he can go undercover to find the killers, and maybe even stop a crime ring that has been plaguing the police.
08 January 1946
A Chicago team of radio scriptwriters must split up when he takes a job with his bride-to-be's father, and the other must write commercial jingles.
18 January 1940
Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife.
18 July 1934
The story of seedy sideshow barker Nicky, who uses everyone he meets to get ahead. Nicky isn't even above exploiting his singing sweetheart Lily to suit his purposes, but this time it is he who ends up the loser -- at least until he gets wise to himself.
01 February 1935
In his dedicated pursuit of technology that will aid pilots to safely "fly blind" during adverse conditions, aerial innovator Ken Gordon is literally blinded in an accident, but this setback doesn't deter him from his goal.
02 February 1935
An escaped convict redeems himself by becoming an auto racing champion.
12 August 1927
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I.
22 March 1944
An usher at a radio station studio pretends to be an executive at the station in order to help a pretty girl become a singer.
03 October 1935
A fast-talking boxing manager and the somewhat hapless fighter he manages happen to run into a young man who was a good prizefighter in his day but is now out of the sport and has a drinking problem.
24 December 1932
Idealistic attorney Anton Adam makes headlines when he successfully prosecutes a prominent New York racketeer named Gilmurry.
14 March 1948
A collection agent arrives in a small town with $1000 for a local farmer. Whilst waiting for the farmer to arrive the money is put in a safe at a hotel for safe keeping.
14 May 1948
Stunt driver Cliff Jordan takes a job with his old pal Jerry McGee, branch manager of an express trucking firm.
31 January 1964
Roger Willoughby is a renowned fishing expert, who, unbeknownst to his friends, co-workers, or boss, has never cast a line in his life.
22 February 1934
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.
21 May 1937
One of a series of movies based on the character Philo Vance
26 December 1931
A woman tries to save her husband from the electric chair after both are sent to prison for a murder they didn't commit.
