Robert Karnes

Robert A. Karnes (June 19, 1917 – December 4, 1979) was a prolific television actor who also appeared in some films early in his career, including mostly uncredited parts in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), and From Here to Eternity (1953).

Robert Karnes
Born
Robert A. Karnes

(1917-06-19)June 19, 1917
Paducah, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedDecember 4, 1979(1979-12-04) (aged 62)
Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1943–1979

He was a costar with James Gregory in the NBC crime drama The Lawless Years, having appeared as Max Fields[1] in fifteen episodes between 1959 and 1961. The program, set during the Roaring 20s preceded the more successful The Untouchables by a half-season. Karnes even appeared twice on The Untouchables. He appeared eight times on the half-hour or hour-long versions of the Alfred Hitchcock program on CBS.

Early years

A Kentucky native, Karnes was living in Arizona at the time he procured his Social Security number.[2] During World War II, Karnes served overseas with a troupe headed by Maurice Evans.[3] That experience began his career as a professional stage actor.[4]

Western roles

In 1960, Karnes had a role in the western film Five Guns to Tombstone.

He appeared in television westerns, including the 1959 episode "Murder Is the Bid" of the syndicated Mackenzie's Raiders, starring Richard Carlson. Between 1957 and 1974, he guest starred in ten episodes of CBS's Gunsmoke series starring James Arness. He appeared six times on Richard Boone's Have Gun – Will Travel series and twice in 1960 on Gene Barry’s Bat Masterson (as an outlaw named Landry in “The Disappearance of Bat Masterson” and as the Town Marshall in “Last Stop To Austin”.

Between 1962 and 1971, he guest starred in five episodes of NBC's most successful western Bonanza with Lorne Greene. He appeared five times as the Roman Catholic Father Esteban in ABC's The Big Valley with Barbara Stanwyck. He starred four times in different roles on NBC's The Virginian with James Drury and Doug McClure. In 1970 Karnes appeared as Hendricks on The Men From Shiloh (rebranded name for The Virginian in the episode "Hannah."

Three times he appeared on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre anthology series. He appeared twice as a sheriff in ABC's The Guns of Will Sonnett with Walter Brennan and Dack Rambo. Twice he appeared on CBS's Rawhide with Clint Eastwood and Eric Fleming and in Frontier Justice. He starred once in NBC's The Californians, Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson, the syndicated 26 Men, true stories of the Arizona Rangers with Tristram Coffin, Broken Arrow with John Lupton, and Outlaws in the 1961 episode "Chalk's Lot" with Bruce Yarnell.

Karnes was also featured in single episodes of CBS's Cimarron Strip with Stuart Whitman and Trackdown with Robert Culp. He appeared with Clint Walker in ABC's Cheyenne, with Rory Calhoun on CBS's The Texan, and in the syndicated Man Without a Gun starring Rex Reason.

Other roles

Karnes appeared as Chamberlain, a deputy district attorney, in four episodes of CBS's legal drama Perry Mason with Raymond Burr during the 1960-1961 season. He made an earlier appearance as Det. Purvis in "The Case of the Hesitant Hostess" in 1958. He appeared four times between 1967 and 1971 in Burr's NBC series Ironside. He appeared three times on Lloyd Bridges' syndicated series Sea Hunt, a creation of Ivan Tors. He was cast once on the syndicated Rescue 8, starring Jim Davis and Lang Jeffries. He appeared twice in NBC's Columbo playing a police sergeant in 1972 and 1973. Karnes appeared four times as Sheriff Kane in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries on ABC.[1]:742 He appeared on an early episode of CBS's family drama The Waltons. He even appeared in a few sitcoms: The Andy Griffith Show and M*A*S*H on CBS, Harrigan and Son and The Real McCoys on ABC, and Grindl with Imogene Coca on NBC.

His last role was shortly before his death, on an episode of the sitcom Benson on ABC. He appeared posthumously on the television series Bogie in 1980. Still another of his later roles was in 1979 as Gordon Sanders in ABC's Charlie's Angels detective series.

Karnes guest starred on episodes of various television series, including The Mod Squad, Emergency!, The Detectives, Richard Diamond, Private Detective and Peter Gunn.

He also had a very small role in the epic comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as a policeman.

Death

Karnes died of heart failure at the age of 62 at his home in Sherman Oaks, California.[3]

Selected filmography

References
  1. Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 588. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  2. Social Security Death Index: http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi?lastname=karnes&firstname=robert&start=21
  3. "Robert Karnes, 62, Once Groomed for Stardom in Films". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. December 10, 1979. p. 43. Retrieved February 20, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Two Noted Performers In Visalia Next Week". The Hanford Sentinel. California, Hanford. May 14, 1966. p. 15. Retrieved January 18, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.