John Karlen
Birthday: Born in 1933-05-28 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Deathday: 2020-01-22
John Karlen (born John Adam Karlewicz) was an American character actor who played multiple roles (Willie Loomis, Carl Collins, William H. Loomis, Desmond Collins, Alex Jenkins, and Kendrick Young) on the ABC serial Dark Shadows, in various episodes which aired from 1966 to 1971. Karlen also played Harvey Lacey, husband of Mary Beth Lacey (played by Tyne Daly), on the CBS crime series Cagney & Lacey (1982–88).
TV Credits
Lou Grant
Character:
The trials of a former television station manager turned newspaper city editor, and his journalist staff....
Murder, She Wrote
Character: Lt. Martin McGinn
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases....
The Gallant Men
Character:
The Gallant Men is a 1962–1963 ABC television series which depicted an infantry company of American soldiers fighting their way through Italy in World War II....
Trapper John, M.D.
Character:
Trapper John, M.D. is an American television medical drama and spin-off of the film MASH, concerning a lovable doctor who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986....
Starsky & Hutch
Character:
Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City....
Fame
Character:
An American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show is based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name. With a mixture of drama and music, it followed the lives of the students and faculty at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Although fictional, it was based heavily on the actual Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York. Most interior scenes were filmed in Hollywood, California, and in all seasons but th...
Hawaii Five-O
Character: Harris
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Many episodes would end with McGarrett...
All in the Family
Character: Leo
Archie Bunker, a working class bigot, constantly squabbles with his family over the important issues of the day....
227
Character:
A housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and discusses all manner of things with her neighbors....
Quincy, M.E.
Character:
Los Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations....
The Streets of San Francisco
Character:
Two police officers, the older Lt. Stone and the young upstart Inspector Keller, investigate murders and other serious crimes in San Francisco. Stone would become a second father to Keller as he learned the rigors and procedures of detective work....
Kaz
Character:
Kaz is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 10, 1978 to April 22, 1979....
Naked City
Character: Chuck
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”....
Charlie's Angels
Character: Leonard Chaffey
Beautiful, intelligent, and ultra-sophisticated, Charlie's Angels are everything a man could dream of... and way more than they could ever handle! Receiving their orders via speaker phone from their never seen boss, Charlie, the Angels employ their incomparable sleuthing and combat skills, as well as their lethal feminine charm, to crack even the most seemingly insurmountable of cases....
Hill Street Blues
Character:
A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station....
Mannix
Character:
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions....
Dark Shadows
Character: Willie Loomis
Dark Shadows is an American gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements. It was unprecedented in daytime television when ghosts were introduced about six months after it began. The series became hugely popular when vampire Barnabas Collins appeared a year into its run. Dark Shadows also feature...
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
Character:
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries is a television series which aired for three seasons on ABC. The series starred Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy as amateur sleuth brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, respectively, and Pamela Sue Martin as girl detective Nancy Drew. The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries was unusual in that it often dealt with the characters individually, in an almost anthological style. That is, some episodes featured only the Hardy Boys and others only Nancy Drew....
Kojak
Character: Pinky
A bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City....
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Ned
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, ...
Vega$
Character:
Vega$ is an American detective television drama series that aired on ABC between 1978 and 1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling. The series was filmed in its entirety in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is believed to be the first television series produced entirely in Las Vegas. The show stars Robert Urich as private detective Dan Tanna, who drove around the streets of Las Vegas in a red 1957 Ford Thunderbird solving crimes and making Las Vegas a better place for residents and tourists alike....
Police Story
Character:
Police Story is an anthology television crime drama. The show was the brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh and represented a major step forward in the realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV. Although it was an anthology, there were certain things that all episodes had in common; for instance, the main character in each episode was a police officer. The setting was always Los Angeles and the characters always worked for some branch of the LAPD. Notwith...
Sword of Justice
Character:
Sword Of Justice is an American action-adventure television series that aired on NBC for one season during 1978 and 1979. The series was considered a mix of The Saint, It Takes a Thief, and The Rockford Files....
Snoops
Character: Sam Akers
Snoops is an American crime themed comedy-drama series which aired for one season from September 1989 to July 1990 on CBS. The series was created and executive produced by series star Tim Reid and Sam Egan....
The Sixth Sense
Character:
The Sixth Sense is an American paranormal thriller television...
The Detectives
Character:
The Detectives is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons, and on NBC during its third and final season. The series, starring motion picture star Robert Taylor, was produced by Four Star Television....
ABC Afterschool Special
Character: Joe Farrell
Dramatically presented situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were either in animated form or presented as documentaries. Topics included illiteracy, substance abuse and teenage pregnancy....
Joe Forrester
Character:
Joe Forrester is an American Crime/Drama TV series, starring Lloyd Bridges....
The Magician
Character: Jim Russell
The Magician is an American television series that ran during the 1973–1974 season. It starred Bill Bixby as stage illusionist Anthony "Tony" Blake, a playboy philanthropist who used his skills to solve difficult crimes as needed. In the series pilot, the character was instead named Anthony Dorian. The name change was due to a conflict with the name of a real life stage magician....
Mad About You
Character: Gus Stemple
Young, urban newlyweds Paul and Jamie Buchman try to sustain their marital bliss while sidestepping the hurdles of love in the '90s....
Murder, She Wrote
Character: Patrick MacNair
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases....
Murder, She Wrote
Character: Superintendent Arthur Joyce
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases....
Stoney Burke
Character: Mickey
Stoney Burke is an American western television series broadcast on ABC from October 1, 1962 until May 20, 1963. Six years before the premiere of his CBS crime drama, Hawaii Five-0, Jack Lord starred in the title role....
American Playhouse
Character: Reverend Walker
American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States....
Kojak
Character: Hicks
A bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City....
Barnaby Jones
Character: Johnny Alban
Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. The show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement. William Conrad guest starred as Frank Cannon of Cannon on the first episode of Barnaby Jones, "Requiem for a Son" and the two series had a two-part crossover episode in 1975, "The Deadly Conspiracy"....
In a Child's Name
Character: Joe Silvano
A true story about a woman who fights her brother-in-law's parents for custody of her deceased sister's baby upon learning that her brother-in-law murdered her sister....
The Mod Squad
Character: Johnny Wexford
The Mod Squad was the enormously successful groundbreaking "hippie" undercover cop show that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Pete Cochren, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Linc Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas. The iconic counter-culture police series earned six Emmy nominations, four Golden Globe nominations plus one win for Peggy ...
The Rockford Files
Character: Leo
Cranky but likable L.A. PI Jim Rockford pulls no punches (but takes plenty of them). An ex-con sent to the slammer for a crime he didn't commit, Rockford takes on cases others don't want, aided by his tough old man, his lawyer girlfriend and some shady associates from his past....
Finder of Lost Loves
Character: Arthur Barwell
The Finder of Lost Loves TV show was a 60 minute drama series on ABC about a private investigator who specialized in finding lost loves from the past for his heartbroken clients....
Hunter
Character: Power plant worker
Global espionage with an American agent and his sexy partner....
Cagney & Lacey
Character: Harvey Lacey
Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time....
Doc Elliot
Character: Vincent Parker
Doc Elliot is an American medical drama that aired from March 5, 1973 until May 1, 1974....
The Waltons
Character: Rev. Ezekiel L. Henshaw
The Waltons live their life in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II....
Quincy, M.E.
Character: Agent Brice
Los Angeles County medical examiner Quincy routinely engages in police investigations....
Movie Credits
Frankenstein
Character: Otto Roget
A scientist obsessed with creating life steals body parts to put together his "creation." Released as a feature on video, this was originally shown in two installments on TV as part of the Wide World of Entertainment series....
Surf Ninjas
Character: Mac
Two Asian-American "surfer-dude" brothers discover they are the long lost princes from a China Sea Island. Part of their inheritance includes magically-induced martial arts prowess and seeing the future. Using their new powers, they act to overthrow the island's current dictator, a despotic madman with a metal face!...
MacShayne: Winner Takes All
Character: Waldo Church
MacShayne is a gambler and small time con-man. After serving a short stretch in jail, he goes to Las Vegas to see his son, but when he gets there, his ex-wife is no longer where she use to live and work and left no forwarding address. Leggett, a recently retired cop, approaches him and tells him that he will help him find his son, if he does something for him. It seems that he is planning to rob a hotel casino and he needs three guys to pull it off. Now two of the guys he recruited has agreed to...
Impulse
Character: Bob Russell
After a small earthquake in a small and quiet town, local citizens start to have a bizarre, violent and self-destructive behavior......
Trilogy of Terror
Character: Thomas Amman
A horror anthology containing three stories: a female college professor is aggressively pursued by one of her students; a prudish brunette determines that her free-spirited blonde sister is evil; and a woman's night turns upside down after she purchases an ancient Zuni fetish doll....
Daughters of Darkness
Character: Stefan Chilton
Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary....
Pennies from Heaven
Character: The Detective
During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent school teacher....
Racing with the Moon
Character: Mr. Nash
In a small coastal California town, Henry and Nicky are pals from blue collar families with only a short time before they ship off to World War II. Henry begins romancing new-to-town Caddie Winger, believing her to be wealthy. Mischievous and irresponsible, Nicky gets into trouble which forces the other two to become involved, testing their relationship, as well as the friendship between the boys....
Killer's Delight
Character: Danny
A detective tracks a serial killer through San Francisco....
House of Dark Shadows
Character: Willie Loomis
The story of vampire Barnabas Collins, the possible cure offered him by Dr. Julia Hoffman, and his search for love amidst the horror....
Night of Dark Shadows
Character: Alex Jenkins
A newlywed painter and his wife move into his family's ancestral home and find themselves plagued by spirits of past residents....
Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin
Character: Jake Morrison
David Katz is a world famous magician and he comes to Denver with his group to perform for a charity gala for disabled children. Also there is Perry and Della as all three are supporters of the charity. Kate Ford, an assistant with an arrogant attitude, tells David that she is, from now on, going to do an illusion in which an assistant is raised in a glass coffin only to disappear when the coffin is opened up in the air (while the assistant climbs out before the coffin is raised.) After a one ni...
Night of Terror
Character: Manning
A hired killer hunts down a schoolteacher to get something she has. She doesn't know what it is, but he's already killed twice to get it....
Downpayment on Murder
Character: Albert
About an estranged husband who, in an explosive rage, decides to have his wife murdered by a hired killer....
Calendar Girl, Cop, Killer? The Bambi Bembenek Story
Character: John Garner
Story of attractive cop Laurencia Bembenek, who, in 1982, was sentenced to prison for killing her husband's ex-wife in Milwaukee, WI....
The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Character: Chapel
After two attempts to kidnap a little girl Mike Hammer is hired to protect her....
A Small Town in Texas
Character: Lenny
A crooked sheriff in a small Southern town frames an ex-convict in a drug bust and takes his girlfriend....
The Cover Girl and the Cop
Character: Lieutenant Wingo
Julia Duffy is the cover girl and Dinah Manoff the cop in this made-for-TV contrivance....
Cagney & Lacey: The View Through the Glass Ceiling
Character: Harvey Lacey
Cagney and Lacey work a case involving police corruption and document forgery. Chris seeks a prestigious promotion, while Mary Beth has to deal with the return of her sickly, aged father....
Delancey Street: The Crisis Within
Character: Richard Copell
The story of Delancey Street Foundation, a self-help group devoted to reclaiming ex-junkies, ex-convicts, and others....
Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest
Character:
Police looking for drug dealers mistakenly raid the house of a typical suburban family. However, rather than admit their mistake and jeopardize their careers, several of the police officers decide to plant heroin in the family's house, and change the records of the raid to make it look like the family was the target of their investigation all along. Based on a true story....
Welcome Home, Bobby
Character: Geffin
When a Chicago teen is arrested for drug possession, the ensuing investigation reveals that he has had sexual contact with an older man. Discovering his sexual encounter, other students start shunning him and call for his expulsion from school. His conservative blue-collar dad also rejects him, while his mother does try to offer support....
Native Son
Character: Max
In 1940s Chicago, a young black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up....
Melvin Purvis G-Man
Character: 'Tony' Anthony Redecci
Agent Melvin Purvis is placed in charge of running down notorious killer Machine Gun Kelly, and sets out to do just that....
The Invasion of Carol Enders
Character: David Hastings
Television thriller about a woman is possessed after a brutal attack....
Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story
Character: Uncle George
The story of singer Rosemary Clooney's rise to fame, her marriage to Jose Ferrer, and her nervous breakdown....
American Dream
Character: Coach Ritter
A family moves from an affluent Chicago suburb to the mixed inner-city neighborhood where the father grew up, with the idea of giving the kids, who are becoming materialistic snobs, the feel of a big city environment....
Date Rape
Character: Joe Farrell
Teenage girl is raped after accepting a date from the most popular boy in school....
Hostage Flight
Character: DiSalvo
A plane is hijacked and bound for London. Once the terrorists begin killing hostages, the passengers take matters into their own hands....
The Kansas City Massacre
Character: Sam Cowley
Gangsters free one of their colleagues being escorted to prison and kill several FBI agents and local police officers in the attempt. FBI agent Melvin Purvis puts together a special squad to track down and capture the men responsible....
Nightmare on the 13th Floor
Character: Sgt. Madden
In this made-for-cable television horror thriller, a travel writer visits a historic hotel to write a story about it and inadvertently finds herself on the 13th floor where she witnesses a Satanic rite and tangles with an axe-wielding killer. She escapes, but no one believes her story because the hotel has no 13th floor....
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Character: Alan Campbell
Adaptation of the novel by Oscar Wilde....
Daddy
Character: Mike Burnette
Two high schoolers are unprepared for the reality of parenthood when the girl becomes pregnant....
Express to Terror
Character: Quinn
A gambling addict, mobsters, movie producers and others are plagued with murder while aboard a high-speed rail train. This pilot episode for the short-lived "Supertrain" series (which lasted just 9 episodes) was released to home video as a independent feature....
The Return of Mod Squad
Character: Marty
Pete, Linc and Julie are called back to the force when a series of sniper attacks are made on their old boss. But the three soon discover that they themselves are the intended targets of a gunman who lives in their old "flower child" world of the 1960s....
The Cloning of Clifford Swimmer
Character:
Clifford Swimmer, an angry and abusive man cruel to his wife and son, wants out if his marriage. With the help of a scientist he clones a replacement who takes over as head of the family while the real Clifford travels the world. The clone turns out to be a gentle and sensitive husband and father, a complete opposite of the original, and the wife and son come to love him. When the real Clifford comes back and finds his family happy with the clone he becomes angry and jealous and things take a ...
The Long Days of Summer
Character: Duane Haley
In this sequel to his 1978 "When Every Day Was the Fourth of July" (and a pilot to a prospective series), producer/director Dan Curtis recalls more of his youth during the late '30, and follows a fictionalized family where the father has jeopardized a promising law career to defend a Jewish immigrant against the prejudices of a staid New England town....
The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang
Character: Charlie Powers
A light-hearted view of the Dalton Gang's legendary raid on Coffeyville, Kansas and the years leading up to it as the brothers form themselves into a gang of horse thieves and train and bank robbers with their arch enemy, Detective Will Smith, constantly on their heels....
Roseanne: An Unauthorized Biography
Character: Jerry Barr
Behind the headlines... Behind the laughter... there's an unforgettable story you've never heard before....
Police Story: Burnout
Character: Capt. Harrison
A veteran vice cop has a hard time dealing with her partner's suicide....
Master of Dark Shadows
Character: Self
Revealing the fascinating impact of the ground-breaking Gothic drama Dark Shadows with a compelling blend of rare footage and behind-the-scenes stories exploring the diverse talents of creator-producer-director Dan Curtis....
Babycakes
Character: Al
Grace is an overweight mortuary cosmetician who falls in love with Rob, a handsome subway train conductor who doesn't even know she exists. When she finally devises a way to meet him, they discover that although they are physically different, they have a lot more in common than they think....
Without Warning: Terror in the Towers
Character: Jack McAllister
Massive rescue efforts are mobilized to save occupants of New York City's World Trade Center after a terrorist bombing....
Cagney & Lacey: The Return
Character: Harvey Lacey
1994. Cagney, now a Lieutenant, re-teams with Lacey, who has left the force, to search for a cache of missing firearms....
Cagney & Lacey: Together Again
Character: Harvey Lacey
New York's toughest lady detectives re-team to solve the murder of a homeless transient who had been terrorizing the residents of a posh apartment building with screaming threats, insults and physical intimidation. Though the cops think the culprit is another street person, Cagney and Lacey believe the real killer is one of the tenants, many of whom have ample reason to have murdered the boorish bum....
Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions
Character: Harvey Lacey
Detectives Cagney and Lacey come face-to-face with their true feelings about capital punishment when they're assigned to the city's first capital murder case in 10 years....
Shirts/Skins
Character: Herbie Bush
Six businessmen who have a weekly after-hours basketball game get caught up in a bet about a hide-and-seek contest....