John Karlen

Acting

John Karlen

Born 1933-05-28 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

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).

Acting credits

Night of Dark Shadows poster
6.6

Recently married, Quentin and Tracy Collins have just moved into Collinwood, a New England estate that has long been in the Collins family and which Quentin has just inherited. They soon find themselves plagued by spirits of past residents.

Night of Dark Shadows

1971

Cagney & Lacey: Together Again poster
7.8

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: Together Again

1995

Surf Ninjas poster
5.0

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!

Surf Ninjas

1993

Daughters of Darkness poster
6.2

Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.

Daughters of Darkness

1971

Impulse poster
5.3

After a small earthquake in a tiny, quiet town, local citizens start to exhibit bizarre, violent and self-destructive behaviour.

Impulse

1984

Trilogy of Terror poster
6.2

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.

Trilogy of Terror

1975

Daddy poster
7.2

Two high schoolers are unprepared for the reality of parenthood when the girl becomes pregnant.

Daddy

1987

Racing with the Moon poster
6.3

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.

Racing with the Moon

1984

Pennies from Heaven poster
6.1

During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.

Pennies from Heaven

1981

Native Son poster
5.2

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.

Native Son

1986

House of Dark Shadows poster
6.6

Barnabas Collins searches for a cure for vampirism in order to marry a woman resembling his long-lost fiancée Josette.

House of Dark Shadows

1970

Hostage Flight poster
6.1

A plane is hijacked and bound for London. Once the terrorists begin killing hostages, the passengers take matters into their own hands.

Hostage Flight

1985

The Kansas City Massacre poster
5.8

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.

The Kansas City Massacre

1975

Nightmare on the 13th Floor poster
5.4

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.

Nightmare on the 13th Floor

1990

Cagney & Lacey: The View Through the Glass Ceiling poster
7.5

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.

Cagney & Lacey: The View Through the Glass Ceiling

1995

Killer's Delight poster
4.3

A detective tracks a serial killer through San Francisco.

Killer's Delight

1978

The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang poster
3.9

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.

The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang

1979

The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer poster
6.4

After two attempts to kidnap a little girl Mike Hammer is hired to protect her.

The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer

1986

The Cover Girl and the Cop poster
6.0

Julia Duffy is the cover girl and Dinah Manoff the cop in this made-for-TV contrivance.

The Cover Girl and the Cop

1989

The Dark Wind poster
5.4

An Indian police officer is mixed up in murder and drug smuggling on the reservation.

The Dark Wind

1992

Without Warning: Terror in the Towers poster
6.5

Massive rescue efforts are mobilized to save occupants of New York City's World Trade Center after a terrorist bombing. Based on the events surrounding the bombing of the World Trade Center towers in February 1993.

Without Warning: Terror in the Towers

1993

Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin poster
7.3

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 night stand with David, Kate is pregnant and she blackmails David with this. David and his wife Judy can't have children so that comes as a double blow to them. However Kate, with her attitude, creates much hatred at her from the rest of the group. At the gala, the glass coffin is raised but when it opens Kate's dead body falls to the ground - strangled.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin

1991

Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest poster
6.5

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.

Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest

1974

Downpayment on Murder poster
6.3

About an estranged husband who, in an explosive rage, decides to have his wife murdered by a hired killer.

Downpayment on Murder

1987