Robert Karnes

Robert Karnes is one of those wonderfully familiar 1970s character actors: the guy who can walk into a scene wearing a suit or a badge and instantly make you feel like the case is in steady hands. On Columbo he turns up twice—both times as an LAPD sergeant—and both appearances are small but surprisingly memorable once you start paying attention.

Honestly, I wish Karnes had more of a recurring role. As one of Columbo's sergeants he was a steady, reliable, presence who was a solid member of Columbo's team.

The Greenhouse Jungle (Season 2)

Karnes appears in The Greenhouse Jungle as Sergeant Grover, one of the detectives on the Goodland case. This is the episode where Columbo is paired with the overeager Sgt. Wilson—and Grover’s calm presence helps sell the feeling of a larger working squad around the Lieutenant.

Grover isn’t written as a big personality, but that’s the point: Karnes plays him as the seasoned pro who’s seen enough crime scenes not to waste energy on theatrics. And Grover is clearly a reliable ally of the Lieutenant.

Candidate for Crime (Season 3)

A year later he’s back as Sergeant Vernon in Candidate for Crime, the election-season mystery where Nelson Hayward tries to ride a manufactured tragedy to political glory. 

Karnes has a bigger role in this episode, as the most visible member of Hayward's security team.

Beyond Columbo

Outside Columbo, Karnes spent decades as a prolific guest star, especially in Westerns and crime dramas—exactly the genres where his no-nonsense authority plays best. If you ever watched a 1950s–70s lineup of network TV, you’ve probably seen him in shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Mission: Impossible, Ironside, The Rockford Files, The Streets of San Francisco, and M*A*S*H.

His most substantial recurring/regular TV work was on the late-1950s/early-1960s crime series The Lawless Years, where he played Max Fields opposite another Columbo alumnus: James Gregory. 

He also has film credits sprinkled through classic Hollywood, sometimes uncredited—including titles like Miracle on 34th Street, Gentleman's Agreement, Road House, and From Here to Eternity. He’s rarely the “name” on the poster, but he’s frequently part of the professional glue holding a scene together.

Personal life 

Karnes was born June 19th, 1917 in Watsonville, CA.

During World War II he served in the U.S. military, and, in one of those wonderful showbiz-in-wartime footnotes, he toured the Pacific with the Maurice Evans  (AKA Raymond in Forgotten Lady) troupe’s production of Hamlet.

His career also reportedly hit turbulence during the postwar blacklist era: accounts describe him as being blacklisted because of earlier political associations, which may help explain why his film career didn’t develop as steadily as his later television work.

Karnes was married to Doris Karnes and had one child. He worked right up to his death on December 4, 1979, in Sherman Oaks, California, reportedly of heart failure, at age 62.