Karl Swenson

Acting • Born 1908-07-23 – Died 1978-10-08

Acting2Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Biography

Karl Swenson (July 23, 1908 – October 8, 1978) was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor. Swenson is remembered for his role as the doomsayer in the diner in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) and as the voice of Merlin in Disney's The Sword in the Stone (1963). On television, he had numerous credits in guest roles on various shows, especially Westerns, including episodes of Bonanza, The Virginian, and Gunsmoke. He had a major recurring role as Walnut Grove founder Lars Hanson on Little House on the Prairie (1974 - 1978). Swenson also had roles in The Prize (1963), Major Dundee (1965), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Seconds (1966), Hour of the Gun (1967), ...tick...tick...tick... (1970), The Wild Country (1970), Vanishing Point (1971) and Ulzana's Raid (1972). Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, he originally planned to be a doctor and studied at Marietta College before pursuing acting. Swenson appeared extensively on the radio from the 1930s through the 1950s. He entered the film industry in 1943 with two wartime documentary shorts, December 7 and The Sikorsky Helicopter. Swenson was married to actress Joan Tompkins. He died of a heart attack at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington, Connecticut on October 8, 1978, shortly after filming the Little House on the Prairie episode in which his character dies. The episode aired on October 16, 1978, eight days after Swenson's death. He was interred at Center Cemetery in New Milford, Connecticut.

Filmography

149 credits

The Cincinnati Kid

Movie • 1965

Mr. Rudd

The Birds

Movie • 1963

Le prophète de malheur ivre au bar

Judgment at Nuremberg

Movie • 1961

Heinrich Geuter

The Prize

Movie • 1963

Hilding

Seconds

Movie • 1966

Dr. Morris

North to Alaska

Movie • 1960

Lars Nordqvist

Vanishing Point

Movie • 1971

Clerk

The Sword in the Stone

Movie • 1963

Merlin (voice)

Major Dundee

Movie • 1965

Captain Waller

Ulzana's Raid

Movie • 1972

Rukeyser

Lonely are the Brave

Movie • 1962

Rev. Hoskins

The Hanging Tree

Movie • 1959

Tom Flaunce

Walk on the Wild Side

Movie • 1962

Schmidt

The Sons of Katie Elder

Movie • 1965

Doc Isdell

Hour of the Gun

Movie • 1967

Dr. Charles Goodfellow

Ice Palace

Movie • 1960

Scotty Ballantyne

Flaming Star

Movie • 1960

Dred Pierce

No Name on the Bullet

Movie • 1959

Stricker

Kings Go Forth

Movie • 1958

The Colonel

Disney Sing-Along Songs: Colors of the Wind

Movie • 1995

(voice) (archive footage)

The Man from Galveston

Movie • 1963

Sheriff

The New Healers

Movie • 1972

Mr. Fisherman

Alice in Wonderland

Movie • 1955

Humpty Dumpty

A Howling in the Woods

Movie • 1971

Apperson

Strangers All

Movie • 1935

Protester at Communist Meeting

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Movie • 1967

Dr. Keller

The Gallant Hours

Movie • 1960

Bill Bailey

The Gun and the Pulpit

Movie • 1974

Adams

… tick… tick… tick…

Movie • 1970

Frank Braddock Sr.

One Foot in Hell

Movie • 1960

Sheriff Ole Olson

Gateways to the Mind

Movie • 1958

Hal - the Cameraman (uncredited)

Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Movie • 1966

Theodore Roosevelt

How the West Was Won

Movie • 1962

Train Conductor (uncredited)

December 7th

Movie • 1943

Machine-Gunner (uncredited)

The Wild Country

Movie • 1970

Jensen

Disney's Halloween Treat

Movie • 1982

Merlin (voice) (archive footage)

The Spiral Road

Movie • 1962

Insp. Bevers

Four Boys and a Gun

Movie • 1957

Mr. Badek

Disney's Greatest Villains

Movie • 1977

Merlin (voice) (archive footage)

Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Under the Sea

Movie • 1990

Merlin (archive footage) (voice)

The Sunrise Gun

Movie • 1959

Lud Greening

The Andy Griffith Show

TV • 1960

Mr. McBeevee

77 Sunset Strip

TV • 1958

Maverick

TV • 1957

Trackdown

TV • 1957

Little House on the Prairie

TV • 1974

Lars Hanson

The Odd Couple

TV • 1970

Captain Potter

Mr. Lucky

TV • 1959

Hawaii Five-O

TV • 1968

Abel Morgan

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

TV • 1964

Col. Harper

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters

TV • 1963

Coley Bishop

Happy Days

TV • 1974

Surfside 6

TV • 1960

The Mod Squad

TV • 1968

The Fugitive

TV • 1963

Axel Nielsen - Service station owner

Perry Mason

TV • 1957

Axel Norstaad

Gunsmoke

TV • 1955

Hank Luz

Hawaiian Eye

TV • 1959

Lassie

TV • 1954

Cannon

TV • 1971

The Amazing Spider-Man

TV • 1978

Hallmark Hall of Fame

TV • 1951

Humpty Dumpty

Ironside

TV • 1967

Vet

Leave It to Beaver

TV • 1957

George Haskell

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

TV • 1955

Ed Holland

Klondike

TV • 1960

Judge Frank Weinstock

Sam Benedict

TV • 1962

The Greatest Show on Earth

TV • 1963

Outlaws

TV • 1960

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

TV • 1958

The Immortal

TV • 1970

Rawhide

TV • 1959

Have Gun, Will Travel

TV • 1957

Cimarron Strip

TV • 1967

The Outcasts

TV • 1968

The Fugitive

TV • 1963

Morgan

The Virginian

TV • 1962

Col. Theodore Roosevelt

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

TV • 1951

Asmussen

Portia Faces Life

TV • 1954

The Young Rebels

TV • 1970

The Big Valley

TV • 1965

Bert Hadley

Bronco

TV • 1958

Judd for the Defense

TV • 1967

Profiles in Courage

TV • 1964

TV • 1958

Chris Manse

The Dakotas

TV • 1963

Sugarfoot

TV • 1957

Andy Burke

Ben Casey

TV • 1961

Bat Masterson

TV • 1958

Jim Pate

The Rat Patrol

TV • 1966

Colonel Seidner

The Guns of Will Sonnett

TV • 1967

Mr. Novak

TV • 1963

Mr. Haskell

Riverboat

TV • 1959

Ansel Torgin

The Texan

TV • 1958

The Bill Dana Show

TV • 1963

CBS Playhouse

TV • 1966

Robert Montgomery Presents

TV • 1950

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

TV • 1956

Lee Willis

The Lieutenant

TV • 1963

Playwrights '56

TV • 1955

Johnny Ringo

TV • 1959

Kramer

General Electric True

TV • 1962

Tightrope

TV • 1959

Dr. Kildare

TV • 1961

Judge

The Westerner

TV • 1960

Ben Potts

The Court of Last Resort

TV • 1957

The Walter Winchell File

TV • 1957

Doc Elliot

TV • 1973

Ghost Story

TV • 1972

Ed Barnes

Emergency!

TV • 1972

Gus

Maverick

TV • 1957

Captain Nares

Maverick

TV • 1957

TV • 1956

Will Harmon

Hogan's Heroes

TV • 1965

Dr. Karl Svenson

Perry Mason

TV • 1957

Corley Ketchum

Perry Mason

TV • 1957

Charles Norman

Perry Mason

TV • 1957

Unk Hazekian

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

TV • 1955

John

Mission: Impossible

TV • 1966

Colonel Dubov

Mission: Impossible

TV • 1966

Dr. Ziegler

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

TV • 1962

George Sherston

Cimarron Strip

TV • 1967

Dr. Kihlgren

The Wonderful World of Disney

TV • 1954

Laredo Marshal (uncredited)

Sam Benedict

TV • 1962

Barney Rosvalley

Sam Benedict

TV • 1962

Barney Rossvalley

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

TV • 1958

Van Kemp

Bonanza

TV • 1959

Carl Harris