Karl Swenson
Age: N/A | From: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Person Details
Birthday:
Aliases: Peter Wayne
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 36
TV Involvements: 50
Most Famous Work
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.
Most Famous Work
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
(1962) George Sherston
The Big Valley
(1965) Steve Minter
Hawaii Five-O
(1968) Abel Morgan
Perry Mason
(1957) Unk Hazekian
Little House on the Prairie
(1974) Mr. Hanson
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
(1956) Will Harmon
Bat Masterson
(1958) Jim Pate
The Virginian
(1962) Ben WallaceActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | (voice) (archive footage) | |
| 1982 | Merlin (voice) (archive footage) | |
| 1978 | N/A | |
| 1974 | N/A | |
| Mr. Hanson | ||
| Adams | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1973 | N/A | |
| 1972 | Rukeyser | |
| Ed Barnes | ||
| Mr. Fisherman | ||
| Gus | ||
| 1971 | Apperson | |
| N/A | ||
| Clerk | ||
| 1970 | Jensen | |
| Captain Potter | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Frank Braddock Sr. | ||
| 1968 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| Abel Morgan | ||
| 1967 | Dr. Charles Goodfellow | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Vet | ||
| 1966 | N/A | |
| Theodore Roosevelt | ||
| Dr. Morris | ||
| Colonel Seidner | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1965 | Mr. Rudd | |
| N/A | ||
| Bert Hadley | ||
| Aaron Moyers | ||
| Steve Minter | ||
| Doc Isdell | ||
| Captain Waller | ||
| 1964 | Chynoweth | |
| N/A | ||
| 1963 | Merlin (voice) | |
| Hilding | ||
| Sheriff | ||
| Coley Bishop | ||
| Mr. Haskell | ||
| N/A | ||
| Morgan | ||
| N/A | ||
| Axel Nielsen - Service station owner | ||
| N/A | ||
| Drunken Doomsayer in Diner | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1962 | Train Conductor (uncredited) | |
| N/A | ||
| George Sherston | ||
| Col. Theodore Roosevelt | ||
| Karl Swenson | ||
| Ben Wallace | ||
| N/A | ||
| Insp. Bevers | ||
| Rev. Hoskins | ||
| Louie DeBella | ||
| Schmidt | ||
| 1961 | Heinrich Geuter | |
| N/A | ||
| Judge | ||
| 1960 | Dred Pierce | |
| Lars Nordqvist | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Mr. McBeevee | ||
| Ben Potts | ||
| N/A | ||
| Sheriff Ole Olson | ||
| Bill Bailey | ||
| John Olwine | ||
| Scotty Ballantyne | ||
| 1959 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| Lew Bussey | ||
| Kramer | ||
| N/A | ||
| Ansel Torgin | ||
| N/A | ||
| Tom Flaunce | ||
| Stricker | ||
| Dr. Wyle | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1958 | Hal - the Cameraman (uncredited) | |
| N/A | ||
| Jim Pate | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| The Colonel | ||
| 1957 | George Haskell | |
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| N/A | ||
| Captain Nares | ||
| Sheriff Griffin | ||
| Axel Norstaad | ||
| Corley Ketchum | ||
| Charles Norman | ||
| Unk Hazekian | ||
| Andy Burke | ||
| Bill Manning | ||
| Alexi Sharlokov | ||
| Dennis O'Hara | ||
| N/A | ||
| Mr. Badek | ||
| 1956 | Lee Willis | |
| Lud Greening | ||
| Will Harmon | ||
| Andre Rochambeau | ||
| 1955 | Humpty Dumpty | |
| N/A | ||
| Ed Holland | ||
| John | ||
| Hank Luz | ||
| Raff | ||
| Hutch | ||
| Adam | ||
| Tabe | ||
| Ian McGovern | ||
| Lars Karlgren | ||
| McGruder | ||
| Mr. Hubert | ||
| 1954 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| 1951 | Humpty Dumpty | |
| Asmussen | ||
| 1950 | N/A | |
| 1943 | Machine-Gunner (uncredited) | |
| 1935 | Protester at Communist Meeting | |
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
