Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1908-07-23
Day of Death
1978-10-08
Place of Birth
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Karl Swenson
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 (41)
Disney Sing-Along Songs: Colors of the Wind
1995
Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Under the Sea
1990
Disney's Halloween Treat
1982
Disney's Greatest Villains
1977
The Gun and the Pulpit
1974
Ulzana's Raid
1972
The New Healers
1972
A Howling in the Woods
1971
Vanishing Point
1971
The Wild Country
1970
… tick… tick… tick…
1970
Hour of the Gun
1967
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1967
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
1966
