Karl Swenson
Known For
Acting
Born
1908-07-23 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Died
1978-10-08
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 Known For
Perry Mason
as Axel Norstaad
Perry Mason
as Corley Ketchum
Perry Mason
as Charles Norman
Perry Mason
as Unk Hazekian
Bonanza
as Carl Harris
Mission: Impossible
as Colonel Dubov
Mission: Impossible
as Dr. Ziegler
Happy Days
Little House on the Prairie
as Lars Hanson
The Andy Griffith Show
as Mr. McBeevee
The Fugitive
as Axel Nielsen - Service station owner
The Fugitive
as Morgan
Hawaii Five-O
as Abel Morgan
Hogan's Heroes
as Dr. Karl Svenson
Ironside
as Vet
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
as George Sherston
Emergency!
as Gus
The Rifleman
as Chris Manse
Have Gun, Will Travel
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Lee Willis