Karl Swenson

Known for ActingBorn 1908-07-23Died 1978-10-08Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

The New Healers

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

The Court of Last Resort

Disney Sing-Along Songs: Colors of the Wind

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Under the Sea

Little House on the Prairie

Emergency!

Judgment at Nuremberg

The Odd Couple

The Wonderful World of Disney

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Happy Days

Judd, for the Defense

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Perry Mason

Hogan's Heroes

Mission: Impossible

The Andy Griffith Show

Ghost Story

The Birds

Profiles in Courage

The Greatest Show on Earth

Bonanza

The Immortal

The Walter Winchell File

Lonely are the Brave

Seconds

Mr. Novak

The Fugitive

Have Gun, Will Travel

The Sword in the Stone

Hawaii Five-O

Rawhide

The Rat Patrol

Vanishing Point

The Sons of Katie Elder

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Doc Elliot

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

77 Sunset Strip

The Rifleman

CBS Playhouse

Ulzana's Raid

The Cincinnati Kid

The Lieutenant

How the West Was Won

The Westerner