
Karl Swenson
Born July 23, 1908 · Brooklyn, 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.
Notable Appearances
Movies

The Sword in the Stone

The Birds

How the West Was Won

Judgment at Nuremberg

Vanishing Point

The Sons of Katie Elder

Major Dundee

Lonely are the Brave

Seconds

Ulzana's Raid

The Cincinnati Kid

Hour of the Gun

Flaming Star

Walk on the Wild Side

No Name on the Bullet

The Hanging Tree

North to Alaska

The Prize

The Man from Galveston

A Howling in the Woods

One Foot in Hell

The Spiral Road

Kings Go Forth

The Gun and the Pulpit

Disney's Halloween Treat

… tick… tick… tick…

Disney's Greatest Villains

Four Boys and a Gun

The Gallant Hours

The Wild Country

Ice Palace

Disney Sing-Along Songs: Colors of the Wind

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Under the Sea

Brighty of the Grand Canyon

December 7th

Alice in Wonderland

The New Healers

Gateways to the Mind

Strangers All
TV Shows

Hawaii Five-O

Mission: Impossible

The Fugitive

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Maverick

Little House on the Prairie

Emergency!

The Rifleman

Have Gun, Will Travel

The Virginian

Dr. Kildare

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Lassie

Robert Montgomery Presents

Happy Days

Cannon

Hogan's Heroes

Ben Casey

The Big Valley

Rawhide

Gunsmoke

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

The Guns of Will Sonnett

The Odd Couple

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

Leave It to Beaver

77 Sunset Strip

Bat Masterson

Hawaiian Eye

The Texan

Judd, for the Defense

Mr. Novak

Surfside 6

Sugarfoot

The Adventures of Jim Bowie

The Mod Squad

The Rebel

Bronco

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

Trackdown
More TV Shows

Outlaws

Black Saddle

Riverboat

Tarzan

Sam Benedict

Ghost Story

Lock-Up

Cimarron Strip

Johnny Ringo

The Lieutenant

Tightrope

Mr. Lucky

The Wonderful World of Disney

The Rat Patrol

The Dakotas

The Outcasts

The Walter Winchell File

The Amazing Spider-Man

Hallmark Hall of Fame

General Electric True

The Bill Dana Show

Hong Kong

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters

The Westerner

The Immortal

Doc Elliot

The Young Rebels

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars




