Karl Swenson
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.
120 acting credits
Acting · 120
Perry Mason
1957
Bonanza
1959
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
The Fugitive
1963
Ironside
1967
Maverick
1957
Mission: Impossible
1966
Lassie
1954
Hawaii Five-O
1968
Little House on the Prairie
1974
The Rifleman
1958
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
The Virginian
1962
Hogan's Heroes
1965
Dr. Kildare
1961
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
Emergency!
1972
Robert Montgomery Presents
1950
Cannon
1971
Ben Casey
1961
Happy Days
1974
The Big Valley
1965
Rawhide
1959
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
Leave It to Beaver
1957
The Odd Couple
1970
Hawaiian Eye
1959
Bat Masterson
1958
Gunsmoke
1955
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
1964
77 Sunset Strip
1958
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
The Texan
1958
Sugarfoot
1957
Surfside 6
1960
The Mod Squad
1968
Black Saddle
1959
Tarzan
1966
Trackdown
1957
Judd, for the Defense
1967
The Rebel
1959
Ghost Story
1972
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958
Bronco
1958
Mr. Novak
1963
Lock-Up
1959
Riverboat
1959
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
Tightrope
1959
Outlaws
1960
Johnny Ringo
1959
Mr. Lucky
1959
The Lieutenant
1963
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
1956
Cimarron Strip
1967
CBS Playhouse
1966
The Rat Patrol
1966
Sam Benedict
1962
The Dakotas
1963
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
The Westerner
1960
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
The Amazing Spider-Man
1978
Hong Kong
1960
The Immortal
1970
Playwrights '56
1955
Profiles in Courage
1964
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1963
The Sword in the Stone
1963
The Outcasts
1968
General Electric True
1962
The Walter Winchell File
1957
Judgment at Nuremberg
1961
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
The Birds
1963
The Young Rebels
1970
How the West Was Won
1962
Portia Faces Life
1954
Klondike
1960
Doc Elliot
1973
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Vanishing Point
1971
The Bill Dana Show
1963
The Sons of Katie Elder
1965
Seconds
1966
Major Dundee
1965
The Court of Last Resort
1957
Ulzana's Raid
1972
North to Alaska
1960
Lonely are the Brave
1962
Hour of the Gun
1967
The Cincinnati Kid
1965
Walk on the Wild Side
1962
Flaming Star
1960
The Prize
1963
The Hanging Tree
1959
The Wild Country
1970
The Spiral Road
1962
Ice Palace
1960
The Gallant Hours
1960
December 7th
1943
The Man from Galveston
1963
No Name on the Bullet
1959
… tick… tick… tick…
1970
The Gun and the Pulpit
1974
Kings Go Forth
1958
Disney's Greatest Villains
1977
Disney Sing-Along Songs: Colors of the Wind
1995
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1967
One Foot in Hell
1960
Disney's Halloween Treat
1982
A Howling in the Woods
1971
Strangers All
1935
Alice in Wonderland
1955
Four Boys and a Gun
1957
Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Under the Sea
1990
The New Healers
1972
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
1966
The Sunrise Gun
1959
Gateways to the Mind
1958