70
Age
41
Movies
108
TV Shows
7.5
Rating
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).
70
Died at
41
Movies
108
TV Shows
7.5
Avg Rating
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).
1957
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.
Gender
Male
Birthday
July 23, 1908
Died
October 8, 1978
Birthplace
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
The Wild Country
1970
Alice in Wonderland
1955
The Sword in the Stone
1963
Ulzana's Raid
1972
Judgment at Nuremberg
1961
… tick… tick… tick…
1970
Hour of the Gun
1967
Seconds
1966
The Birds
1963
The Gallant Hours
1960
The Sunrise Gun
1959
How the West Was Won
1962
Disney's Greatest Villains
1977
Disney's Halloween Treat
1982
North to Alaska
1960
The Sons of Katie Elder
1965
The Hanging Tree
1959
The Prize
1963
The Cincinnati Kid
1965
Vanishing Point
1971
+ 21 more movies
Perry Mason
1957
Perry Mason
1957
Perry Mason
1957
Perry Mason
1957
Bonanza
1959
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962
The Fugitive
1963
The Fugitive
1963
Mission: Impossible
1966
Mission: Impossible
1966
The Andy Griffith Show
1960
Little House on the Prairie
1974
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
Ironside
1967
Lassie
1954
Hawaii Five-O
1968
The Rifleman
1958
Happy Days
1974
+ 88 more TV shows