Foto Karl Swenson

Karl Swenson


Biografi

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.

Dikenal sebagai

Acting

Tanggal Lahir

23 July 1908 di Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Filmografi

The Hanging Tree

The Hanging Tree

sebagai Tom Flaunce

The Birds

The Birds

sebagai Drunken Doomsayer in Diner

The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone

sebagai Merlin (voice)

The Spiral Road

The Spiral Road

sebagai Insp. Bevers

Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point

sebagai Clerk

Judgment at Nuremberg

Judgment at Nuremberg

sebagai Heinrich Geuter

Seconds

Seconds

sebagai Dr. Morris

How the West Was Won

How the West Was Won

sebagai Train Conductor (uncredited)

North to Alaska

North to Alaska

sebagai Lars Nordqvist

A Howling in the Woods

A Howling in the Woods

sebagai Apperson

The Sons of Katie Elder

The Sons of Katie Elder

sebagai Doc Isdell

Ulzana's Raid

Ulzana's Raid

sebagai Rukeyser

Kings Go Forth

Kings Go Forth

sebagai The Colonel

Walk on the Wild Side

Walk on the Wild Side

sebagai Schmidt

One Foot in Hell

One Foot in Hell

sebagai Sheriff Ole Olson

The Cincinnati Kid

The Cincinnati Kid

sebagai Mr. Rudd

Gateways to the Mind

Gateways to the Mind

sebagai Hal - the Cameraman (uncredited)

Hour of the Gun

Hour of the Gun

sebagai Dr. Charles Goodfellow