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.

The Cincinnati Kid

The Birds

Judgment at Nuremberg

The Prize

Seconds

North to Alaska

Vanishing Point

The Sword in the Stone

Major Dundee

Ulzana's Raid

Lonely are the Brave

The Hanging Tree

Walk on the Wild Side

The Sons of Katie Elder

Hour of the Gun

Ice Palace

Flaming Star

No Name on the Bullet

Kings Go Forth

Disney Sing-Along Songs: Colors of the Wind

The Man from Galveston

The New Healers

Alice in Wonderland

A Howling in the Woods

Strangers All

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

The Gallant Hours

The Gun and the Pulpit

Tick... Tick... Tick...

One Foot in Hell

Gateways to the Mind

Brighty of the Grand Canyon

How the West Was Won

December 7th

The Wild Country

Disney's Halloween Treat

The Spiral Road

Four Boys and a Gun

Disney's Greatest Villains
Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Under the Sea

The Sunrise Gun

The Andy Griffith Show

77 Sunset Strip

Maverick

Trackdown

Little House on the Prairie

The Odd Couple

Mr. Lucky

Hawaii Five-O

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters

Happy Days

Surfside 6

The Mod Squad

The Fugitive

Gunsmoke

Perry Mason

Hawaiian Eye

Lassie

Cannon

The Amazing Spider-Man

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Ironside

Leave It to Beaver

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Klondike
The Greatest Show on Earth

Sam Benedict

Outlaws

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

Rawhide

The Immortal

Have Gun, Will Travel

Cimarron Strip

The Outcasts

The Fugitive

The Virginian

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Portia Faces Life

The Young Rebels

The Big Valley

Bronco

Judd for the Defense
Profiles in Courage

The Adventures of Jim Bowie

Tarzan

Black Saddle

Lock-Up

The Rebel

The Dakotas

The Rifleman

Sugarfoot

Ben Casey

Bat Masterson

The Rat Patrol

The Guns of Will Sonnett

Mr. Novak

Riverboat

The Texan

The Bill Dana Show
CBS Playhouse

Robert Montgomery Presents

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

The Lieutenant
Playwrights '56

Johnny Ringo

General Electric True

Tightrope

Dr. Kildare
The Court of Last Resort

The Westerner

The Walter Winchell File

Doc Elliot

Ghost Story

Emergency!

Maverick

Maverick

Hong Kong

The Big Valley

Sugarfoot

Sugarfoot

Sugarfoot

The Big Valley

The Virginian

Gunsmoke

The Virginian

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Hogan's Heroes

Perry Mason

Perry Mason

Perry Mason

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Cimarron Strip

The Wonderful World of Disney

Sam Benedict
