Karl Swenson

Acting · Born 1908-07-23 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Biography

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…

Filmography

• The Cincinnati Kid as Mr. Rudd
• The Birds as Le prophète de malheur ivre au bar
• Judgment at Nuremberg as Heinrich Geuter
• The Prize as Hilding
• Seconds as Dr. Morris
• North to Alaska as Lars Nordqvist
• Vanishing Point as Clerk
• The Sword in the Stone as Merlin (voice)
• Major Dundee as Captain Waller
• Ulzana's Raid as Rukeyser