Actor

Karl Swenson

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

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...

Notable work

7.5
The Birds (1963)
as Le prophète de malheur ivre au bar
7.2
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
as Merlin (voice)
8
Little House on the Prairie (1974)
as Lars Hanson
8
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
as Heinrich Geuter
7.1
Vanishing Point (1971)
as Clerk
7
How the West Was Won (1962)
as Train Conductor (uncredited)
7.5
Bonanza (1959)
as Carl Harris
7.4
Seconds (1966)
as Dr. Morris
7.6
Mission: Impossible (1966)
as Colonel Dubov and as Dr. Ziegler
7.6
Happy Days (1974)
cast
7
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
as Mr. Rudd
7
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
as Doc Isdell

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