Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
July 23, 1908
Place of Birth:
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Social Media
Karl Swenson
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Swenson (July 23, 1908 – October 8, 1978) was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor. Early in his career, he was credited as Peter Wayne
Swenson was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Swedish parentage. Planning to be a doctor, he enrolled at Marietta College and undertook pre-medical studies but left that field to pursue acting.
Swenson appeared extensively on the radio from the 1930s through the 1950s.
Swenson entered the film industry in 1943 with two wartime documentary shorts, December 7 and The Sikorsky Helicopter, followed by more than thirty-five roles in feature films and television movies. No Name on the Bullet (1959) is only one of the many westerns in which he performed for both film and television.
Swenson is remembered for his role as the doomsayer in the diner in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds (1963) and had roles in The Prize (1963), Major Dundee (1965), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and Seconds (1966). In 1967, Swenson appeared in the western Hour of the Gun, and played the role of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in the western film Brighty of the Grand Canyon, with co-stars Pat Conway and Joseph Cotten. His later film appearances included roles in ...tick...tick...tick... (1970), The Wild Country (1970), Vanishing Point (1971) and Ulzana's Raid (1972).
Swenson was married to actress Joan Tompkins.
Swenson 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. Swenson was interred at Center Cemetery in New Milford, Connecticut. CLR
Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Disney Sing-Along Songs: Colors of the Wind | (voice) (archive footage) |
| 1990 | Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Under the Sea | Merlin (archive footage) (voice) |
| 1982 | Disney's Halloween Treat | Merlin (voice) (archive footage) |
| 1977 | Disney's Greatest Villains | Merlin (voice) (archive footage) |
| 1974 | The Gun and the Pulpit | Adams |
| 1972 | Ulzana's Raid | Rukeyser |
| 1972 | The New Healers | Mr. Fisherman |
| 1971 | Vanishing Point | Clerk |
| 1971 | A Howling in the Woods | Apperson |
| 1970 | Tick... Tick... Tick... | Frank Braddock Sr. |
| 1970 | The Wild Country | Jensen |
| 1967 | Hour of the Gun | Dr. Charles Goodfellow |
| 1967 | Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night | Dr. Keller |
| 1966 | Seconds | Dr. Morris |
| 1966 | Brighty of the Grand Canyon | Theodore Roosevelt |
| 1965 | The Cincinnati Kid | Mr. Rudd |
| 1965 | Major Dundee | Captain Waller |
| 1965 | The Sons of Katie Elder | Doc Isdell |
| 1963 | The Birds | Drunken Doomsayer in Diner |
| 1963 | The Prize | Hilding |
| 1963 | The Sword in the Stone | Merlin (voice) |
| 1963 | The Man from Galveston | Sheriff |
| 1962 | Lonely are the Brave | Rev. Hoskins |
| 1962 | Walk on the Wild Side | Schmidt |
| 1962 | How the West Was Won | Train Conductor (uncredited) |
| 1962 | The Spiral Road | Insp. Bevers |
| 1961 | Judgment at Nuremberg | Heinrich Geuter |
| 1960 | North to Alaska | Lars Nordqvist |
| 1960 | Ice Palace | Scotty Ballantyne |
| 1960 | Flaming Star | Dred Pierce |
| 1960 | The Gallant Hours | Bill Bailey |
| 1960 | One Foot in Hell | Sheriff Ole Olson |
| 1959 | The Hanging Tree | Tom Flaunce |
| 1959 | No Name on the Bullet | Stricker |
| 1958 | Kings Go Forth | The Colonel |
| 1958 | Gateways to the Mind | Hal - the Cameraman (uncredited) |
| 1957 | Four Boys and a Gun | Mr. Badek |
| 1955 | Alice in Wonderland | Humpty Dumpty |
| 1943 | December 7th | Machine-Gunner (uncredited) |
| 1935 | Strangers All | Protester at Communist Meeting |