Karl Swenson

Karl Swenson
Born	(1908-07-23)July 23, 1908 Brooklyn, New York, USA
Died	October 8, 1978(1978-10-08) (aged 70) Torrington, Connecticut
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Center Cemetery in New Milford, Connecticut
Years active	1954–1978
Spouse(s)	Virginia Hanscom Swenson (1930-1960) 4 sons Joan Tompkins (?-1978, his death)

Karl Swenson (July 23, 1908 – October 8, 1978) was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, New York, of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 1940s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who Had All the Luck. He appeared extensively on the radio from the 1930s through the 1950s in such programs as Cavalcade of America, The Chase, Columbia Presents Corwin, The Columbia Workshop, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Joe Palooka, Lawyer Q, Lorenzo Jones, The March of Time, The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Mrs. Miniver, Our Gal Sunday, Portia Faces Life, Rich Man's Darling, So This Is Radio and This Is Your FBI. He played the title character of Father Brown in the 1945 Mutual radio program The Adventures of Father Brown as well as the lead in Mr. Chameleon.

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.

In 1958, Swenson was cast in an historically inaccurate role as Jim Courtright, a controversial lawman from Fort Worth, Texas, in the episode "Long Odds" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston. In the story line, Courtright's 10-year-old grandson Billy, played by child actor Paul Engle, has bragged to his friends about his grandfather's shooting prowess. When Courtright hesitates to accept a challenge to a gunfight from Cherry Lane, played by Robert J. Wilke, the boy fears that his grandfather has become a coward. Swenson was fifty in this portrayal of Courtright, who was shot dead in Fort Worth prior to his fortieth birthday. There is no indication that Courtright had children or grandchildren.

Swenson guest starred in 1957 in the episode "Laredo", set in Laredo, Texas of NBC's western series, Tales of Wells Fargo, starring Dale Robertson. He appeared in 1959 in an episode the ABC western drama series, The Man from Blackhawk, starring Robert Rockwell as a roving insurance company investigator.

In 1959, Swenson was cast as Ansel Torgin, with John Ireland as Chris Slade, in the episode "The Fight Back" of the NBC western series, Riverboat. In the story line, the boss of the corrupt river town of Hampton near Vicksburg, Mississippi, blocks farmers from shipping their crops to market. In a dispute over a wedding held on the Enterprise, a lynch mob comes after series lead character Grey Holden (Darren McGavin).

In 1960, Swenson was cast in the NBC science fiction series The Man and the Challenge. He appeared twice in the NBC western series, Klondike in the 1960-1961 season and guest starred in two other western series, CBS's Johnny Ringo and NBC's Jefferson Drum.

In 1961, Swenson appeared with John Lupton in the episode "Doctor to Town" of the Robert Young CBS comedy/drama series, Window on Main Street.

In 1962, Swenson made a one-time appearance on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show as Mr. McBeevee. He guest starred in NBC's Laramie western series and in the science fiction series, Steve Canyon, with Dean Fredericks in the title role. In 1963, he portrayed Nelson in the episode "Beauty Playing a Mandolin Underneath a Willow Tree" episode of the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. That same year, he was cast with Charles Aidman and Parley Baer in the three-part episode "Security Risk" of the CBS anthology series, GE True, hosted by Jack Webb. And also in 1962, he appeared as the father of Jena Engstrom in the "Chester's Indian" episode of Gunsmoke, in a story featuring Dennis Weaver.

Swenson is also remembered for his role as the doomsayer in the diner in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds and had a minor role in The Cincinnati Kid. Swenson made guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the part of a Danish woodshop owner in the 1961 episode, "The Case of the Tarnished Trademark", and an ex-convict in the 1963 episode, "The Case of the Bigamous Spouse."

Although Swenson had credits on dozens of other television series, including an appearance on the ABC/WB episode "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" of the western Maverick, he is best known for his performance as Lars Hanson in forty episodes between 1974 and 1978 of NBC's Little House on the Prairie. He voiced the character of Merlin in Walt Disney's 1963 animated classic, The Sword in the Stone.

In 1967, Swenson 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. Swenson appeared in a 1967 episode of Hogan's Heroes entitled "How to Win Friends and Influence Nazis", in which he played a likable and friendly German scientist, Dr. Karl Svenson, who is persuaded by Hogan (Bob Crane) to join the Allied war effort.

Death

Swenson died of a heart attack in Torrington, Connecticut on October 8, 1978 shortly after filming the episode in which the Little House on the Prairie character Lars Hanson died. He was interred at Center Cemetery in New Milford, Connecticut.

Stage Name "Peter Wayne"

For nearly two years Karl Swenson adopted the name “Peter Wayne” for use as a professional actor. Though he had used his own name when playing the part of Thompson in the Laboratory Theatre’s 1930 production of A Glass of Water, he had thereafter assumed the stage name “Peter Wayne” by the time he played Andre Verron in the Theatre Guild’s production of The Miracle at Verdun, which opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in March 1931. It was during Verdun that Swenson became acquainted with Bretaigne Windust, who was assistant stage manager for that production and one of the founding directors of the University Players, a summer stock company in West Falmouth on Cape Cod. As a principal player with University Players during its summer seasons of 1931 and 1932, and during its 18-week winter season in Baltimore, Maryland, in between, Swenson, as Peter Wayne, acted alongside such other unknowns as Henry Fonda, Margaret Sullavan, Joshua Logan, James Stewart, Barbara O'Neil, Mildred Natwick, Kent Smith, Myron McCormick, and Charles Arnt. In the summer of 1932, under its new name The Theatre Unit, Inc., University Players mounted an original production entitled Carry Nation. After its October preview in Baltimore, during which “Peter Wayne” was listed as playing the part of the Leader of the Vigilantes, Swenson reverted to his own name for Carry Nation's 30-performance run on Broadway.

Listen to

• Radio Detective Story Hour: Karl Swenson in Mr. Chameleon

External links

• Karl Swenson at the Internet Movie Database
• Karl Swenson at the Internet Broadway Database