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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.
Biography
Early years
Swenson was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Swedish
parentage. Planning to be a doctor, he enrolled at Marietta College and
undertook premedical studies, but left that field to pursue acting.
Stage
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. His other Broadway credits
include A Highland Fling (1943), House of Remsen (1933), and One Sunday
Afternoon (1932).
Radio
Swenson appeared on the radio from the 1930s through the
1950s in such programs as Cavalcade of America, The Chase, Columbia Presents
Corwin, Columbia Workshop, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Joe Palooka, Lawyer Q, X
Minus One, 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.
Film
Swenson entered the film industry in 1943 with two wartime
documentary shorts, December 7 and The Sikorsky Helicopter, followed by more
than 35 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.
He appeared in films such as North To Alaska (1960) as Lars Nordquist, One Foot
in Hell (1960), Flaming Star (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Walk on the
Wild Side (1962), The Spiral Road (1962), and Lonely Are the Brave (1962) as
Rev. Hoskins, a prison inmate. His later film appearances included roles in
...tick...tick...tick... (1970), The Wild Country (1970), Vanishing Point
(1971), and Ulzana's Raid (1972).
Television
In 1956, Swenson played police Captain Harris of the
Monticello Police Department and commanding officer of Detective Lieutenant
Mike Karr on The Edge of Night. Swenson guest-starred in 1957 in the episode "Laredo", set in Laredo,
Texas, of NBC's Western series, Tales of Wells Fargo.
Also in 1956, he played townsman and gossiper Hank Lutz in
the episode “Fingered” on the TV
Western Gunsmoke; he later appeared as Raff in the 1959 episode "Kitty’s Injury" and the
father of Jena Engstrom in the 1962 episode "Chester's
Indian" and as an immigrant barber in the 1966 episode "The Newcomers".
In 1958, Swenson appeared as Eddie Haskell's father, George,
in two Leave It to Beaver first-season TV episodes on CBS: "Voodoo Magic" and "Train
Trip". He had a recurring role as Charlie Burton, one of Bentley's
regular clients on the 1957-1960 sitcoms Bachelor Father. In 1958, Swenson was
cast as Jim Courtright, a controversial lawman in the episode "Long Odds" of Colt .45. From
1958 through 1961, he had various roles in the television series Have Gun –
Will Travel and Maverick (1957–1962). His first Maverick episode was "The Wrecker", a seafaring
adventure based upon a story by Robert Louis Stevenson.
In the same year, 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, 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).
Swenson was cast in a 1959 episode of the police drama Lock
Up. In the series pilot "The
Failure", Swenson is cast as Ed Reed, a man who is accused of arson
and murder. The series ran from 1959 to 1961, starring Macdonald Carey. He
appeared in 1959 in an episode of The Man from Blackhawk.
In 1960, Swenson appeared in an episode ("Odyssey of Hate") of the CBS adventure/action drama
series Mr. Lucky. The same year, he 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 series Window on Main Street.
In 1962, Swenson made a one-time appearance on CBS's The
Andy Griffith Show as Mr. McBeevee, a lineman for the phone company who became
Opie's mystery friend. In 1964, he appeared as Colonel Harper on Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C., in season one, episode ten, "A
Date for the Colonel's Daughter". 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, 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. In 1962, he took the role of Theodore
Roosevelt in the first-season episode "Riff-Raff"
of The Virginian.
From 1962 through 1973, Swenson made guest appearances on
the TV series Lassie in the episodes "The
Nest" (1962), "Crossroad"
(1964), "In the Eyes of Lassie"
(1965), "The Homeless" (1967), "A
Time for Decision" (1967), "Hanford's
Point" (1968), and "Other
Pastures, Other Fences" (1971), and later became a regular playing
Karl Burkholm in seasons 18 and 19.
Swenson made guest appearances on Perry Mason, as defendant
Axel Norstaad in the 1961 episode, "The
Case of the Tarnished Trademark", an ex-convict in the 1963 episode, "The Case of the Bigamous Spouse",
and as Unk in the 1965 episode "The
Case of the 12th Wildcat".
From 1959 through 1967, Swenson made guest appearances on
the TV series Bonanza in the episodes "Death
on Sun Mountain" (1959), "Day
of Reckoning" (1960), "A
Natural Wizard" S7 E13 as veterinarian Dr. Woods (1965), and "Showdown at Tahoe" (1967).
Swenson appeared in the 1967 Hogan's Heroes episode "How to Win Friends and Influence
Nazis" as a Swedish scientist, Dr. Karl Svenson, persuaded to join the
Allied war effort.
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Among his other television series, he is best known for his
performance as Lars Hanson in NBC's
Little House on the Prairie. He appeared in 40 episodes of the show from 1974
to 1978.
Voice acting
Swenson also worked as a voice actor. He voiced the
character of Merlin in Walt Disney's 1963 animated classic, The Sword in the
Stone. In 1969, he was cast as the Roman emperor Nero, sent by the Devil to
assassinate Santa Claus in a KCET television reading of Norman Corwin's 1938
radio play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas.
Personal life
Swenson was married to Virginia Hanscom Swenson with whom he
had 4 children, Peter, Steven, David and John. His second wife was actress Joan
Tompkins.
Death
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.
As 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 titled 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.
Filmography
Strangers All (1935) as Protester at Communist Meeting
(uncredited)
December 7th (1943) as Machine-Gunner (uncredited)
The Walter Winchell File "Thou
Shall Not Kill" (1957) as Marish Smallman
Four Boys and a Gun (1957) as Mr. Badek
That Night! (1957) as McAdam
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) (Season 3 Episode 20: "On the Nose") as Ed Holland
Kings Go Forth (1958) as The Colonel
The Badlanders (1958) as The Marshal (uncredited)
No Name on the Bullet (1959) as Stricker
The Hanging Tree (1959) as Tom Flaunce
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 6 Episode 3: "Very Moral Theft") as John
Ice Palace (1960) as Scotty Ballantyne
The Gallant Hours (1960) as Captain Bill Bailey
One Foot in Hell (1960) as Sheriff Ole Olson
North to Alaska (1960) as Lars Nordquist
Flaming Star (1960) as Dred Pierce
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) as Dr. Heinrich Geuter
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) (Season 1 Episode 8: "House Guest") as George
Sherston
Walk on the Wild Side (1962) as Schmidt / Courtney
Lonely Are the Brave (1962) as Reverend Hoskins
The Spiral Road (1962) as Inspector Bevers
"The Andy
Griffith Show" (1962) as Mr. McBeevee
How the West Was Won (1962) as Train Conductor (uncredited)
The Birds (1963) as Drunken Doomsayer in Diner
The Man from Galveston (1963) as Sheriff
The Prize (1963) as Hilding
The Sword in the Stone (1963) as Merlin (voice)
Major Dundee (1965) as Captain Waller
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) as Doc Isdell
The Cincinnati Kid (1965) as Mr. Rudd
Seconds (1966) as Dr. Morris
The Rat Patrol (1967) as Colonel Seidner
Hogan's Heroes (1967) as Dr. Karl Svenson
Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1967) as Theodore Roosevelt
Hour of the Gun (1967) as Dr. Charles Goodfellow
...tick...tick...tick... (1970) as Frank Braddock Sr.
The Wild Country (1970) as Jensen
Vanishing Point (1971) as Sam, Clerk at Delivery Agency
Ulzana's Raid (1972) as Willy Rukeyser
Listen to
Radio Detective Story Hour: Karl Swenson in Mr. Chameleon
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