Biography
Born on 29 December 1932 in Omaha, Nebraska, Swenson attended Northwestern University, where she honed her acting technique while concentrating on the development of her soprano range. Her New York stage debut came in New Faces Of 1956, followed by The First Gentleman in 1959; she then moved to Hollywood for roles in Advise & Consent and The Miracle Worker, both released in 1962. Returning to Broadway in the mid-1960s, she performed in 110 In The Shade, N. Richard Nash’s 1964 musical adaptation of his 1954 play and 1956 film The Rainmaker. Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt supplied the score, which featured “Love Don’t Turn Away” and “Is It Really Me,” numbers Swenson delivered in the role of Lizzie Curry, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She next appeared in Baker Street in 1965 before resuming film work with Lipstick in 1976 and The Betsy two years later.
Swenson had begun working in television in the late 1950s, taking parts in dramatic anthologies as well as episodic series and comedies. Her most sustained television role was the acerbic, German-accented housekeeper Miss Gretchen Kraus on Benson, which ran from 1979 to 1986. Individual episodes of other programs in which she appeared include The Defenders in 1962, Bonanza in both 1962 and 1963, Dr. Kildare also in 1962, The Rookies in 1975, Barnaby Jones in 1976 and 1978, seven installments of Soap as Ingrid Swenson in 1978, Hotel in 1988, and The Golden Girls in 1989. Among her television movies are Victoria Regina from 1961, Androcles And The Lion in 1967, My Father And My Mother in 1968, and Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women in 1978, in which she portrayed Nora Bayes. She also participated in the mini-series Testimony Of Two Men in 1977, North And South in 1985, North And South, Book II in 1986, and Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder in 1987, along with the 1989 series Doctor Doctor.
Swenson had begun working in television in the late 1950s, taking parts in dramatic anthologies as well as episodic series and comedies. Her most sustained television role was the acerbic, German-accented housekeeper Miss Gretchen Kraus on Benson, which ran from 1979 to 1986. Individual episodes of other programs in which she appeared include The Defenders in 1962, Bonanza in both 1962 and 1963, Dr. Kildare also in 1962, The Rookies in 1975, Barnaby Jones in 1976 and 1978, seven installments of Soap as Ingrid Swenson in 1978, Hotel in 1988, and The Golden Girls in 1989. Among her television movies are Victoria Regina from 1961, Androcles And The Lion in 1967, My Father And My Mother in 1968, and Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women in 1978, in which she portrayed Nora Bayes. She also participated in the mini-series Testimony Of Two Men in 1977, North And South in 1985, North And South, Book II in 1986, and Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder in 1987, along with the 1989 series Doctor Doctor.