Ken Swofford - Cast Member of the Month

Ken Swofford

Ken Swofford was born on July 25, 1933 in Du Quoin, Illinois, as Kenneth Charles Swofford, under the Zodiac sign Leo. Leo’s are often described as independent and outgoing.  Ken was raised by his parents Howard and Goldie Swofford and he graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science degree in theater.

He met and married Barbara Ann Biggs (Barbee) in summer stock in 1958 and the couple had five children together: Meemee, Stephen, Stephanie, Brendon and Sabrina.  In an interview in 1976 Ken described the advantages of an acting career as spending more time with his children and having the freedom to do any job. "If you're an actor, you can do anything. I have cleaned carpets, painted houses, worked on loading docks. It didn't bother me, because I could always act and enjoy myself."

Ken with his distinctive red hair has had a long and plentiful career, which started in the early 60s on TV shows like: “I Spy”, “The Outcasts, “The Wild Wild West”, “Gunsmoke”, “The Intruders” and “Mission Impossible” to name just a few.

He also appeared in films like “Skyjacked”,  “The Andromeda Strain”, “A Cry For Help” and “Annie”.

In 1983 the joined the cast of Fame for it’s third Season as vice Principle Quentin Morloch, which brought lots of conflict for the faculty of the School of the Arts.

Carol Mayo Jenkins (Miss Sherwood) said “Ken Swofford was great. He was a very dear friend and I learned so much from him. What he knew about television... What he didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. I mean he’d been doing it for years and he taught me a lot.”

Ken stayed on the show for 3 years for Seasons, 3, 4 and 5 appearing in 42 episodes from 1983 to 1985. However, when new Executive Producers took over the show in 1984, Ken became more and more disillusioned by the direction of the show. After filming the episode “Ebenezer Morloch” Ken had been drinking and ranted to camera about how he felt. This caused his instant dismissal from the show. Ken later sued MGM for loss of earnings to the tune of $800,000 and 5 million dollars compensation. The outcome of the court case is unknown.

Ken continued to guest star on American TV shows like: “Dynasty”, “Dallas”, “Simon and Simon”, “Knots Landing” and “Highway To Heaven”. He also starred in the 1987 TV movie “The Stepford Children”   

 In a Los Angeles Times interview in 1985 titled "Autistic Youth Thrives in Large, Loving Family", the Swoffords discussed bringing up their autistic son Brendan at home.

Ken had struggled throughout his career with alcohol abuse and in 1989 he was convicted of felony drunk driving and sentenced to 28 months in prison, after which he campaigned against drunk driving. He resumed his acting career and narrated a documentary for Mothers Against Drunk Driving made a comeback on Television work steadily until retiring in 1995 on shows like “Murder She Wrote”, “Matlock”, “Baywatch” and “Diagnosis Murder”. He also appeared in the movie “Thelma and Louise”.

In 2001, he supplied the voice of the coach in “Recess: School's Out” and played Officer White in Teacher's Pet (2004), which was his last role before retiring permanently. Nonetheless, in 2018 he voiced the title character of Happy the Angry Polar Bear in a film written and directed by his grandson, Brandon.

Ken died on November 1, 2018 in Pacific Grove, California, aged  85.