Ken SwoffordFilmography

Born:
January 2, 1932 in DuQuoin, IL
Occupation:
Actor
Biography:
Red-headed, ruddy-faced American supporting actor Ken Swofford made his movie debut in 1964's Father Goose. Swofford hit his peak on television in the 1970s and 1980s, playing explosive, loudmouthed, stuffy types. He was brilliant as Winchell-like columnist Frank Flannagan in the weekly 1975...Read More
  • Murder, She Wrote: A Christmas Secret

    Synopsis: Taciturn Gulf War veteran Charles McComber (Sean O'Bryan) returns to his home town of Cabot Cove in hopes of being reunited with his fiancee Beth Forsythe (Eileen Seeley). Instead, a murder occurs at a Christmas party where McComber has shown up uninvited. Hoping to clear McComber of suspicion Read More

    1992
  • Gunsmoke: To the Last Man

    Actors: James Arness, Pat Hingle, Jason Lively

    Synopsis: When retired lawman Matt Dillon takes off hunting for some stolen cattle, he and his daughter discover a vigilante gang and get involved in one of the bloodiest and most deadly feuds in the history of the West. Gunsmoke fans will not be disappointed by this James Arness outing. ~ Tana Hobart, All Read More

    1992
  • The Taking of Beverly Hills

    Actors: Robert Davi, Ken Wahl, Harley Jane Kozak, Matt Frewer

    Synopsis: Football hero Boomer Hayes (Ken Wahl) finds he is in the middle of a looting scheme in this non-stop actioner. Billionaire and owner of LA's pro football team, Bat Masterson (Robert Davi), has arranged a fake toxic chemical spill to provide an opportune situation for his group of ex-cops to Read More

    10/11/91
  • Thelma & Louise

    Actors: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald

    Synopsis: Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon play Thelma and Louise, two working-class friends who together have planned a weekend getaway from the men in their lives. Thelma's husband, Darryl (Chris McDonald), is an overbearing oaf, and Louise's boyfriend, Jimmy (Michael Madsen), simply will not commit. Though Read More

    5/24/91
  • Murder, She Wrote: Suspicion of Murder

    Synopsis: This is one of several seventh-season Murder She Wrote episodes introduced by Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) but starring Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell), a jewel thief turned insurance investigator. On this occasion, Stanton himself is the primary suspect in a murder case. The victim is the Read More

    1991
  • Murder, She Wrote: Where Have You Gone, Billy Boy?

    Synopsis: This is one of several seventh-season Murder She Wrote episodes introduced by Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) but starring Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell), a jewel thief turned insurance investigator. On this occasion, Stanton is probing into the curious case of a neurotic ventriloquist named Read More

    1991
  • Murder in High Places

    Synopsis: Murder in High Places is a made-for-TV whodunit set at a Colorado ski resort ("High Places." Get It?). Adam Baldwin, an ex-football pro turned cop, is the investigating officer in a homicide case. He is aided and abetted by Ted Levine, an alcoholic ex-newsman (what price Hunter Thompson?) who is Read More

    1991
  • Stranger at My Door

    Synopsis: The only relationship the 1991 made-for-TV Stranger at My Door bears to the 1956 theatrical film of the same name is in having a fugitive as a main character--actually, two fugitives. One of the runaways is Markie Post, a rich city woman escaping from her homicidal husband. She takes refuge in the Read More

    1991
  • Murder, She Wrote: The Great Twain Robbery

    Synopsis: This is one of several seventh-season Murder She Wrote episodes introduced by Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) but starring Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell), a jewel thief turned insurance investigator. Dennis is sucked into the story when a disreputable former associate shows up in San Francisco Read More

    1990
  • The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson

    Actors: Andre Braugher, Stan Shaw

    Synopsis: Made for the TNT cable network, The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson concentrates on the wartime service of major league baseball's first black player. Robinson (Andre Braugher), a star athlete at UCLA, is drafted during World War II. He hopes that his academic record will assure him entry into Read More

    1990
  • Murder, She Wrote: Murder in F Sharp

    Synopsis: This is one of several seventh-season Murder She Wrote episodes introduced by Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) but starring Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell), a jewel thief turned insurance investigator. Stanton's latest assignment is to investigate the suspicious events surrounding a fire that Read More

    1990
  • Murder, She Wrote: Truck Stop

    Synopsis: This slick and stylish episode is something of a variation of the classic film noir DOA, with overtones of Raymond Chandler. Travelling to Hollywood in the company of elderly writer Walter Murray (Mike Connors), with whom she is slated to collaborate on a movie script, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) Read More

    1989
  • Black Roses

    Actors: John Martin, Ken Swofford, Sal Viviano, Julie Adams, Frank Dietz

    Synopsis: In this dreadful low-budget horror film, a small town is up in arms over the arrival of a Satanic heavy-metal band called Black Roses to play at the local high school. The parents are right to be concerned, for the band has made a deal with the Devil and turns the teens into zombies who murder Read More

    1988
  • Hunter's Blood

    Actors: Samuel Bottoms, Kim Delaney, Clu Gulager, Ken Swofford, Joey Travolta

    Synopsis: Hunter's Blood is a bloody action thriller reminiscent of Deliverance or The Hills Have Eyes in which an innocent, peaceful group of people is pitted against a clan of bloodthirsty savages. Five men set out to do some deer hunting in a remote area of Arkansas. David (Sam Bottoms) and his father Read More

    1/23/87
  • Murder, She Wrote: Steal Me a Story

    Synopsis: No sooner has Jessica (Angela Lansbury) shipped her latest book to the publisher than someone plagiarizes its plotline for an episode of a TV crime series. Arriving in Hollywood to track down the culprit, Jessica crosses the path of an unscrupulous producer who specializes in stealing other Read More

    1987
  • The Stepford Children

    Actors: Barbara Eden, Don Murray, Richard Anderson, James Coco, Randall Batinkoff

    Synopsis: This film takes place in that strange bastion of middle-class living, Stepford, CT. The trouble begins when a former resident returns with his new family and forces them to become as strangely contented as their neighbors. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

    1987
  • Murder, She Wrote: Corned Beef and Carnage

    Synopsis: Jessica's niece Victoria (Genie Francis) and the girl's husband Howard (Jeff Conaway), previously introduced in the first-season episode "Birds of a Feather", make return appearances here--and, as before, the couple promptly embroils Jessica (Angela Lansbury) in a murder case. This time, the Read More

    1986
  • Bridge Across Time

    Actors: David Hasselhoff

    Synopsis: The story of Jack The Ripper may be the cause of a small town's crime spree in this strange made-for-television thriller. David Hasselhoff stars as Don Gregory, a cop in an Arizona town whose claim to fame is being the home of the newly transplanted pieces of the original London Bridge. When the Read More

    1985
  • The A-Team: Incident at Crystal Lake

    Synopsis: The A-Team goes on a fishing trip, partly for recreation, partly to hide out from the minions of their relentless pursuer Col. Decker (Lance LeGault). Unfortunately, the vacation is interrupted by the arrival of four desperate bank robbers, who have taken ranger Roy Sherman (Ken Swofford) and his Read More

    1985
  • Murder, She Wrote: Joshua Peabody Died Here...Possibly.

    Synopsis: Over the protests of several local residents, shady tycoon Henderson Wheatley (John Ericson) intends to build a high-rise hotel in Cabot Cove. During excavation, a set of bones comes to surface, supposedly belonging to Revolutionary war hero Joshua Peabody. Almost immediately, those who oppose the Read More

    1985
  • Fame: Season 04

    Actors: Debbie Allen, Carlo Imperato, Valerie Landsburg, Cynthia Gibb, Billy Hufsey

    Synopsis: Far more popular in syndication than it had ever been on the NBC network, the weekly musical drama series Fame returns with a fourth season of 25 hour-long episodes. New to the student body of New York's High School of the Performing Arts this season are a young, pre-superstardom (and Read More

    1984
  • The Gambler: The Adventure Continues

    Synopsis: This two-part TV movie was originally titled Kenny Rogers as The Gambler: The Adventure Continues. A follow-up to Rogers' phenomenally successful 1980 made-for-TV The Gambler, the film charts the further adventures of frontier "plunger" Brady Hawkes (played by Rogers, of course). Also making a Read More

    1983
  • I Want to Live

    Synopsis: This drama is adapted from the true story of Barbara Graham, a woman sentenced to die in the mid-1950s after she allegedly committed a murder during a robbery. Graham pleaded innocent until the day she died in the San Quentin gas chamber. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

    1983
  • M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers

    Actors: Mariette Hartley, Paula Prentiss, David Huddleston, Bert Remsen

    Synopsis: Mariette Hartley portrays Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, in this made-for-television movie produced and written by Michael Braverman. After her daughter is killed by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run accident, Lightner forms M.A.D.D. to enact legislation curbing the Read More

    1983
  • Fame: Season 03

    Actors: Debbie Allen, Erica Gimpel, Carlo Imperato, Lee Curreri, Valerie Landsburg

    Synopsis: Cancelled by NBC after two seasons in the spring of 1983, the musical drama series Fame was nonetheless extremely popular amongst American teenagers and with fans all over the rest of the world. Accordingly, its producers decided to keep the property alive with a third season 24 new episodes Read More

    1983
  • Annie

    Actors: Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Aileen Quinn, Ann Reinking, Bernadette Peters

    Synopsis: This family classic is adapted from the Broadway musical, which was based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie. During the Great Depression in New York City, a plucky red-haired scrapper named Annie (Aileen Quinn) is the voice of hope for her fellow orphans who live under the supervision of Read More

    1981
  • S.O.B.

    Actors: Julie Andrews, William Holden, Marisa Berenson, Larry Hagman, Robert Loggia

    Synopsis: In this biting comedy satirizing Hollywood cynicism from writer-director Blake Edwards, Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) is a motion picture director whose career is on the skids. Having just completed a family musical that is sure to be a $30 million flop, Felix knows that his days are numbered Read More

    1981
  • All God's Children

    Actors: Richard Widmark

    Synopsis: The issue of forced school busing is explored with an unfortunately heavy hand in All God's Children. Richard Widmark plays a judge who is tortured with guilt after a school bus is stolen. The robbery was a prank, committed as a reaction to the judge's ruling that selected black students must be Read More

    1980
  • Captain America II: Death Too Soon

    Synopsis: This second made-for-TV movie features the Marvel Comic-book hero who must keep the villains from succeeding in accelerating the ages of government officials. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

    1979
  • Battlestar Galactica: Experiment in Terra

    Actors: Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, Herbert Jefferson, Jr., John Colicos

    Synopsis: Experiment in Terra is a 60-minute episode of the TV sci-fi series Battlestar Gallactica. Joining regulars Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict is guest villain John Calicos as the outer space "quisling" Baltar. In plotting his escape from Battlestar Galactica, Baltar also plans to free Read More

    1979
  • The Rockford Files: The Hawaiian Headache

    Synopsis: When Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) wins a free trip to Hawaii, Jim (James Garner) tags along, only to cross the path of his former Army commander John "Howling Mad" Smith (Ken Swofford). Before Jim quite knows what has happened, Smith has gotten him involved in a CIA operation designed to break up a spy Read More

    1979
  • To Kill a Cop

    Synopsis: Joe Don Baker stars as chief of detectives, Eischeid, in the 4-hour, 2-part TV film To Kill A Cop. Eischeid must contend with a series of seemingly unrelated bank robberies and the vicious murders of two police officers. Eischeid deduces that the culprits are members of a violent African-American Read More

    1978
  • Crisis in Sun Valley

    Synopsis: In this action film, a former pro skier who has become a sheriff attempts to talk daring, but unprepared teens from climbing a treacherous mountain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

    1978
  • 1977
  • The Domino Principle

    Actors: Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, Richard Widmark, Mickey Rooney, Edward Albert

    Synopsis: Stanley Kramer directed this paranoid thriller involving a murderer who is inexplicably released from prison by a mysterious organization. Gene Hackman is Roy Tucker, serving time in San Quentin when he's busted out by a secret organization in return for having to assassinate an unnamed person. Read More

    1977
  • The Rockford Files: The Queen of Peru

    Synopsis: While in the middle of delicate negotations to ransom the fabled Borland Diamond from a gang of thieves, Jim ({$ is pestered by the Wronko family, an annoying pack of tourists from Peru, Indiana who have parked their RV next to Jim's trailer. The Wronkos end up in the thick of things when one of Read More

    1977
  • Captains and the Kings

    Synopsis: One of four dramatic miniseries carried by NBC under the blanket title Best Sellers, Captains and the Kings was adapted from a novel by Taylor Caldwell. Covering a time span from 1857 to 1912, this was the saga of the Irish-immigrant Armagh clan, with emphasis on the rags-to-riches career of Read More

    1976
  • Scott Free

    Actors: Michael Brandon

    Synopsis: Producer Stephen Cannell may have had James Garner in mind for the TV movie Scott Free, but what he got was Michael Brandon. Brandon plays Tony Scott, a suave confidence artist who pulls one scam too many and nearly ends up in federal prison. The feds offer to cut a deal: They'll drop the charges Read More

    1976
  • The Rockford Files: The Family Hour

    Synopsis: In a variation on the "Little Miss Marker" theme, Jim (James Garner) and Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) find themselves taking care of an abandoned child named Marin Rose Gailey. Through no fault of her own, the kid proves to be a major threat to the two Rockfords: it seems that her father Stuart (Burt Read More

    1976
  • The Black Bird

    Actors: George Segal, Stéphane Audran, Lionel Stander, Lee Patrick, Elisha Cook, Jr.

    Synopsis: The Black Bird is a satirical sequel to The Maltese Falcon. George Segal plays Sam Spade Jr., who has inherited his dad's detective agency in a seedy section of San Francisco. The ubiquitous, priceless Maltese Falcon, which eluded Bogart and company in the 1941 film, surfaces once again. This Read More

    1975
  • The Rockford Files: Say Goodbye to Jennifer

    Synopsis: Though at first he turns down the assignment, Jim (James Garner) agrees to help his former war buddy Mitch (Hector Elizondo), now a fashion photographer, to track down one of his models, Jennifer Ryburn (Pamela Hensley). Suspected of murder, Jennifer has been reported killed in a fiery car crash Read More

    1975
  • Sky Heist

    Synopsis: In this made-for-TV movie, a group of ambitious thieves steal a helicopter carrying $10 million worth of gold bullion and are pursued by airborne law enforcement officers. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide Read More

    1975
  • The Rockford Files: The Aaron Ironwood School of Success

    Synopsis: In the first episode of The Rockford Files' second season, private eye Jim Rockford (James Garner) is unexpectedly reunited with his boyhood pal Aaron Ironwood (James Hampton). Outwardly a dimwitted rube, Aaron has nonetheless become a multimillionaire by promoting his own "School of Success" Read More

    1975
  • Man on the Outside

    Actors: Lorne Greene

    Synopsis: Man on the Outside was the pilot film for the weekly ABC TV series Griff. Lorne Greene stars as retired police captain Wade "Griff" Griffin, who is galvanized back into active duty when his police-officer son is murdered before his eyes, and his grandson is kidnapped by a mob functionary. None of Read More

    1975
  • Switch

    Actors: Robert Wagner, Eddie Albert

    Synopsis: Switch was the pilot film for a tongue-in-cheek adventure series that ran on CBS from 1975 to 1978. Robert Wagner stars as Pete Ryan, an ex-con sent up for being a "scam" artists, and Eddie Albert as Frank McBride, an ex-cop turned private investigator. Working as a team, Pete and Frank devote Read More

    1975
  • A Cry for Help

    Synopsis: A Cry for Help (working title: End of the Line) stars Robert Culp as an acerbic, Don Imus-like radio talk show host. When one of his callers, an anxious young woman, threatens to kill herself, Culp laughs it off. Later, however, he realizes that the girl wasn't kidding, and mounts a frantic Read More

    1975
  • The Waltons: The Gift

    Synopsis: A post-Andy Griffith Show, pre-Happy Days Ron Howard) guest stars as Seth Turner, the best friend of Jason Walton (Jon Walmsley). Seth has always wanted to learn to play an instrument in his father's band, but it looks as if he won't have the time; he has been diagnosed with leukemia. The concept Read More

    1974
  • The Partridge Family: Queen for a Minute

    Synopsis: Laurie's friend Frankie (Tracy Brooks Swope) is barred from joining the high school basketball team because she's a girl. In retribution, Laurie (Susan Dey) organizes a feminist protest, demanding that girls be allowed to participate in the same school activities generally reserved for boys. Read More

    1974
  • A Case of Rape

    Synopsis: Of the two rape-oriented TV movies of the 1973-74 season, A Case of Rape, first telecast February 20, 1974, is far and away the finer film (the other was the compelling but contrived Cry Rape). Elizabeth Montgomery stars as a housewife who is sexually assaulted not once but twice by a so-called Read More

    1974
  • One Little Indian

    Actors: James Garner, Vera Miles, Clay O'Brien

    Synopsis: In this comical Disney western, a cavalry rider goes AWOL in the midst of a raid to save the lives of a band of Indian women and children. He then takes off across the New Mexican desert astride a camel. En route, he meets a young white boy who was raised by an Indian. The Indian is trying to find Read More

    1973
  • The Streets of San Francisco: Beyond Vengeance

    Synopsis: Prolific character actor Joe Don Baker is evil incarnate in the role of Leonard Collier Cord, a convicted rapist, torturer and murderer. Paroled after twelve years, the unrepentant Cord vows to get even with Mike Stone (Karl Malden), the detective who sent up. With fiendish calculation, Cord Read More

    1973
  • Skyjacked

    Actors: Kelley Miles, Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, James Brolin, Claude Akins, Jeanne Crain

    Synopsis: Sky Terror is the reissue title for Skyjacked, a 1972 MGM all-star adventure based on a novel by David Harper. Charlton Heston mans the controls of a Los Angeles-bound commercial airliner which is hijacked to Russia by an unknown miscreant. Even when the skyjacker, revealed to be passenger James Brolin Read More

    1972
  • The Andromeda Strain

    Actors: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly

    Synopsis: The "Andromeda Strain" is a deadly extraterrestrial virus. It is brought to Earth when a research satellite crashes near a tiny Arizona town. Everyone in the community dies within days, except for a baby and an "insulated" drunkard. Recruited from labs all over North America, doctors Charles Read More

    1971
  • Bless the Beasts and Children

    Actors: Barry Robins, Miles Chapin, Darel Glaser, Bob Kramer

    Synopsis: Bless the Beasts and Children is most fondly remembered as the film which introduced the song "Nadia's Theme" (better known as the title music for CBS' Young and the Restless). The film itself is a well-meaning if heavy-handed tale of six idealistic young boys whom come to the rescue of a buffalo Read More

    1971
  • Mission: Impossible: The Takeover

    Actors: Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy, Lesley Ann Warren, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus

    Synopsis: Ken Swofford guest-stars as corrupt political boss Charles Peck, who will stop at nothing to get his hand-picked flunkey Steve Tallman (Lloyd Bochner) elected governor. To accomplish this, Peck stirs up a violent campus riot, for which the gubernatorial incumbent will surely be blamed. The IMF Read More

    1971
  • The Intruders

    Synopsis: The year is 1876. The place is Medalia, MN. With the Jesse James and Cole Younger gangs cutting a murderous swath through the land, the citizens of Medalia brace themselves against an outlaw invasion. Normally, the townsfolk could turn to their marshal, Sam Garrison (Don Murray), for salvation; Read More

    1970
  • The Partridge Family: Go Directly to Jail

    Synopsis: While performing a show at a Federal penitentiary, the Partridges are approached by convict Hank (Stuart Margolin), who claims to have written some poems that he hopes the family will set to music. It turns out that Hank will go to any extreme to get the poems performed, even faking a measles Read More

    1970
  • Mission: Impossible: The Martyr

    Actors: Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus, John Larch

    Synopsis: Season Four of Mission: Impossible came to a thrilling conclusion with the series' March 29, 1970 episode "The Martyr." This time, the IMF must discredit the repressive regime of Communist leader Anton Rojek (John Larch). To solidify his base of power, Rojek intends to destroy a youthful cult Read More

    1970
  • The F.B.I.: Journey Into Night

    Synopsis: Escaping from federal prison, David Starret makes a beeline to Albany, New York, where he kidnaps his son Cliff (Michael Kearney) from the boy's foster parents. Upon discovering that Cliff is suffering from leukemia, Starret dedicates himself to acquiring the necessary medical attention for his Read More

    1969
  • The Lawyer

    Actors: Barry Newman, Harold Gould, Diana Muldaur, Robert Colbert, Kathleen Crowley

    Synopsis: Barry Newman stars as Tony Petrocelli, a maverick Midwestern attorney. Petrocelli is hired to defend a wealthy doctor (Robert Colbert), accused of murdering his wife. In the tradition of Sam Sheppard, the truculent doctor insists that the killing was committed by a mystery intruder who knocked him Read More

    1969
  • Cutter's Trail

    Synopsis: John Gavin stars as Santa Fe marshal Ben Cutter, whose homecoming is blighted when he finds his town has been taken over by a Mexican bandit gang. Accompanied by two of the less frightened townsfolk--a small boy (Manuel Padila Jr.) and the boy's mother (Marisa Pavan)--Cutter sets out to rid the Read More

    1969
  • Shadow on the Land

    Synopsis: America is no longer the home of the free in this futuristic drama. Now the country is ruled by a powerful, tyrant and his henchmen. The story centers on two brave underground rebels who work to usurp the dictator and restore democracy to the beleaguered land. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

    1968
  • Adam-12: Log 91: You're Not the First Guy's Had the Problem

    Synopsis: In a situation that could be termed a rite of passage, rookie police officer Jim Reed (Kent McCord) must somehow keep his emotions in check and behave in a calm, professional manner as he nervously awaits the medical prognosis on a former Police Academy buddy, who has been seriously wounded. The Read More

    1968
  • Common Law Cabin

    Synopsis: One of Russ Meyer's lesser efforts, Common Law Cabin is nonetheless scintillating entertainment delivered in his usual taut, energetic style. Jack Moran is the proprietor of Hoople's Haven, a broken-down tourist trap on the Colorado River. He ekes out a living with the help of his French Read More

    1967
  • First to Fight

    Actors: Chad Everett, Marilyn Devin, Claude Akins, Dean Jagger, Bobby Troup

    Synopsis: In this WW II drama, a tough-as-steel Medal of Honor-winning Marine finds himself training recruits on a stateside base and waiting for his wife to bear their first child. Unfortunately, he feels bad about being home when so many other soldiers are dying in the Pacific Theater and so asks to be Read More

    1967
  • Father Goose

    Actors: Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, Trevor Howard, Jack Good, Sharyl Locke

    Synopsis: Deliberately casting his established screen image to the four winds, Cary Grant plays Walter Eckland, an unkempt, uncouth and unshaven beach bum in Father Goose. During World War II, Walter keeps busy relaying radio reports of Japanese air activity. But he's no hero, and in fact volunteered for Read More

    1964

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