Inga Swenson was an American actress and singer. She appeared in multiple Broadway productions and was nominated twice for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performances as Lizzie Curry in 110 in the Shade and Irene Adler in Baker Street.
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Early in her career, Swenson had supporting roles in the films Advise and Consent (1962) and The Miracle Worker (1962) in which she played Helen Keller’s mother.
Swanson married sound engineer Lowell Harris in 1953, and the couple had two sons: Mark and James. James died in a motorcycle accident in 1987, at the age of 26.
Mark is a film editor who worked on Blues Brothers 2000 and Digging to China. Swenson died in Los Angeles on July 23, 2023, at the age of 90.
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Image Credit: Globo
Who was the maid on Benson?
A schooled stage actress, Inga Swenson became nationally known as the formidable Gretchen Kraus, the bane of Robert Guillaume’s existence on the long-running ABC series “Benson” (1979-1986).
Does Inga Swenson have an accent?
The thick accent required of the character led many fans at the time to mistakenly believe Swenson was actually German when in real life she speaks perfect English.
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