 From 1958 through 1961, he had various roles in the television series "Have Gun Will Travel" as well as several roles throughout the run of "Maverick" (1957-1962) with James Garner, Jack Kelly or Roger Moore, beginning with "The Wrecker," a seafaring adventure based upon a story by Robert Louis Stevenson in which Swenson played a hard-bitten sea captain.In 1959, Swenson played a former Russian seaman en route to becoming an American citizen, Alexi Sharlakov, in the episode "The Extra Hand" of the ABC/WB western series, "Sugarfoot", with Will Hutchins in the title role.In the story line, in exchange for a horse and supplies, Sugarfoot becomes Sharlakov's traveling companion.