[2] Of the 27 pilots for television series directed by Swackhamer, 18 went into regular production,[citation needed] including Eight Is Enough, Quincy, M.E., S.W.A.T.

Swackhamer was the stage manager for the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Swackhamer received an Emmy Award for directing the six-hour miniseries The Dain Curse during the 1977–78 season.

He married actress Bridget Hanley on April 26, 1969 and they had two daughters, Bronwyn (born March 3, 1971) and Meagan.

[4] He was working as a director on Star Command at the time of his death, of a ruptured aortic aneurysm, on December 5, 1994.