Lance Kerwin

Acting

Lance Kerwin

Born November 6, 1960 Newport Beach, California, USA48 credits

Lance Michael Kerwin (November 6, 1960 – January 24, 2023) was an American actor, known primarily for roles in television and film during his childhood and teen years in the 1970s. He played lead roles in the TV series James at 15, and the made-for-TV films The Loneliest Runner and Salem's Lot. Kerwin was raised in Lake Elsinore, California. His father was an acting coach, who brought home scripts for his son to read. His mother was also a performer and, later, a talent agent. He was the youngest of five brothers. His brother Shane was his stand-in. In the 1970s, Kerwin appeared in a number of made-for-TV movies and series. He was, said former theater critic and British Film Institute governor John Holmstrom, "probably America's leading boy actor of the late Seventies ... a handsome lad ... [with] considerable sensitivity as an actor". His serious acting roles often portrayed anguished characters facing difficult challenges, such as in The Loneliest Runner, The Boy Who Drank Too Much, and Children of Divorce. Kerwin had a daughter with Kristen Lansdale, and four children with his wife Yvonne Kerwin. He gave up acting in the mid-1990s, but returned to the screen in 2022 for The Wind & the Reckoning, filmed in Hawaii. In July 2010, it was reported that Kerwin was working as a pastor at Calvary Chapel in Kapaa, Hawaii, and a program leader at U-Turn for Christ, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization. Kerwin died in San Clemente, California, on January 24, 2023, at the age of 62. [preceding biography, edited, from Wikipedia]

Known For

Filmography

Outbreak
1995Outbreak
as American MercenaryMovie
Final Verdict
1991Final Verdict
as Harry JohnsonMovie
Enemy Mine
1985Enemy Mine
as Joey WoosterMovie
Murder, She Wrote
1984Murder, She Wrote
as Eddie FrayneTV
Advice to the Lovelorn
1981Advice to the Lovelorn
as Larry AmesMovie
Side Show
1981Side Show
as Nick PallasMovie
Children of Divorce
1980Children of Divorce
as Tony MalikMovie
The Boy Who Drank Too Much
1980The Boy Who Drank Too Much
as Billy CarpenterMovie
Salem's Lot
1979Salem's Lot
as Mark PetrieTV
Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy
1977Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy
as Joe, Jr. (Age 14)Movie
James at 15
1977James at 15
as James HunterMovie
James at 16
1977James at 16
as James HunterTV
The Death of Richie
1977The Death of Richie
as Russell WernerMovie
The Loneliest Runner
1976The Loneliest Runner
as John Curtis as a YouthMovie
Amelia Earhart
1976Amelia Earhart
as David PutnamMovie
Wonder Woman
1975Wonder Woman
as Jeff HadleyTV
Long Way Home
1975Long Way Home
as Ramey HolvakMovie
The Greatest Gift
1974The Greatest Gift
as Ramey HolvakMovie
The Healers
1974The Healers
as Kennedy BrownMovie
Police Story
1973Police Story
as Joey Jr.TV
Emergency!
1972Emergency!
as Wheeler BoyTV
Gunsmoke
1955Gunsmoke
as Tommy HarkerTV