Lance Kerwin
Born
November 6, 1960
Died
January 24, 2023 (62 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Newport Beach, California, USA
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]
The Wind & the Reckoning
Anderson
2022
100 Greatest Kid Stars
(4 episodes)
2005
Outbreak
American Mercenary
1995
Final Verdict
Harry Johnson
1991
Challenger
1990
The New Lassie
(1 episode)
1989
Enemy Mine
Joey Wooster
1985
The Fourth Wise Man
Passhur
1985
Murder, She Wrote
Eddie Frayne · (1 episode)
1984
Finder of Lost Loves
Adam Hill · (1 episode)
1984
A Killer in the Family
Ray Tison
1983
The Mysterious Stranger
#44
1982
Faerie Tale Theatre
Kay · (1 episode)
1982
Hotel
(1 episode)
1982
Advice to the Lovelorn
Larry Ames
1981
Simon & Simon
(1 episode)
1981
Side Show
Nick Pallas
1981
Children of Divorce
Tony Malik
1980
The Boy Who Drank Too Much
Billy Carpenter
1980
Salem's Lot
Mark Petrie · (2 episodes)
1979
CBS Library
Russ · (1 episode)
1979
Trapper John, M.D.
(1 episode)
1979
The Meanest Men in the West
1978
Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy
Joe, Jr. (Age 14)
1977
James at 15
James Hunter
1977
James at 16
James Hunter · (21 episodes)
1977
Cheering Section
Bob
1977
The Death of Richie
Russell Werner
1977
The Loneliest Runner
John Curtis as a Youth
1976
Battle of the Network Stars
(2 episodes)
1976
Amelia Earhart
David Putnam
1976
Good Heavens
(1 episode)
1976
The Bionic Woman
(1 episode)
1976
Wonder Woman
Jeff Hadley · (1 episode)
1975
Long Way Home
Ramey Holvak
1975
The Family Holvak
(10 episodes)
1975
Reflections of Murder
Chip
1974
The Greatest Gift
Ramey Holvak
1974
The Cloning of Clifford Swimmer
Todd Swimmer
1974
Little House on the Prairie
(1 episode)
1974
The Healers
Kennedy Brown
1974
Police Story
Joey Jr. · (1 episode)
1973
ABC Afterschool Special
Ezzie · (1 episode)
1972
ABC Afterschool Special
Peter Finley · (1 episode)
1972
ABC Afterschool Special
Buzz · (1 episode)
1972
ABC Afterschool Special
Adam Rush · (1 episode)
1972
ABC Afterschool Special
P.J. / The President's Son · (1 episode)
1972
Emergency!
Wheeler Boy · (1 episode)
1972
Cannon
(1 episode)
1971
Gunsmoke
Tommy Harker · (1 episode)
1955