Lance Kerwin

Acting

Lance Kerwin

Born 1960-11-06 · 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]

Acting credits

Outbreak poster
6.6

A deadly airborne virus finds its way into the USA and starts killing off people at an epidemic rate. Col. Sam Daniels' job is to stop the virus spreading from a small town, which must be quarantined, and to prevent an over reaction by the White House.

Outbreak

1995

Enemy Mine poster
7.0

A soldier from Earth crashlands on an alien world after sustaining battle damage. Eventually he encounters another survivor, but from the enemy species he was fighting; they band together to survive on this hostile world. In the end the human finds himself caring for his enemy in a completely unexpected way.

Enemy Mine

1985

Challenger poster
6.5

A profile of the astronauts, crew, and civilians who were involved in the January 28, 1986 flight of the spaceship, Challenger, that resulted in its explosion upon takeoff. The center point of the film is the safety inspections and arguments surrounding the use of the o-rings that ultimately were blamed for the explosion.

Challenger

1990

Final Verdict poster
NR

A trial lawyer risks losing his family and career when he defends a client who he knows to be guilty as charged.

Final Verdict

1991

The Fourth Wise Man poster
7.0

Artaban is a young Magus (Wise Man) who desires to follow the star to the birthplace of the coming King, against the counsel of his friends and family. Carrying three precious jewels to give to the baby Messiah, Artaban and his reluctant servant Orontes set off to join the caravan of the three other wise men. They miss the caravan, but Artaban continues the search for his King, always one step behind. Artaban spends much of his remaining wealth and all of his energy helping the poor and unfortunate people he meets, until at the end of his life he finally finds Jesus--at His trial! Has Artaban wasted his life in a foolish quest? Will he ever get the chance to present his gifts to the King?

The Fourth Wise Man

1985

The Meanest Men in the West poster
4.2

Bronson and Marvin star as murderous half-brothers who are running from the law as well as each other. A climatic confrontation proves to each of them just how mean the other can be. "The Meanest Men in the West" is actually an amalgam of two episodes of the hit 1960's TV series, "The Virginian." In one installment, a wealthy man's daughter is kidnapped by a nasty gunslinger. But the crime is only just a means for the ruffian to draw the tough title character into a blood- thirsty revenge scheme. In the second, a drifter burglarizes the Shiloh ranch. Then an unhinged girl relies on the man to aid in her flight from home.

The Meanest Men in the West

1978

The Wind & the Reckoning poster
9.5

As an outbreak of leprosy engulfs 19th-century colonial Hawai'i, a small group of infected Native Hawaiians resist government-mandated exile, taking a courageous stand against the provisional government. Inspired by real-life events.

The Wind & the Reckoning

2022

Long Way Home poster
NR

The Holvak family house the escaped convict named Craw that the son befriends. Reverend Holvak's faith is tested and young Ramey faces a choice between a friendship and his family.

Long Way Home

1975

Reflections of Murder poster
6.8

The wife and mistress of the abusive headmaster of a boy's school plot and carry out his murder. They dump his body in the murky swimming pool at the school and await for it to surface. After several days, some unusual circumstances point to clues that he is not dead after all.

Reflections of Murder

1974

The Loneliest Runner poster
7.1

A young boy who still wets the bed finds escapism from his abusive mother and his own embarrassment by going running after school.

The Loneliest Runner

1976

A Killer in the Family poster
6.4

Three teenage boys break their father out of prison only to discover that he is a murderous sociopath. Based on a true story.

A Killer in the Family

1983

The Death of Richie poster
7.0

A sensitive but confused teenager feels pressure from all directions and turns to drugs, which causes problems for him in school and at home.

The Death of Richie

1977

Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy poster
NR

The story of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's older brother Joseph, who undertakes a dangerous mission during World War II.

Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy

1977

Cheering Section poster
4.7

A high school football star tries to romance the new girl at the school who happens to be his coach's daughter.

Cheering Section

1977

James at 15 poster
7.0

A 15-year-old whose family moves from Oregon to Boston misses the girlfriend he left behind, so he runs away to see her. On the way he hooks up with a female art student in her 20s who is also hitchhiking across the country, from whom he learns some valuable lessons about life. This was the pilot film for the two-season series.

James at 15

1977

The Mysterious Stranger poster
7.5

The film version of the same-titled book by Mark Twain. A young printer's apprentice imagines himself back in the days of Guttenberg, helping him to print the Bible. The next thing he knows he has conjured up a young spirit from the future who casts spells over striking printers and causes general mischief.

The Mysterious Stranger

1982

Pssst! Hammerman's After You! poster
7.0

Life becomes a terror for sixth-grader Mouse Fawley after he calls the school bully an ape man.

Pssst! Hammerman's After You!

1974

The Healers poster
9.0

The director of an urban medical center faces various major problems during the course of running the hospital.

The Healers

1974

Amelia Earhart poster
NR

Biography follows the life of famed woman pilot Amelia Earhart, including her marriage to a famous publisher and her disappearance during a flight in 1937.

Amelia Earhart

1976

The Boy Who Drank Too Much poster
4.7

A high school athlete is well on the road to becoming an alcoholic like his ex-hockey pro father until his teammate and best friend commits himself to saving him from his self-destructive habit.

The Boy Who Drank Too Much

1980

Advice to the Lovelorn poster
5.0

A failed pilot for a series centering on Maggie Dale, an advice columnist. This was somewhat in the tradition of shows like Fantasy Island. When she receives a letter, the writer's situation is played out for us, then she writes her advice and the writer reads her response and does his/her best to act upon it.

Advice to the Lovelorn

1981

Children of Divorce poster
7.5

The conflict and separation of their parents and the impact on four youngsters from three socially different families is the thrust of this drama.

Children of Divorce

1980

Side Show poster
8.5

A teenage boy who runs off to join the circus as a side show puppeteer stumbles onto the dark secrets of the fellow performers.

Side Show

1981

The Snow Queen poster
NR

Kay and Gerda are best friends. A wicked goblin who likes to cause trouble casts a spell on Kay to separate them. The Snow Queen snatches him away to her castle. Gerda must go find him. Will she ever do so? Is the Snow Queen helping him or is she freezing his heart forever?

The Snow Queen

1985