James (17-year old Lance Kerwin) jumps out of bed, checks for acne, does overhead presses (shirtless), swims across the pool (displaying his bare shoulders) -- practices the flute, goes skateboarding, photographs some iconic sights of Boston, walks in the rain, walks through a crowd -- and walks through the locker room (in his swimsuit). Teenagers had never seen so much teen idol beefcake.
I didn't actually watch the show because it was almost entirely about girls: James dates a girl who is "easy," a girl who belongs to a cult, who's taller than him, who plays basketball for a rival team; "becomes a man" with a Swedish exchange student (whereupon the series becomes James at 16), has a disease scare. But just seeing James in a swimsuit was a queer code.
Lance had already been a busy child star, with roles in Emergency, Police Story, Cannon, Gunsmoke, Wonder Woman, and lots of others. Even as a child, he specialized in contemporary angst drama, like:
The Loneliest Runner (child abuse)
The Death of Richie (drug overdose)
Four episodes of the Roman Catholic "contemporary issues" series Insight (on alcoholism, stalking, unemployment, and hydrophobia).
Five After School Specials (on bullying, stepparents twice, being short, and being poor).
The guy staring at Lance's chest in "The Amazing Cosmic Awareness of Duffy Moon" is Ike Eisenmann, who would go on to a future of jaw-dropping physiques.
But it was James at 15, with its controversial decision to make a teenage boy active with girls, that made Lance the Golden Boy of the 1970s. He had one memorable foray into horror, a gay-subtext buddy-bond with David Soul in the tv-version of Stephen King's Salem's Lot (1979).
But otherwise it was a lot of angst with his shirt off: buddy-bonding with alcoholic high schooler Scott Baio in The Boy Who Drank Too Much (1980)
Dealing with his parents' divorce (in Children of Divorce, 1980)
Accidentally shooting Wil Wheaton in "The Shooting" (1982)
Being threatened by his murderous Dad in A Murder in the Family (1983).
Eric Stolz played another threatened brother (n*de photos on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends)
More after the break
Mark Twain's The Mysterious Stranger is a depressing, solipsistic tale in which a young man discovers that he is the creator of this horrible world -- and why didn't he create a nicer one? "in a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever—for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought. Dream other dreams, and better!" This from the author of "Tom Sawyer"?
Moving away from angst, or not, in 1985 Lance starred in "The Snow Queen" on Fairy Tale Theater. It's based on the Hans Christian Anderson story, which should be all you need to know.
Spoiler alert: The Snow Queen kisses you, and then you freeze to death.
And that was about all we saw of Lance Kerwin, although he continued to work through the 1980s and into the 1990s, with guest spots on Trapper John MD, Finder of Lost Loves, Simon & Simon, Murder She Wrote, and The New Adam-12. He also performed in some of those tv star athletic competitions that were popular at the time.
No n*de photos, but I posted some guys who are close on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends
Suffering from alcohol and drug problems, Lance retired from acting in the 1990s and moved to Hawaii, where he married, had a lot of kids, and became a Pentecostal preacher and the head of U-Turn for Christ. That didn't end his problems, though: he and his wife were sentenced to 300 hours of community service for falsifying documents about retail properties and food stamps.
He died on January 24, 2023.
Straight, and doubtless homophobic, but for a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, strutting about in a swimsuit provided enough gay promise.
See also:Glenn Scarpelli: the star of "One Day at a Time" and "Jennifer Slept Here" grows up, comes out, and gets a husband
John Amos: Kunta Kinte, Gordy the Weatherman, James Evans, a gay husband, and my gym buddy
Lance was my big crush as a teen and a big sign to me that I was gay. If he was in it, I tried to watch it. "P.J and the President's Son", an ABC Afterschool Special, was my favorite because he played look-alikes so there were two of him! It's very sad what has happened to him as he continues to have big screw-ups periodically. Still, those things don't make me dismiss my fond memories.
ReplyDeleteHuge crush on Lance! When he was shirtless I always looked hard to see if I could see his armpit hair.
ReplyDeleteYeah, as a kid growing up in the 70s, I'd find myself enthralled with whatever show I saw him in. Should've known I was gay...duh!
ReplyDeleteAre you sure he was depicted as sleeping in just his underpants in the film?
ReplyDeleteI recently watched the pilot movie and he was wearing pajamas. I've seen the actual tv series in recent years and he also slept in pajamas but in some episodes just wore the bottoms and slept without a shirt.
Not sure, haven't seen it in 30 years. In my memory it's underwear.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. Lance Kerwin was my HUGE crush as a teen. He's a year younger than me. So, when he was 15 on TV I was 16 in real life and he was my first imaginary BF.
ReplyDeleteIt's seriously sad what happened to him later in life. He became a fundie Christian, delving deeply into Bronze Age myths and shunning the real world altogether.
My absolute favorite movie with him in it tho was with Chris Makepeace in 'The Mysterious Stranger'. Lance plays '44' and Chris plays 'August'. There's a scene in the movie where they go to bed together. Sadly, with all their clothing on.
There's a scene, something of a jump cut as I remember, where Chris pointedly says "I shall sleep with my clothes on". It makes me wonder if it was added to dispel, in the minds of the viewers, any thoughts of intimacy between them.
DeleteI had seen Lance on TV quite a lot before he was on James at 15, and he never really appealed to to me. When I saw him on James at 15 I fell in love. He was more than a year older than me but the episode where James turned 16 and had sex with a girl actually aired on my 16th birthday. I wasn't fooled- James clearly was gay, and made a great fantasy boyfriend. When NBC canceled James at 16 it broke my heart.
ReplyDeleteFundie minister commits food stamp fraud, proving once again that there's nothing 21st century USA "conservatives" will bitch about that they have no personal experiences with.
ReplyDeleteI have only seen Lance in the Movie salems Lot.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any favorite Lance Kerwin movies?
ReplyDeleteI've only seen "James at 15"
DeleteA Killer in the Family featured Lance with James Spader and Eric Stoltz all sweaty and shirtless at one point or another. Good movie, with Ronert Mitchum as the father. It's on YouTube
ReplyDeleteI did have a crush on Lance Kerwin who was my same age- sadly he has just passed away - but he will be "James at 15" forever
ReplyDeleteI was 7 or 8 when James at 15 was on the air, so maybe a little young for a crush. I do remember he was "everywhere"...probably all those afterschool specials. What I will say is that starting in my 20's and periodically after that until his name got drilled into my head, I would ask myself about the actor in James. And at some point I found this page. So maybe I did have a crush? Everybody knows that Hollywood is littered with juvenile actors who never become adult actors, but you'd think there were plenty of roles in the early 80's for older teens and younger 20-somethings: the Brat Pack films, Animal House rip-offs, etc. I'm curious when/how his career officially went off track. Boomer, did his name come up at all during your time in West Hollywood...even if it was "Lance Kerwin is in the back room doing crack"?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember hearing the name Lance Kerwin at all in West Hollywood, not even in a "I had a crush on him" conversation. This was only about 10 years after "James at 15" and 5 or so years after "Salem's Lot," so you'd think there would be a lot of guys who recalled crushing on him, but if it came up, I've forgotten about it.
Delete