Brian Kerwin Biography

Brian Kerwin is a theater, television, and film actor who is probably best known for his work opposite Sally Field in the 1985 movie Murphy's Romance.Brian Kerwin was born on October 25, 1949, in the town of Flossmoor, near Chicago, Illinois. Despite an early interest in acting, he had an unremarkable school career, but while he was studying at Pacific University he was offered the chance to replace Wings Hauser as Greg Foster in popular soap opera The Young and the Restless. It was too good a chance to miss, and Kerwin remained in the role for a full year. After graduating, he appeared in episodes of Logan's Run, alongside Gregory Harrison and Heather Menzies, and with David Cassidy in Man Undercover, as well as the TV movie The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened, with Jimmie Walker and James Earl Jones. This led to series of further TV movie roles in films like A Real American Hero, with Brian Dennehy and Forrest Tucker; Power, with Joe Don Baker and Karen Black; Miss All-American Beauty, with Diane Lane and Cloris Leachman; and Anthony and Cleopatra, with James Avery and Timothy Dalton. His tall blond all-American appearance made him perfect for supporting roles and for characters in mysteries whose morals were unclear.Despite broadening his work to encompass movies, Kerwin kept his career centred on television. He made several appearances in The Love Boat, alongside Florence Henderson and Charo, and acted with Stacy Keach, Lloyd Bridges, and Warren Oates in award winning American Civil War mini-series called The Blue and the Gray. Kerwin has appeared in other series as diverse as Murder, She Wrote, with Angela Lansbury; St. Elsewhere, with Byron Stewart and Herb Edelman; Tales From the Crypt; Roseanne; Frasier; Martin Sheen's hit The West Wing; and Grey's Anatomy, with Ellen Pompeo.Kerwin's first feature film came in 1979 with Hometown USA, a comedy also featuring Gary Springer and Cindy Fisher, but the film enjoyed only moderate success. He stuck with supporting work until 1986's King Kong Lives, in which he took the lead alongside Linda Hamilton. This was neither a critical nor a commercial success but it did achieve a kitsch cult following and gained Kerwin some important name recognition. In the meantime, he concentrated his energy on the theater, where his impressive work in Torch Song Trilogy led writer Harvey Fierstein to request that he take one of the central roles in the film adaptation, which also starred Fierstein himself, Matthew Broderick, and Anne Bancroft. It was this that finally brought Kerwin real critical acclaim and led to roles in successful films like The Love Field, with Michelle Pfeiffer; Jack, with Robin Williams and Jennifer Lopez; and The Myth of Fingerprints, with Randee Allen and Arija Bareikis. In 2000 he extended his talents to production, helping to secure finance for three stories about homosexuality and homophobia in the TV movie Common Grounds, attracting talent including Jason Priestley, Margot Kidder, Mimi Rogers, and Brittany Murphy.Kerwin's theater career flourished alongside his movie work. He appeared on Broadway in The Little Foxes and After the Night and the Music, and starred opposite Molly Ringwald in a Los Angeles run of How I Learned to Drive. He also received praise in Los Angeles for his work in Edward Albee's The Goat, or, Who is Sylvia?Kerwin lives in Chicago with his wife Jeanne and their three children.