Heard Lance passed away a while back but did not know all the details. Very sad. I was about 14 when James at 15 was airing and I wanted to be just like him.
My TV love was Veronica Cartwright the star (in my eyes at the time) of Hitchcock’s The Birds. She was both caring and wickedly funny. My favorite line is when telling Melanie Daniels what her brother Mitch does for a living as a defense lawyer she says -
He has a client now who shot his wife in the head, six times. Six times! Can you imagine it? I mean, even twice would be overdoing it.
As I got older my puppy love morphed into an attraction for fellow cast mate Suzanne Pleshette that remains to this day.
Love this post. I felt the same way about Wil Wheaton, my first boy my own age celebrity crush (as opposed to Indiana Jones or whoever). I always associate Lance Kerwin with Salem's Lot, maybe the first really good portrayal of a nerdy, lonely kid who gets to be the hero, even if it's terrifying.
The dedication needed to find the TV shows you cared about then reminds me of what record collecting was like in the pre-Internet era. Now I can find a song or album in less than a minute online, but back then it sometimes took years to find what I wanted. Four years each for the Lovin' Spoonful's Daydream album and the Raspberries' Side Three album, for example, and something close to 20 years to find the Blue Ridge Rangers' "Back in the Hills." I can't say I don't enjoy the ease of finding music now, but I do miss the adventure of searching used record stores, the basements of Goodwill stores, and garage sales.
An interesting tidbit about Side Show: it was the last directing credit of William Conrad, uber-film noir heavy and star of TV's Cannon.
I recently watched him in A Killer in the Family, a TV movie from 1983. Robert Mitchum cons his three sons into breaking him out of prison. The three sons were played by James Spader, Eric Stolz, and Lance Kerwin.
I'm a little younger than you, but I remember how persistent and organized you had to be to not miss whatever or whoever it was you didn't want to miss. You had to really love them! It's a beautiful tribute, and even if I had no idea who he was, I have some idea of who he was to you.
this is beautiful Sheila! you have such a way of conveying the big things simply. "You don’t forget the people who meant a lot to you before you thought critically about things. Someone moved you and therefore you loved them." this is so resonant and poetic.
I had been hoping you would give us a way to subscribe to and support your work -- I don't have venmo so this works out well for me thank you haha
Heard Lance passed away a while back but did not know all the details. Very sad. I was about 14 when James at 15 was airing and I wanted to be just like him.
My TV love was Veronica Cartwright the star (in my eyes at the time) of Hitchcock’s The Birds. She was both caring and wickedly funny. My favorite line is when telling Melanie Daniels what her brother Mitch does for a living as a defense lawyer she says -
He has a client now who shot his wife in the head, six times. Six times! Can you imagine it? I mean, even twice would be overdoing it.
As I got older my puppy love morphed into an attraction for fellow cast mate Suzanne Pleshette that remains to this day.
Love this post. I felt the same way about Wil Wheaton, my first boy my own age celebrity crush (as opposed to Indiana Jones or whoever). I always associate Lance Kerwin with Salem's Lot, maybe the first really good portrayal of a nerdy, lonely kid who gets to be the hero, even if it's terrifying.
The dedication needed to find the TV shows you cared about then reminds me of what record collecting was like in the pre-Internet era. Now I can find a song or album in less than a minute online, but back then it sometimes took years to find what I wanted. Four years each for the Lovin' Spoonful's Daydream album and the Raspberries' Side Three album, for example, and something close to 20 years to find the Blue Ridge Rangers' "Back in the Hills." I can't say I don't enjoy the ease of finding music now, but I do miss the adventure of searching used record stores, the basements of Goodwill stores, and garage sales.
An interesting tidbit about Side Show: it was the last directing credit of William Conrad, uber-film noir heavy and star of TV's Cannon.
I recently watched him in A Killer in the Family, a TV movie from 1983. Robert Mitchum cons his three sons into breaking him out of prison. The three sons were played by James Spader, Eric Stolz, and Lance Kerwin.
This is amazing. We really had to get creative. This is next level!
I'm a little younger than you, but I remember how persistent and organized you had to be to not miss whatever or whoever it was you didn't want to miss. You had to really love them! It's a beautiful tribute, and even if I had no idea who he was, I have some idea of who he was to you.
this is beautiful Sheila! you have such a way of conveying the big things simply. "You don’t forget the people who meant a lot to you before you thought critically about things. Someone moved you and therefore you loved them." this is so resonant and poetic.
I had been hoping you would give us a way to subscribe to and support your work -- I don't have venmo so this works out well for me thank you haha