Brian Kerwin - from Greg to Charlie

July 10, 7:43 AMOne Life to Live ExaminerJennifer Snelling

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Photo Courtesy ABC

Brian Kerwin started medical school. Then he thought he might like to be on the production side of the movie and television world. Acting, however, gave him the creative outlet he found he needed most and, despite having many jobs in various businesses, it worked out the best for him.

Youthful Brian Kerwin's start in daytime television in 1976 ended up being rocky. He was playing Greg Foster on The Young and the Restless (CBS), the son of Elizabeth "Liz" Foster Brooks. He "didn't get along with" the show's producer, John Conboy, and after his character was temporarily dropped, Kerwin didn't return to the show.

"In terms of the starting of my career, one of the best things to ever happen to me was getting hired on The Young and the Restless. The only thing that may have been better was, six months later, getting fired from The Young and the Restless. It was a mutual dissatisfaction." ("OLTL's Brian Kerwin Remembers When..." Gabrielle Winkel, Soap Opera Digest Online)

He did connect with the actress playing his on-screen mother, Julianna McCarthy, however. "She gave me all the stuff that you would want from another person," he told Debra Nencel in a Soap Opera Digest article, "Rapping with Brian Kerwin." (April 1977) "I'm not so well into the routine that I can jump in and out of the emotions like they can; I needed the stronger stimuli and Julianna gave me that."

By 1986, girls were swooning over his handsome all-American features. He had become recognizable as Deputy Birdwell Hawkins on the NBC series Sheriff Lobo in the early 80s, and his face was compared to those of Nick Nolte and Robert Redford more than once.

"I don't think I've gotten anywhere with my looks," he told Bill Royce in a Rona Barrett's Gossip article entitled "What's Wrong with a Pretty Face?" in March 1980. "I was checking the mirror this morning and my hair's coming out in handfuls back there. A bald all-American boy!"

"Mention soap operas or series TV and watch him shudder," Crystal Chow reported in the March 1986 issue of Playgirl.

Then in 2007, he showed up on daytime again, as Charlie Banks on One Life to Live.

Referring to Charlie, Brian Kerwin told Frank Scalise of ABC Soaps in Depth in December 2007, "He's a nice guy, but he's also an alcoholic who, every now and then, falls off the wagon. Sober he's one person, and off the wagon he's another."

Unlike his first experience with soap operas, after appearing on One Life to Live for six months Kerwin was starring in the play that was about to win the 2008 Tony Award for Best Play, August: Osage County, and was nominated for an Emmy for his role on One Life to Live.

"My first reaction on being nominated was embarrassment because I've only been on the show since October," he said in the TheatreMania article "Double Exposure" by Connie Passalacqua Hayman in June 2008. "I look up to a number of actors on the show, especially those that have been there for years. On the plus side, I was afraid they'd bring me on for my romance and then a year a half later they'd give me tuberculosis or something and kill me off. Now I feel like maybe I'll be on a lot longer."

"He is such a nice man and charming, which always helps, and he has those wonderful blue eyes," costar Erika Slezak (love interest Viki) said in the article. "But beyond that, he is a wonderful actor. Brian has a special sensitivity and a simplicity that you haven't seen in any of the male characters on the show. He is not afraid of playing emotions. Some men on our show won't play weak, but Brian isn't ashamed to show that men have feelings and hurt and cry."

He was no longer shuddering at the mention of soap operas either. "I like doing the soap; it's good honest work," he said, citing the stability it provided for his children.

And like he did with Julianna McCarthy 30 years earlier, he connected with his leading lady. "She is everything you would want," he said of Erika Slezak. "She's professional, she's there, she's accessible, she knows her lines and I actually defer to her for advice." (ABC Soaps In Depth, December 17, 2007)

It seems Brian Kerwin has never really disappeared from the radar since the beginning of his career, starring and guest starring in several television shows and movies throughout, and enjoying great success in the theatre. Scanning his page at IMDb, there's rarely a year in which he wasn't a part of something recognizable.

His credits include movies like 27 Dresses, Murphy's Romance and Torch Song Trilogy. His been in a long list of television shows including Without a Trace, West Wing, The Love Boat, Roseanne, Nip/Tuck, Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order, Frasier, Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, and Big Love, to name a few. He has won accolades for his theatre work, which includes plays like August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein, and The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman.

"Brian was the one [of four kids] who was always thinking of ways to get into mischief," his mother said in the March 31, 1986 issue of People Weekly. Charlie Banks has also seen his share of mischief since coming to Llanview, and with Viki and Charlie’s double wedding with (Viki’s ex-husband) Clint and Nora (who used to be married to Clint’s brother), fans can’t wait to see more.

• BrianKerwin.net
• Brian Kerwin - Wikipedia
• Brian Kerwin - Internet Broadway Database