Excerpts from ...

ABC Soaps In Depth
December 17, 2007

"What ABout Brian?"
by Frank Scalise

At one point in the early 1970s, there was a 50 percent chance that One Life to Live's Brian Kerwin (Charlie) wasn't going to become an actor. "It was down to me and another guy for a position with the Oregon Department of Forestry ...

As fate would have it, "the other guy got it." But the disappointment just turned into an opportunity for Kerwin to make a fresh start.

After a few failed attempts to bring him on board, Kerwin finally landed on OLTL. "I've been wanting to get on this show," he explains, "and they were trying to figure out a way of getting me on, but I think it's all turned out for the best because it's a great character now. I could have done worse than Charlie!"

Kerwin appreciates his alter ego's complexity noting his apparent "dual personality." "He's a nice guy," the actor points out, "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."

...On Leading Lady Erika Slezak (Viki): "She is everything you would want," raves Kerwin. "She's professional, she's there, she's accessible, she knows her lines and I actually defer to her for advice."