Farewell, Movie Star

I was a young kid when my parents moved my brother and me to Los Angeles. We moved to Westwood and, being in the third grade and having just turned 9, I had expectations of seeing movie stars. After all, “The Beverly Hillbillies” was a Saturday night staple. When I discovered my classmate Mike’s father was a real live movie star, I was impressed in a manner fitting a young kid from Oregon. Even though he was not a big name, he had been in a couple big movies and, more importantly, he was a frequent guest on shows I liked to watch, like “Flipper.”

Within a couple years of meeting John Kerr he decided to go back to school. Several times every week I would pass him either coming or going on his walk up to UCLA Law School. The thing is, he was a friendly unassuming man who always said hello. He singlehandedly debunked the mystique of “movie stardom” because he demonstrated so completely that he was a really nice man, a human being, a regular guy. I was a kid and I’m sure a lot of people knew him better than I, but that was my lasting impression.

My friend Larry contacted me the other day with the news that John Kerr had passed on. From the obituary it sounds as if he had a long and enjoyable life. For me I will always be grateful to the man who was a “movie star,” kind to an awkward little kid from Oregon, and who demonstrated so clearly that the most important role in life is that of a being a friendly human being.