Alec Baldwin (Alexander Rae Baldwin, 1958– ) is the oldest and most prolific film actor of the family. Alec, Daniel, William, Stephen, and Joseph Baldwin were all brought up in Massapequa, New York. Alec, who spent three years as a political science major at George Washington University, was intent on a career in law but transferred to New York University, where he majored in drama and studied under Lee Strasberg. He became a regular on the soap opera The Doctors and appeared in the evening soap Knots Landing and in three made-for-television movies. He was also active in the theater, making his Broadway debut in Joe Orton’s Loot and appearing in Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money.
Alec’s first feature film was Forever, Lulu (1987), which, except for the presence of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, was an entirely forgettable film. He appeared in his first popular film, Working Girl, in 1988, a year in which he appeared in good roles in several other films, including Married to the Mob, She’s Having a Baby, and Beetlejuice. The following year, he had another strong role in a popular film, The Hunt for Red October, but his next few films were unremarkable. He did star in The Marrying Man (1991) with Kim Basinger, whom he married, and with whom he appeared in The Getaway (1993). His best role in 1992 was in Glengarry Glen Ross, in which he played a smooth (and he always seems smooth) but ruthless “motivator” of sales personnel. In 1994 he played Lamont Cranston in the film adaptation of The Shadow, and in 1995 he and Jessica Lange reprised their Broadway roles in a remake of A Streetcar Named Desire.
With these films, he moved from being a significant secondary character to a leading character. In Heaven’s Prisoner (1995), he played a flawed hero, an ex-homicide detective and recovering alcoholic, and in 1996 he played opposite Demi Moore in The Juror and portrayed the assistant district attorney in Ghosts of Mississippi. One of his best roles was in The Edge, an action film in which he and Anthony Hopkins square off against each other and against a very bad bear. In Mercury Rising (1998), he played one of his meanest roles, a government official ready to sacrifice a boy’s life for national security. In 2001 Alec Baldwin played aviation pioneer Jimmie Doolittle in Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor. More important, perhaps, was Alec’s role as the brainless hunk actor Bob Berrenger in David Mamet’s State and Main (2000), which he followed with voiceover roles in Cats and Dogs (2001) and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001).
Daniel Baldwin (1960– ) attended Ball State University for a year and then worked as a stand-up comic before he got his start as detective Beau Felton on the NBC television series Homicide and made his film debut appearing with brother William in Born on the Fourth of July (1989). He has had small roles in good films such as Mulholland Falls (1995) and big roles in less successful films such as The Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1993) and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991). His career seemed to be on the rise, but he spent most of the 1990s appearing in television roles and forgettable, low-profile movies. Among the few of note were Car 54, Where Are You? (1994), John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998), and King of Ants (2003).
William Baldwin (1963– ) attended SUNY Binghamton and worked as a model before making his television debut with the film The Preppy Murder (1989). After roles in several films, most notably Backdraft (1991), Sliver (1993), and Bulworth (1998), he emerged as a lead in Virus and Shattered Image (both 1998). William continued working in movies with Primary Suspect (2000), One-Eyed King (2001), and the German film You Stupid Man (2002).
Stephen Baldwin (1965– ) was a budding opera singer in high school and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He appeared in the Off-Broadway show Out in America and had roles in some television series, including China Beach, Kate and Allie, and Family Ties. Most of his roles have been in independent films, but he was also cast in The Usual Suspects (1995), a critical and popular hit, and Last Exit to Brooklyn (1990), another critically acclaimed film. Stephen then settled into a steady routine of roles in low-profile and made-for-television movies and played Barney Rubble in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000).
Because Joseph Baldwin (1970– ) has appeared on a television science-fiction series, Code Name: Eternity, it seems safe to assume that the Baldwins will continue to surface on film screens for years to come.
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