This is the PRE-ARTICLE to the ACTUAL ARTICLE, which I wrote after reading what I had written and realizing it was pure shit. So, I went back, wrote what I really wanted to write - rewrote that - THEN called it a Pre-Article…(which is really just an Article).
I’m tap dancing. Waffling.
Here the fuck we go:
Be kind. That’s a great abiding principle. Just be kind.
That’s a reminder to myself. As I’ve been Substacking about Homicide I’m guided by the premise that our show would never have become the show that it is/was without the participation of every single person, combined with a multitude of events on and off camera, and a healthy glug of quirks, talents, personality traits and madness that stormed around its creation in those early days. I try to remember it when I find myself in the weeds, amongst easy pickings, and forgetting that thing that’s most obvious:
Everyone and everything counted.
No matter what, no matter who they were, or when they lived or died. From Andre Braugher to Bicycle Bruce, Tom Fontana to sideshow performer Johnny Eck; Good cop Jim Finnerty to bad cop Jimmy Grace. Understanding a melting pot is not only about expanding our concept of time but embracing the nuance of ‘All are welcome here’.
Like in the Bruce Springsteen song, Land of Hope and Dreams:
This train, Carries saints and sinners This Train, Carries losers and winners This train Carries whores and gamblers This train Carries lost souls This train Dreams will not be thwarted This train Faith will be rewarded
This Train
Carries broken-hearted
This Train
Thieves and sweet souls departed
This Train
Carries fools and kings
This Train
ALL ABOARD!
Would we have wished for a different passenger list? Hell, yes. But we got what we got and outta that a piece of TV history that is now echoing and resonating hither and dither.
As an actor, I want to do right by my characters. Even with those ‘bad’ guys, I need to find even the speck of humanity I could love and relate to. You can’t do justice to someone whom, on some level, you can’t empathize with. It’s hubris to do otherwise - to imagine you are, in any way, above that person.
With that in mind, I write these, at times, difficult stories.
From my limited perspective. From my limited truth.
There. I stand reminded.
In the midst of writing the Original Article (down below, you can go there now even!), I discovered one clear thing:
I’m still a little angry at Homicide-era Danny Baldwin, and by extension, myself.
Grrrrrrrrr. It’s that decades-old type of anger that barely tips the needle, that slips past ‘forgive and forget’ like a lanky teenager and then retreats just as fast. Angry because Danny was reckless, and he apparently couldn’t help it. Angry that the show wasn’t his priority. Angry that he was so fucking…Danny.
It sure did suck that, at that time he became such a full-throttle issue, but, as we have seen before, in retrospect - that only added to the amazing and convoluted chemistry on the show.
As I’ve shouted out many times, this was the Wild Wild, very un-Hollywood, Wild West of 1990’s Baltimore. Combine that with our local fame, loose cash, and easy access to all things sketchy if you were looking for it - and you have a slow-burning fuse to a powder keg just waiting to go FLA-boom!
Yet - despite, or because of all that nonsense - Homicide is still considered a WOWZIR! One of the best damn shows on the planet! Even with everything I know (and by now, you know) that went on behind the scenes.
Jesus, this show just flummoxed me.
You’ll find more than a few cast and crew who will speak in glowing terms about Danny’s sweetness, good nature and thoughtfulness. Which is also completely true. In that sense, he was a perfectly well-rounded, inconstant actor for our little venture. He ran hot and cold; in the open, yet hiding in plain sight…
…There. Done with the Pre-Article. On to the real meat:
THE ACTUAL ARTICLE
For myself and many others, the name Baldwin begets one image:
Danny. AKA Beau Felton.
Beauregard D. “Beau” Felton (thanks Wikipedia) was loosely based on a veteran BPD detective, Donald Kincaid, a main player in David Simon’s book who got in hot water years later, for coercing witnesses. Tom Pelligrini, Tim Bayliss’s inspiration, is another who got called to the courts years after the book came out. There were a few more.
(Oh hell, just read this article, it’s an excellent distillation of their questionable techniques, manipulations, and the damages they caused to some individual’s lives. None of these guys were saints, and David showed that in a very up close, embedded way. It’s just that for these detectives, and some of their mistreated suspects, the real-world implications were VERY real-world.)
I guess that’s one of the reasons Danny was so good at playing Beau. Above and beyond anything else he possessed that dangerous combination of having a big heart and a reckless spirit. He was no angel. Tom Fontana didn’t hire angels or saints - he hired the best actors to match the roles, and those actors fused with the strengths and miscues of their characters.
None more blatantly than Danny.
Can you imagine me playing Beau Felton? Neither can I. But, I initially auditioned for that role, or at least with Felton’s scenes. That Danny got it is just plain old good casting. He had the right stuff of tenderness, loyalty, corniness, love of family and country, intelligence, sex appeal (is that still a thing?), and that ‘something wicked this way comes’ sheen about him.
That he had substance abuse issues meant he was already halfway to Beau. That his personal life ended up mirroring his character’s is that odd, unintended, Homicide-thing-that-happens, which made the show and the detectives truly compelling. However, the thin veil between reality and fiction was often shredded by the end of one’s stint on the show.
Danny on his “A” game, was a sensitive and fine actor. He worked so well with Melissa’s Kay Howard: in disbelief over her clearance ratio - filled with resentment, loyalty, and love, yet irresponsible and immature in his actions towards her. If you add to that Beau’s realization of how those actions affected his partner, and his guilty re-calibration and amends? That’s just good writing complemented by the right actor.
Danny had this purr about him. A sort of seductive indifference even when it wasn’t required for the scene, that was just innate to him.
Or, maybe it was Beau. See what I mean with the mirroring?
Whichever, it was woven into his particular relationship with the cast. For example, with Andre; he acknowledged the brilliance of Frank, but at the same time would never let Frank get the upper hand. He called Frank out for his quirks and high-mindedness when the two of them temporarily partnered up, and Frank was determined to find that one goddamn Cavalier in the parking lot of Cavaliers. According to him, Beau’s a racist AND lazy - not a serious detective. Beau doesn’t fight that, he’s unruffled by Pembleton’s accusations, throwing it back in Frank’s face and calling him out for being obsessive, not pragmatic, and thinking he’s better than everyone else.
He ate up that scene, as did Andre.
He brought a fullness to Beau’s family, his wife and kids, the affair with Megan, his drinking, and the general shitshow that was Felton’s life from episode one. His portrayal was full of depth, humor, and a morose kind of wallowing. These are the sort of soul-humbling scenes and twists of character that actors both welcome and sweat over.
Yet, I seem to remember that for some reason he fought against Beau’s perceived ‘deficits’ from the get-go. He often pushed back on being bossed around by a woman and he had issues with Beau coming off as racist. Felton was a “hardheaded, tough guy from Billytown”, but throw in the ‘racist’ label?
Again, you can lose a lot of sleep working out how to play these scenes. Actors, to varying degrees, want to be seen as likable, for their characters to be empathized with, but not necessarily to be conflated with them, the person. I think Danny for the most part pulled it off, through that mix of battling against Beau’s bias and accepting it - with the writers and producers pushing him to go deeper every step of the way.
It should be noted that, as with the other cast members I write about, I’m not a Danny Baldwin, or Beau Felton, expert. From what I know, Danny, like Beau, has had an uncommon path, and he’s made the best of it. He came from that large, raucous Baldwin family, and successfully made his way into the acting world.
Apparently, as he did, the chunks his addiction was taking out of him started to multiply, yet he continued onward, warts and all. He kept doing TV and films even while having public meltdowns. I would cringe when I heard he was on another reality TV show, but he seemed to always bounce back with a good role in a film or on cable - figuring it out in his own way.
Then, from my understanding, he thankfully got sober, rediscovered some form of religion, and by all accounts has helped others get sober. He made a documentary about keeping a promise to a friend and fellow addict by running with the bulls in Spain. It was aptly titled, A Promise to PJ.
Danny’s a reminder to me that careers for most actors are not linear. It’s up and down, and when you have a powerful frienemy like cocaine or whatever, jumping your ass constantly; that path can look like The Richter Scale during a SoCal earthquake - until those lines, and that person, ultimately hits bottom. I know that feeling all too well.
Finally, from my limited, outsider perspective, Danny is like a bull himself. He’s strong and he’s a survivor. He has careened through his life like many of us do, making good choices and bad. He stands up for his family, fights for and proclaims what he believes in, and sticks his neck out there in public where it’s easy to be raked over the coals for your choices or be artificially puffed up for your ‘celebrity’.
After all these many years, Danny seems to be handling it all with varying degrees of grace, kindness, and that of a fighter who gives as good as he gets.
Remember when I said, way up at the top, that I was angry at younger Danny?
Kinda ridiculous, right? Because these are long ago stories. Why be angry?
I think because I just wanted him to stop. Probably like I wish I could have stopped. But, with addicts, it’s like dancing with a bear, and you’ll stop when that dang bear stops - and not before.
So, Daniel, if you’re reading this, I get that it’s wasn’t young Danny’s fault. I’m happy that big ol’ bear stopped its furry tango with you.
And with me.
Love ya, bunk, and wish you much grace and happiness.
Stay tuned for more to come! Cheers!
Thanks for reading Tim! Yeah they rocked it while they were around.
That anger has its place, and can co-exist with all the other emotions, even ones that are thirty years baking on low in the oven. You continue to treat human beings as they deserve in these pieces; with integrity, openness, vulnerability, and grace. We should all be so lucky to be written about like this. Also, hats off to Danny and Clark for the brilliantly executed scene in Season 2; Episode 2 ("See No Evil") where Meldrick throws Beau around the bathroom stalls and walls and delivers the epic line, "Don't you lie to me or you're gonna be LOOKIN' for your teeth in that toilet!" The scene is so short, yet explosive and a wonderful display of talent and range; also shot beautifully. And all done while one of the two actors was dancing with a bear. Remarkable.