He is one of the terrible children of Hollywood of the 1990s. Known for his marital difficulties and his irascible character, the American actor Alec Baldwin, involved in a fatal shooting on a set Thursday, has seen his career revived in recent years by television, with the success of the sitcom
30 Rock
and its imitations of Donald Trump.
Read also Alec Baldwin author of a fatal shot on the set of a western
His caricature of the former President of the United States, mimicking his diction with lips pushed to the extreme and a bushy blonde wig, on the famous Saturday Night Live show, delighted audiences and won him the 2017 l 'Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Receiving his prize, the charismatic actor had joked about the fact that after having had three children in three years, his wife had not had any the previous year thanks to the famous wig he was wearing:
"it works. contraception ”
.
A career with ricochets
An eloquent sign of Alec Baldwin's newfound popularity, some of his SNL sketches have been viewed on Youtube up to 20 million times.
His outrageous performances had not gone unnoticed by the main interested party, Donald Trump.
“It's time to cut this boring, non-fun show.
The portrait made (of me) by Alec Baldwin is rotten, ”
he tweeted at the end of 2016. One of the Hollywood figures, the actor has, however, experienced several tormented years, marked by a painful crossing of the desert and several cases.
Read alsoHard drugs, alcohol, ... Alec Baldwin delivers his memoirs of a survivor
The oldest and most famous of the four Baldwin brothers with acting careers - the others are Stephen, William and Daniel - Alec had a first golden period during the 1980s and 1990s, a time marked by his participation in
Working Girl
,
Beetlejuice
, or in
pursuit of red October
. In
The singer and the billionaire
and
Guet-Apens
he shared the poster with his ex-wife Kim Basinger, with whom he formed one of the most glamorous couple of the time.
At least before a very acrimonious divorce.
His career also stalled, Alec Baldwin remaining confined to supporting roles, despite a few performances noted as an incarnation of a husband of an Alzheimer's patient in
Still Alice
, or a fickle financial fraud author in
Blue Jasmine
.
Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger in 1994, during the
Ambush
era
, by Roger Donaldson.
Everett / Bridgeman pictures
Read alsoAlec Baldwin and Jim Carrey try to make sense of the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden
Before resuming success for his imitations of Donald Trump, Alec Baldwin had mostly made the headlines for his outbursts in his private life and his outbursts. In particular, he insulted a photographer, hurling homophobic remarks at him and briefly pursuing him, while he was trying to take stolen pictures of his wife Hilaria and their little girl. The actor was also grappling with a long legal battle with a Quebec actress, Geneviève Sabourin, sentenced to six months in prison for harassment against her in 2013.
More recently, in January 2019, following negotiations with the courts, he himself pleaded guilty to harassment after hitting a motorist who was disputing a parking space with him.
Alec Baldwin was released after a court hearing in Manhattan, on condition that he received
"brief training to manage his anger
.
"
Read also Gary Oldman defends Mel Gibson, Alec Baldwin and castigates Hollywood
Despite everything, Alec Baldwin's career rebounded dramatically from the mid-2000s, with the launch of the
30 Rock
series
.
Completed in 2013 after seven seasons, the sitcom featured the New York actor, now 63, as a studio boss opposite Tina Fey. The comedy had signed a real success for Baldwin and considerably improved his image as an actor. His performance earned him two Emmy Awards, the equivalent of the Oscars for American television.
On Thursday, he was the author of the fatal, and presumably accidental, shot that hit the cinematographer of the western he was filming in the US state of New Mexico.
The director of the film
Rust
was injured.
The actor was questioned by investigators and left the filming location free.
