ACCORDING to William Baldwin, his brothers were a 'classic, rowdy, hell-raising, Irish Catholic family growing up in Long Island in the suburbs of New York'. The four brothers were also, shall we say, exceptionally hunky.
In Amy Heckerling's high-school comedy, Clueless, which opens in Hong Kong this week, a 'Baldwin' is Los Angeles slang for a hunky guy. Alec, 37, went into the acting business first, briefly became an A-list star and married Kim Basinger (they had their first child last month).
Daniel, 35, and William, 32, next took the plunge, with William shining in movies such as Internal Affairs, Backdraft and Sliver. Stephen, who is the youngest at 29, is also on the rise, making his mark in films such as Threesome.
All four boast the trademark Baldwin blue-eyed smoulder, although William does not believe the acting bug was inherited. 'We all came to it in different ways,' he said this week in Hong Kong, where he was promoting the film, Fair Game, with supermodel co-star Cindy Crawford. 'I have two sisters and they're not interested in the business.' He admits to being flattered by the Clueless tribute: 'It's cute. It's a 90s thing, I suppose. Whatever - it's not like I won the Nobel Prize or something.' But William is the serious member of the family, a former student of political science in Washington who intended to become a lawyer, and who is now an active member of the Creative Coalition which will campaign for President Clinton at the next election. 'The Creative Coalition is a loose group of arts and entertainment individuals,' he says.
'I'd say the primary objective is simply to educate its members concerning social and political issues and causes - health care, first-amendment issues, environmental rights, birth control, gun control, campaign-finance reform.
'When you're at an event and someone comes up and sticks a mike in your face, asks you a question, most of the Creative Coalition members know how to answer responsibly. They're not just one of those celebrities who are rent-a-quote, out there for no good reason.' Baldwin knows all about media attention. Married in September to former Wilson Phillips band member Chynna Phillips, he is 'not on the same level' as his brother Alec when it comes to publicity. He admits 'being married to Chynna doesn't make life any easier. It's a different phenomenon with Kim Basinger, though, because she's world-renowned.' Recently, Alec found himself visiting the Los Angeles District Attorney's office after a run-in with a photographer who staked out the Baldwin home on the day Alec and Kim arrived home from the hospital with their baby daughter.
