The Ups And Downs Of Alec Baldwin

Happy birthday, Alec Baldwin! The tempestuous star turns 54 today, but an even bigger event may have happened just one day before: his engagement to his longtime girlfriend Hilaria Thomas, a yoga instructor 28 years his junior. Thomas, given to tweeting quotes from Henry David Thoreau –“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success” -- met Baldwin while both were dining at a Manhattan “raw vegan” restaurant, Pure Food And Wine. “It’s the most serious thing, I guess, I’ve had in a long, long time,” he told an interviewer. For Baldwin, who’s almost as well known for temper tantrums and political rants as he is for acting, the engagement is a personal and public high point. Here are some other highlights (and a few low spots) from Baldwin’s career:

Can I Get An Amen? Baldwin, one of the most left-leaning actors around, once played conservative preacher Jimmy Swaggart in the 1989 movie “Great Balls Of Fire,” ranting against the evils of rock’n’roll in general and Jerry Lee Lewis (Dennis Quaid) in particular.

Love's Been A Battlefield He’s been married just once, but maybe that’s been more than enough until now. He and actress Kim Basinger met while working on the 1990 film “The Marrying Man.” (How appropriate.) But the marriage, which lasted from 1993 until their split in 2001, has been an unending headache for both of them. Their arguments have centered on their daughter, Ireland, who was born in 1995. Basinger allegedly tried to stop Baldwin from seeing Ireland by refusing to return phone calls or answer court documents. Baldwin said Basinger spent $1.5 million to keep him apart from his daughter, and that he himself has spent over $1 million to keep himself in Ireland’s life. Baldwin said he was so distraught over the unending stress that he left his daughter a 2007 phone message calling her “a thoughtless little pig.” After the recording of the phone call appeared on the website TMZ, he later told an interviewer, he thought about killing himself.

Governor Baldwin? Baldwin hasn’t been shy about his interest in running for public office, telling an interviewer that he’d like to be governor of New York, and that he was certainly more qualified than California’s then-Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also briefly floated the idea of running for mayor of New York City.

He's Got A Really Big Mouth Even to people who are on his side politically, Baldwin’s pronouncements have been occasionally intemperate, to say the least. He’s called former Vice President Dick Cheney a “terrorist,” and, in what he later said was a joke, advocated physical attacks against a few of his opponents. And he’s a firm backer of the animal-rights organization People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA), even appearing with PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk (left).

They Love Him At "Saturday Night Live" Since 1990, Baldwin’s hosted SNL 16 times – more than any other host except Steve Martin. Along the way, he’s contributed some classic skits. But the most memorable has to be “Schweddy Balls,” co-starring Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon (left). If you’ve seen it, you know what we’re talking about. The ice cream magnates Ben and Jerry were so impressed that they brought out a flavor with the same name.

He Got A Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame In early 2011, Baldwin became the 2,433rd person to receive his very own star on the Walk of Fame. The star won by his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, is about seven blocks away. We don’t think Baldwin’s ever visited it.

He Got A Tribute From The Museum Of The Moving Image The museum of movie history gave a salute to Baldwin, its 27th honoree, for his work in both movies and television. Previous honorees include Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood. Pretty impressive.

He Really Should Thank Tina Fey Sometime For his role as Jack Donaghy, the wacky playboy executive in Fey’s series "30 Rock," Baldwin’s won twelve awards from the Screen Actors Guild, the Emmys and the Golden Globes. He thought briefly last year about leaving the series, but wisely decided not to.

He's Still Getting Into Trouble First there was the unlucky Starbucks employee who was, Baldwin tweeted, “uptight” and had “an attitude problem.” Furthermore, Baldwin tweeted, the guy was from Queens. And then there was the incident aboard an American Airlines plane, when he was booted from a flight for becoming abusive after refusing to turn off his cellphone once the airplane door was closed. He claimed to be just playing the game “Words With Friends.” Maybe he should learn some new words, like “please,” “thank you” and “of course I will.”

He's Got A Realistic Self-Image Speaking of his "30 Rock" role, Baldwin said, “Most comedy involves one central thing – you have to make an ass of yourself. “It’s not about looking good. You’re not playing James Bond. I would love to be James Bond, but I’m not James Bond… I make an ass of myself on the show and we’ve had a lot of fun.”