Det. Beauregard Donald 'Beau' Felton is a fictional character on the television drama series ''
Homicide: Life on the Street'' portrayed by
Daniel Baldwin
Daniel Leroy Baldwin (born October 5, 1960) is an American actor. He is the second oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, all of whom are actors. Baldwin played the role of Detective Beau Felton in the NBC TV series '' Homicide: Life on the Stree ...
for seasons 1-3.
He was loosely based on Det. Donald Kincaid, from
David Simon
David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–08).
He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' Hom ...
's nonfiction book, ''
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets'', on which the series was based.
Beau Felton was born on October 22, 1960. He is a hardheaded tough guy from
Billytown, in the
southwest area of
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. His main squad partner in the series is
Det. Kay Howard. The two of them are friends, and their discussions that there is no sexual tension between them are later affirmed when he stays at her place as a purely
platonic
Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called Platonic or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole. It ...
roommate, after his marriage breaks down.
Felton is married to Beth Felton, though by the beginning of the series their marriage is on the rocks. They have three young children—a boy, Zack; a girl, Alley; and an unnamed baby—to whom Beau is very close. Beth, who is emotionally unstable, eventually empties out their house in the third season, disappears with the children, and does as much as she can to prevent him from seeing his children. When
Lt. Megan Russert is introduced in the first episode of the third season, Felton is already having an affair with her, although she breaks it off very soon after. When Beth leaves, Felton begins to drink heavily and his police work suffers as a result; Howard becomes disgusted with him following a binge in which he loses crucial evidence for a seemingly unsolvable case, assigned to her from the late
Steve Crosetti's caseload.
In spite of an office dress code, Felton never wears a tie unless required to for a special occasion like testifying in court; ''Homicide'' executive director
Barry Levinson
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as '' Diner'' (1982); ''The Natural'' (1984); ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987); ' ...
said this was a "big character point" for Felton.
During a raid in the third season episode "
The City That Bleeds", Felton is shot, along with Det. Howard and
Det. Bolander. Beau is wounded in the neck and leg, but the bullets miss all major organs and arteries; Howard and Bolander, meanwhile, are far more seriously injured. Felton is the first to recover, though he carried a lot of the guilt over Howard being hit. He is the first to go back on duty, but his recovery, coupled with Beth leaving him for good, worsens his drinking problem. After Felton loses his temper over a minor incident, and blames it on his recovery, Lt.
Al Giardello
Alphonse Michael 'Gee' Giardello Sr. is a fictional character from the television drama '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. The character was played by Yaphet Kotto. He is based on Baltimore Police Department Shift Lieutenant Gary D'Addario, a membe ...
bluntly tells him he had never been good enough for Homicide, even before he was shot, citing Felton's drinking and personal problems.
Due to unsuccessful contract negotiations with actors Daniel Baldwin and
Ned Beatty
Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor and comedian. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in ...
, Felton and Bolander were written out of the series after Season 3.
The narrative reason for the characters' absence is given in the
Season 4 premiere, in which Giardello reveals that Felton and Bolander got drunk and engaged in embarrassing and grossly inappropriate behavior while attending a police/firefighter convention in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Both are suspended for 22 weeks without pay, a reference to the then-standard length of a network drama's TV season. Bolander chooses to retire when his suspension is up, while Felton drops out of sight. During Season 5, Giardello often complains about Felton's unknown whereabouts, and rumors began to spread that he had resigned in disgrace following his suspension.
In the two-part season finale of
Season 5
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
("Partners and Other Strangers" and "Strangers and Other Partners"), Felton is found dead in his house, a shotgun blast having destroyed most of his skull. The evidence first points to suicide, but
M.E. Julianna Cox soon determines that he had been murdered with a pistol shot to the back of the head; the killer then used the shotgun to stage the suicide. He was murdered on May 9, 1997.
[shown on screen when then-Maryland Governor ]Parris Glendening
Parris Nelson Glendening (born June 11, 1942) is an American politician and academic who served as the 59th Governor of Maryland from January 18, 1995, to January 15, 2003. Previously, he was the County Executive of Prince George's County, Mary ...
and then-Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke
Kurt Lidell Schmoke (born December 1, 1949) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 47th mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1987 to 1999, the first African American to be elected to the post. He is the current president of the University ...
unveil a memorial tablet and an acrylic plaque is displayed.
Giardello soon learns that Felton had actually returned from his long suspension to an offer to work
undercover
To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...
for
Internal Investigations Division (IID), under the direction of
Detective Stuart Gharty. Felton had been undercover for six months helping IID and the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
build a case against a massive auto theft ring, but an information leak led to his cover being blown. He was personally murdered by the auto kingpin, who managed to evade capture. Beth wants nothing to do with Beau's funeral, so Kay Howard and Megan Russert handle the arrangements. A memorial for Felton is established in the police headquarters, and attended (on screen) by then-Maryland Governor
Parris Glendening
Parris Nelson Glendening (born June 11, 1942) is an American politician and academic who served as the 59th Governor of Maryland from January 18, 1995, to January 15, 2003. Previously, he was the County Executive of Prince George's County, Mary ...
and then-Baltimore Mayor
Kurt Schmoke
Kurt Lidell Schmoke (born December 1, 1949) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 47th mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1987 to 1999, the first African American to be elected to the post. He is the current president of the University ...
.
The investigation of Felton's murder leads the detectives to remember moments with Felton, although most of these memories prove unpleasant. The episode illustrates these memories with flashbacks consisting of brief clips from the first three seasons; these clips are Felton's only appearance on the series after Season 3.
The last appearance of Felton was in the 2000 TV movie ''
Homicide: The Movie'', where he and (Season 3 deceased) Detective
Crosetti are seen in the afterlife playing cards in the squad room and waiting for the next "arrival" – who turns out to be Al Giardello.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felton, Beau
Fictional Baltimore Police Department detectives
Homicide: Life on the Street characters
Fictional characters based on real people
Television characters introduced in 1993