Groovy Miniseries: The Very Hairy Chest of Alec Baldwin

Actually the real title of this month's featured miniseries from the 1970s and '80s is Dress Gray, but what I remember most is how hairy and hunky Alec Baldwin is in it. The 4-hour two-part NBC miniseries, which debuted on March 9, 1986, was filmed immediately after the actor's Knots Landing character, Joshua Rush, fell to his death in December 1985.

In Dress Gray, the 27-year-old Baldwin plays the lead role of Ry Slaight, a military academy cadet sergeant who becomes involved in the mysterious murder of a drowned classmate, David Hand (Patrick Cassidy). General Hedges (Hal Holbrook), the headmaster of the school, attempts to cover up the crime in order to avoid a nasty scandal. But Ry doesn't believe that Hand's death was just a simple drowning, and he soon discovers that the young man had "consensual sexual relations" with another man right before he died. However, incriminating letters reveal that Hand was in love with the straight Slaight, causing Hedges to try to pin the murder on Ry, who is desperate to prove his innocence by finding the person who had sex with David--and then killed him.

All this homosexual talk was still pretty darn racy for television back in 1986, despite Dynasty's Steven Carrington. I thought the miniseries was very well-written (it was adapted by Gore Vidal from Lucian K. Truscott's 1978 novel, Dress Gray), and I still consider it one of Baldwin's best performances. Dress Gray was nominated for three Emmys, including Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or a Special. The miniseries was released on video in 1995, but, unfortunately, it hasn't received a DVD release. I would think there would be some interest in it now that Baldwin is winning Emmys as the delightful Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. Once upon a time he was a hot, young hunk, whose very hairy chest deserves to be seen again--as does Dress Gray.