MNN - Mother Nature Network

“With three kids it’s hard, but right now I’m trying to make my house paperless — not including toilet paper,” says William Baldwin, whose efforts to conserve don’t end there. He drives a hybrid, and plans to get a plug-in next. “My local vehicle is going to be an electric, my long distance car will be a hybrid.”

 

On Feb. 9, Baldwin stars in the Hallmark original move “Be My Valentine” as a widowed firefighter and single dad who meets a florist (Natalie Brown) putting out a fire at her shop. “This guy was madly in love with his wife. When it begins it’s two or three years after she’s passed away and he’s still emotionally unavailable. But the planets align and his heart opens up and he finds love again,” summarizes Baldwin.

 

Although he finds holidays to be “a lot of pressure when you have kids. Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas — by the time Valentine’s Day comes around I’m exhausted!” he says, “but I do awesome Valentine’s gifts for my wife,” Chynna Phillips. It would be hard to top the elaborate treasure hunt he created for her a few years ago that began with a bedside envelope with #1 on it, instructing her to go to the gym, work out and have a massage. “Her trainer gave her the #2, envelope. There were 10,” including meeting friends for lunch and a $2,500 shopping spree at Bergdorf Goodman. The final destination? A romantic dinner with her husband, of course.

 

Baldwin, whose upcoming roles include playing a detective in the film drama “Blowtorch” next fall, may be back in firefighter gear soon. The actor, who appeared in “Backdraft” early in his career, has been tapped for a recurring role on NBC’s “Chicago Fire.”