Whatever else has happened, or will happen, in the vividly eventful career of movie star Alec Baldwin, his name is destined to be linked with that of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, whom he tragically shot dead on a movie set in New Mexico in 2021. Baldwin accidentally fired a live bullet from a revolver being used as a prop. Now he faces criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter, despite a private legal settlement Baldwin reportedly reached with the Hutchins family.

Alec Baldwin’s mercurial, defiant, combatively emotional behaviour – which has been part of his presence as a performer and public figure – has been in evidence since the shooting. He gave an emotional interview last August in which he blamed the armourer and the props assistant but declined to blame himself and even exhibited notes of histrionic self-pity, talking about the acting jobs he had lost and thanked his wife, Hilaria: “If I didn’t have my wife, I don’t know where I would be right now …” Not a tactful thing to say, with Matt Hutchins mourning the loss of his wife.