‘Knots Landing’ Star Reveals What She Told a Young Alec Baldwin After His Shocking Exit

Iconic Knots Landing star Donna Mills recently explained why Alec Baldwin left the show in 1985 and shared the advice she gave the then-young actor.

Mills recently appeared on the That’s Classic! podcast, opening up to host John Cato about Baldwin’s seemingly sudden departure from the nighttime drama. Cato asked Mills, “Is there a story there? I don’t know with Alec.” The actress replied candidly, revealing, “They fired him.”

She continued, gushing over the actor who played the manipulative preacher/televangelist Joshua Rush from 1984 to 1985: “I loved him. I thought he was fabulous.”

So why was Baldwin axed from the popular primetime soap? According to Mills, “On shows like that though, sometimes it’s a matter of money, and you know, they’re paying him quite a bit and they can’t, you know, they need two other actors and they can’t. So anyway, I think it was something like that.”

In 2020, Baldwin spoke with People about his time on Knots Landing, saying, “When I play that kind of character, I want to give it everything I can so when the hero kills me or thwarts me at the end, it’s more satisfying for the audience…You really want that guy to get it.”

Baldwin’s character did “get it” in a dramatic rooftop scuffle, falling to his death. While the “hero” doesn’t exactly kill Baldwin, his own mother, Lilimae (played by actress Julie Harris), chastizes him, screaming, “Don’t call me mama. I’m not your mama. You’re not my son. How could I have given birth to anyone as cold and cruel as you?” Baldwin stumbles backward, falling over the edge in true nighttime soap fashion.

Before Baldwin left the show, Mills had some sage advice for the newcomer: “I said, ‘Alec, don’t feel bad. This is the best thing that ever happened to you. You’re going to go, and you’re going to get bigger and better things. So you know, don’t feel bad.’ And this is exactly what happened.”

As it turns out, Mills was right on target with her words of wisdom. She explained where she saw the young actor going in his career: “I just thought, you know, movies. He’ll make it in the movie world.”

Following Baldwin’s 40-episode stint on Knots Landing, he went on to star on the big screen in Beetlejuice (1988), Working Girl (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Pearl Harbor (2001), The Departed (2006), It’s Complicated (2009), and more. He also returned to television, taking a comedic turn in 30 Rock from 2006 to 2013.