Beau Felton

Beauregard D. 'Beau' Felton
Det. Beauregard Donald 'Beau' Felton
First appearance	January 31, 1993 (1x01, "Gone for Goode")
Last appearance	May 5, 1995 (3x20, "The Gas Man") (HLOTS) February 13, 2000 Homicide: The Movie
Created by	Tom Fontana
Portrayed by	Daniel Baldwin
In-universe information
Nickname	Beau
Gender	Male
Title	Detective
Occupation	Undercover Cop for IID (formerly) Homicide Detective (formerly)
Family	Zack Felton (son) Alley Felton (daughter) Unnamed baby
Spouse	Beth Felton (widow)

Det. Beauregard Donald 'Beau' Feltonis a fictional character on the television drama seriesHomicide: Life on the Streetportrayed byDaniel Baldwinfor seasons 1-3.He was loosely based on Det. Donald Kincaid, fromDavid Simon'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 fromBillytown,in thesouthwest areaofBaltimore.His main squad partner in the series isDet. 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 purelyplatonicroommate, 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. WhenLt. Megan Russertis 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 lateSteve 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;Homicideexecutive directorBarry Levinsonsaid 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 andDet. 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 Giardellobluntly 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 andNed Beatty,Felton and Bolander were written out of the series after Season 3.

The narrative reason for the characters' absence is given in theSeason 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 inNew York City.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 ofSeason 5( "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, butM.E. Julianna Coxsoon 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.

Giardello soon learns that Felton had actually returned from his long suspension to an offer to workundercoverforInternal Investigations Division (IID),under the direction ofDetective Stuart Gharty.The Homicide detectives are disgusted that the cowardly Gharty had chosen to remain on the force, earned a promotion from Patrolman to Detective, and been put into a leadership position within IID. He further shocks them by revealing that Felton had offered to work for IID because he would have preferred to quit the BPD rather than return to Homicide. Felton had been undercover for six months helping IID and theFBIbuild 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 Howard and Russert handle the arrangements. A memorial for Felton is established in the police headquarters, and attended (on screen) by then-Maryland GovernorParris Glendeningand then-Baltimore MayorKurt Schmoke.

The investigation of Felton's murder leads the detectives to remember moments with Felton, although most of these memories prove unpleasant, and Al Giardello regrets that he ignored a few in-suspension phone calls from Felton and helped cause the chain of events that led to his murder. 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 movieHomicide: The Movie,where he and (Season 3 deceased) DetectiveCrosettiare seen in the afterlife playing cards in the squad room and waiting for the next "arrival" – who turns out to be Al Giardello.