For over 10 years (and counting), Dan Martin has brought law and order to the often-unruly Forrester clan and their cohorts as THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL’s detective Lt. Baker. If Martin comes across as the smartest, most competent cop on soaps, it may be because when he’s not flashing his badge on B&B Martin is bringing law and order to classrooms — as a substitute teacher.
Soap Opera Weekly: Has Lieutenant Baker’s latest case, involving Darla’s death, been as much fun for you to play as it’s been for us to watch?
Dan Martin: Definitely. Because, one, they’ve given me meaty dialogue, meaty things to do, and two, there are really serious and ambiguous moral questions to deal with. As an actor, when you get a chance to deal with something with actual substance it just perks you up even more.
Weekly: Hands down, Lieutenant Baker is the slickest and most competent cop on soaps. What’s your secret for making him so believable?
Martin: There is an old saying that [as an actor] your job is to tell a lie with a straight face. And so you have to really go into the depth of what you’re dealing with and be as realistic as possible. Sometimes that means just dropping it out just like a flat rock, just saying it, and not putting a lot of curves and bells and whistles on your performance, [just] let the realism come out. That’s the way I feel. It’s a tribute to the writing, too. Lieutenant Baker has been around these people a long time in various situations — he can tell that something is wrong.
Weekly: You’ve been recurring on the show for about 10 years.
Martin: I remember I was there for their 10th anniversary party. I remember they were taking this big picture and they called all of the actors to come up, and I said, “Oh, well, I’ll probably only be on a couple of episodes. I’m not going to worry about it,” so I didn’t go up to be in the picture. And now here it is, 10 years later, and I still see that picture occasionally. “I should have been standing right there!” (laughs)
Weekly: Do you recall Lieutenant Baker’s first case?
Martin: There was a shooting. I can’t remember who the victim was, but he was an executive at Forester. Ridge was accused and it turned out it was his younger son who accidentally did the shooting.
Weekly: Do you have any favorite or most memorable cases?
Martin: Individual cases, not necessarily. I think of it in terms of when I’m working with certain groups of actors. Like whenever I’m working with Susan (Flannery, Stephanie), that’s a treat. Susan is such a pro. I get my act together and it’s like, “Gee, I’m working with Susan. I know I gotta be right.” It’s like taking a test. Or when I’m working with Ronn (Moss, Ridge). He’s such a fun guy, and we talk football off-camera. I know that whenever I’m working with him its going to be a fun day.
Weekly: Looking at all your credits, you have quite a history playing law-enforcement types. Do you have a special affinity for cop roles?
Martin: No. I’ve played a lot of different characters over the course of my career. One of my favorites was a stage play where I played a psychiatrist who had a patient who was abusing her child. That was very different from any cop parts. And about a year ago I did a piece where I was this alcoholic factory worker who was tricked into selling chemicals to Al-Qaeda agents. Every actor physically has certain attributes that lend themselves to certain character roles. I just happen to have a certain physical attribute that people can see authoritatively, whether it’s the voice or the stature or whatever that lends itself to [law-enforcement roles].
Weekly: Do you get recognized as Lieutenant Baker?
Martin: I’ve done a lot of work over the years and I’m not always certain what people recognize me from. Every once in awhile I’ll do stints of teaching. Which project do you recognize me from, or was I a teacher of yours? The other day I’m coming into B&B, and there was a large group of people there to see THE PRICE IS RIGHT. We film in the same building. I hear people saying, “That’s Lieutenant Baker! That’s Lieutenant Baker!” Then, at the 99-cent store, someone will recognize me from Sleepwalkers.
Weekly: You mentioned teaching — are you doing any right now?
Martin: As a matter of fact I’ll probably be back [soon] teaching. I started out as a teacher; I taught back in New Jersey. I taught at William Patterson College, I taught at Ramapo College. I’ve taught at Eastside High school, I was an administrator at New York University’s creative arts program. I had an academic background and I left teaching after a number of years because acting was always my first love. After I got away from it, I began to realize that I had an affinity for it, too. Hell, with teaching you’ve got a captive audience! I’m an English teacher, so I was teaching and telling stories, and I had a lot of fun with it. I started doing substitute teaching here in California, and what’s fun is that you go into a classroom and deal with them for a while, but then you don’t have to have that responsibility of going back to the same class day after day after day.
Weekly: Getting recognized for your acting roles must be a great icebreaker with the students.
Martin: Absolutely. I did a stint on MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, then I’d go into these schools and all the kids watch. I walk into class Monday morning and I’m the hero of the school (laughs). That’s fun. One of the first questions I get is, “What are you doing here?”
Weekly: And if they start misbehaving you can fall into Lieutenant Baker mode.
Martin: (laughs) Yeah, if they’re acting up I can say “I’m here to discipline your butts. Now sit down.” (laughs)
