Names and faces
■ Actor Alec Baldwin pleaded guilty to harassment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday and agreed to take an anger management course in a deal with prosecutors to dispose of charges that he assaulted a man during a dispute over a parking spot in November. Baldwin entered his plea before Judge Herbert Moses, speaking just enough to signal that he understood the deal being offered. He had been charged with misdemeanor assault as well, but prosecutors let him plead only to harassment. Baldwin, known for his work on 30 Rock and his portrayal of President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, was ordered to pay a fine of $120 and return to court in March to verify that he completed the anger management course. He left the courthouse without speaking to reporters, and his lawyer, Alan Abramson, declined to comment. Baldwin, 60, was arrested Nov. 2 on charges that he punched a man in a dispute over a curbside parking spot outside his building on East 10th Street. Baldwin and his lawyer insisted that the actor never threw a punch, but, according to court records, he conceded that he had shoved the man, Wojciech Cieszkowski, who he said “stole my spot.” Baldwin has a history of losing his temper, often paying a price for it. In 2011, he was thrown off an American Airlines flight after refusing to stop playing a game on his phone before takeoff. He was suspended in 2013 as host of an MSNBC talk show after he used a gay slur toward a photographer trying to take pictures of Baldwin and his wife and baby outside their building. A year later, he was arrested and given a summons for disorderly conduct after an argument with police officers who had stopped him bicycling the wrong way on a one-way street in Manhattan.
■ The son of James Gandolfini has been cast as the young Tony Soprano in the planned Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark. Michael Gandolfini will play a younger version of the iconic character his late father played on the HBO series. The 19-year-old actor has had a recurring role on HBO’s The Deuce. Gandolfini said in a statement that it’s “a profound honor to continue my dad’s legacy.” James Gandolfini died of a heart attack at the age of 51 in 2013. Sopranos creator David Chase is producer and screenwriter for the New Line production. Alan Taylor, who directed several episodes of The Sopranos and 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, is set to direct.