By Bridget Byrne
The Associated Press

Ed Begley Jr.'s distinctive voice, more expansive than the confines of the modest San Fernando Valley home he shares with wife Rachelle, is loud with joy as he snuggles on the couch with their 4-year-old daughter and the family dog and cat.

"Look, I've got this beautiful daughter, this wonderful wife, perfect little home. That's why I can consider retiring in September," he says, noting Screen Actors Guild eligibility when he turns 55.

"I don't have to shovel a lot of coal into the boiler of the S.S. Begley to keep it afloat. I grew up in a house this size, I will die in a house this size. This is all I need."

If Begley does retire, it won't be for lack of work.

In the Life on Liberty Street (9 p.m. Sunday, Hallmark Channel), he plays Richard Spencer, a high-powered attorney unable to cope with the condition of his son, who suffered brain damage in a car accident.

In the recent ABC drama Kingdom Hospital, he played the medical facility's administrator, Dr. Jesse James, who "doesn't see any ghosts, doesn't know any ghosts."

Later this month, Begley will be in Canada to play a cop in the feature film Desolation Sound. Then he'll head to Pittsburgh to play Mayor Shinn in good friend Jeff Goldblum's hometown stage production of The Music Man.

Because of Begley's real-life activism, he gets offered many scripts asking him to play "the environmental hero saving trees."

The father in Life of Liberty Street, is an example of Begley's preferences about roles.

"He's a very shutdown guy," the actor said. "He's been through a lot of pain. His way of dealing with that is to deny. He doesn't allow his son to grow - out of fear, that's understandable, but out of guilt and other issues that's just not right, and people do that every day."

David Kenin, Hallmark's executive vice president of programming, says the channel favors three genres of movies - Westerns, mysteries and human relationship dramas that are usually tied into holidays. That's why this "beautiful story about caring" is airing on Mother's Day.

Begley, the son of Oscar-winning character actor Ed Begley, says, "When you are the son or daughter of somebody (famous), you have this attitude, 'Wake me when I'm famous. I want to do what Dad does. I'd like to just talk in front of a camera. How hard could that be?' "

As a kid, he tried to get by on charm as a kid, but "got no work." He's pleased he didn't because "I didn't have a clue."

So in his late teens, he studied his craft and the jobs started coming. Most notable was Dr. Victor Ehrlich on St. Elsewhere.

"It was, I remember, a pretty good childhood," he says, "except for one major problem, which kind of set the tone of the rest of my life - the smog."

On the first Earth Day in 1970, he decided to become part of the solution. He bought an electric car, started recycling, and whenever possible, rode his bike.

He's still deeply committed to "all that environmental stuff."

"I have things, too," he acknowledged. "I don't live in a teepee in Topanga. I live here. I have a computer. I have a fax machine. But I try to limit that stuff to what I consider a reasonable level."