Long-lasting marriage is no easy feat in Hollywood, as frequent news about splits among the stars attests. Perhaps that's why we hold celebrity marriages like that of Joanne Woodward and the late Paul Newman, and Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis in such high esteem -- they had what it took to withstand the pitfalls of fame, distance, ultra-demanding schedules, alluring costars and more.

Actors' actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, married 21 years, belong in that league. You know it by the way they talk about each other (when she said her heart still skips a beat whenever he walks into a room, romantics everywhere went ''Aww''), and by their mutually supportive actions.

Right now, they're both up for Emmy Awards -- Kyra for her series work on ''The Closer'' and Kevin for his starring performance in the telefilm, ''Taking Chance.''

Will there be ruffled feelings if one wins and the other doesn't?

Not according to Kevin. ''It's amazing to me how uncompetitive we are,'' he tells us. ''I honestly feel that we're deep down supportive of each other in all things, all situations. The last four years, to watch her be nominated for an Emmy, a SAG Award and a Golden Globe year after year is such a joy for me. I definitely don't wake up on those mornings and go, ''Oh, man. I wish I had one of those.'' I'm truly happy for her because I know, first off, how deserving she is, and secondly, I know how hard she works. I don't think anyone knows that as well as I do.''

Bacon recently finished his latest stint of directing Sedgwick in ''The Closer,'' this time with their 17-year-old daughter Sosie also appearing in the episode. (The Bacons' son, Travis, is 20.)

More collaborations are ahead for the prodigiously gifted pair. ''We have a couple of television shows that are in development at Showtime and TNT,'' he reveals. ''One of which I would be co-producing with Kyra, one of which I'd be directing but not acting in. So we've been getting scripts and writers together for those and doing that.''

Next up, he's spending time on the musical side of his career, with The Bacon Bros. lined up for a string of gigs this fall, and a new single coming out.

As for his own most recent recognition, whether or not he wins the Emmy for HBO's ''Taking Chance'' film, Bacon feels he's already won in terms of moving viewers. He's been stopped out in public and thanked repeatedly for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, who volunteers to escort home the body of a fallen 19-year-old Marine in the movie -- ''way beyond anything I've experienced before in terms of those kinds of reactions. It's really nice people have responded to it in such an emotional way. In some ways it's kind of embarrassing,'' he adds. ''It's not my story. I just got the haircut and said the lines.''

As for having had any trepidations about taking on such an emotional role, ''I don't really shy away from things that are going to have an emotional impact,'' reminds Bacon, who's fearlessly played characters from incredibly creepy (the pedophile in ''The Woodsman,'' for instance) to fun to heroic -- and whose long list of memorable movies includes ''Footloose,'' ''Flatliners,'' ''A Few Good Men,'' ''Apollo 13,'' ''Friday the 13th,'' ''Hollow Man,'' and ''Tremors.''

He goes on, ''That's part of the gig. I like challenges in my work whether they're physical or emotional.''

However, Bacon admits, ''What I wasn't sure about was, it seemed like a lot of people were doing films about the Iraq war, and some were excellent films that people didn't want to see, you know? It kind of felt like the creative community had jumped the gun on content that we were still in the midst of. The war was raging on and if you look at Vietnam or WWII, we were able to get a little perspective on those things before we were able to make films about them. But I felt like this was such an interesting kind of approach, and I was kind of convinced by the filmmakers that they weren't planning on making an Iraq movie per se. It was more about honor and sacrifice. It could have been about any war. It didn't specifically have a topical political agenda.''

Obviously, it worked.

Stacy Jenel Smith