Kim Basinger
Encyclopedia
Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger (icon , often mispronounced ˈ ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress and former fashion model
.
She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl
in Never Say Never Again
(1983), and Vicki Vale
, the female lead in Batman
(1989). Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture nomination for her work in The Natural
(1984). She won an Academy Award
, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in L.A. Confidential
(1997). Basinger also acted in the movies 9½ Weeks
(1986) and 8 Mile
(2002).
. Her father, Donald Wade Basinger, was a big band
musician and loan manager who as a U.S. Army soldier landed in Normandy
on D-Day
(June 6, 1944). Her mother, Ann (née Cordell), was a model, an actress, and a swimmer who appeared in several Esther Williams
films. The third of five children, she has two brothers, Mick and Skip, and two sisters, Ashley and Barbara. Basinger's ancestry includes German
, Swedish, Irish
and Native American
, and she was raised a Methodist.
She spent most of her childhood studying ballet
from about the time she was three to her mid-teens. When Basinger was 16, she started modeling by winning the Athens Junior Miss contest. She then won the title “Junior Miss Georgia”. She competed in the national Junior Miss pageant and was offered a modeling contract with Ford Modeling Agency. She turned it down in favor of singing and acting, but reconsidered and went to New York to become a Ford model.
Not long after the Ford deal, Basinger was on the cover of magazines. She appeared in hundreds of ads throughout the early 1970s, most notably as the Breck Shampoo
girl. She alternated between modeling and attending acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse as well as performing in Greenwich Village clubs.
In 1976, after five years as a cover girl, Basinger moved to Los Angeles to act. After guest roles on TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch
and Charlie's Angels
in 1976, and a starring role on the short-lived series Dog and Cat
(1977), her first feature-length role was in a made-for-TV movie, Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978) in which she played a smalltown young woman who goes to Hollywood to become an actress and winds up a famous centerfold for a men's magazine. She was then cast as a prostitute in From Here to Eternity
(1979), in which she starred alongside Natalie Wood
. Basinger played the same character in a 13-episode TV spinoff in 1980. She made her theatrical film debut in Hard Country
(1981) with Jan Michael Vincent, followed by Mother Lode (1982) with Charlton Heston
.
Basinger's breakout role was as Bond girl
Domino Petachi in Never Say Never Again
(1983), starring opposite Sean Connery
. She posed nude for Playboy
to promote the film. Basinger said Playboy led to opportunities such as Barry Levinson
's The Natural
(1984), co-starring Robert Redford
, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress. She starred opposite Mickey Rourke
in the sexually provocative 9½ Weeks
(1986). Oscar-winning writer-director Robert Benton
cast her in the title role for the film Nadine
(1987) with Jeff Bridges
. Basinger played Vicki Vale
in the 1989 blockbuster Batman
, directed by Tim Burton
.
Directors repeated her in their films, such as Blake Edwards
for The Man Who Loved Women (1983) and Blind Date (1987), as well as Robert Altman
for Fool for Love
(1985) and Prêt-à-Porter
(1994). In 1992, Basinger was guest vocalist on a re-recorded version of Was (Not Was)
's "Shake Your Head
", which also featured Ozzy Osbourne
on vocals, and reached the UK Top 5. In the video for Tom Petty
's 1993 song "Mary Jane's Last Dance
", Basinger played the unconscious woman whom Petty brings home from the morgue for dinner, dressing her in a wedding gown. Later, Petty is shown throwing her into the sea. In a macabre ending, she floats with her eyes open.
Basinger acted less in the 1990s to take care of her family. She made a comeback in 1997 as the femme fatale
in the neo-noir L.A. Confidential
, co-starring Russell Crowe
. This earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
, as well as the Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild Award. The film's director, Curtis Hanson
, cast her once more as Eminem
's mother in 8 Mile
(2002). She appeared mostly in television and independent films such as While She Was Out
, The Burning Plain
, and Lifetime's The Mermaid Chair
. She was also seen in the mainstream thrillers Cellular
(2004) and The Sentinel
(2006), and The Informers (2009).
Basinger played Zac Efron
's mother in the 2010 film Charlie St. Cloud.
On October 12, 1980, Basinger married makeup artist, Ron Snyder-Britton (born 1938), who worked on the crew of her film, Hard Country
. The marriage ended in divorce in 1988. He later wrote a memoir in 1998, Longer than Forever: The Story of Our Strange Marriage, about their time together, and her rumored affair with actor, Richard Gere
, with whom she starred in No Mercy
(1986) and Final Analysis
(1992).
After the divorce Basinger dated casting director, Jon Peters
, and singer, Prince
.
She met her second husband, Alec Baldwin
, in 1990 when they played lovers in The Marrying Man
. They married on August 19, 1993, and appeared in the remake of The Getaway
(1994). They played themselves in a 1998 episode of The Simpsons
(which includes Ron Howard
), in which Basinger corrects Homer Simpson
on the pronunciation of her last name and polishes her Oscar statuette. Basinger and Baldwin have a daughter, Ireland Eliesse Baldwin (born October 23, 1995).
They filed for divorce in January 2001, and it was finalized in February 2002. Since then the couple have been in a contentious custody battle over the daughter. Alec Baldwin's book A Promise To Ourselves chronicles the lengths to which Basinger has gone to deny Baldwin access to their daughter since separation.
in 1989 for US$20 million, to establish as a tourist attraction with movie studios and film festival, but she met financial difficulties and started to sell parts off in 1995. The town is now owned by developer Wayne Mason. In a 1998 interview with Barbara Walters
Basinger admitted that "nothing good came out of it" because a rift resulted within her family. Her financial difficulties were exacerbated when she pulled out of the controversial film Boxing Helena
, resulting in the studio's winning an US$8.1 million judgment against her. Basinger filed for bankruptcy
and appeal
ed the jury's decision to a higher court, which sided with her. She and the studio settled for $3.8 million instead.
supporter. She has posed for anti-fur advertisements by PETA
. She has written to fashion designers such as Yohji Yamamoto
to ask that they stop using fur.
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
.
She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
in Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...
(1983), and Vicki Vale
Vicki Vale
Victoria Vale is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appears in Batman #49 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.-1940s-1960s:...
, the female lead in Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
(1989). Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture nomination for her work in The Natural
The Natural (film)
The Natural is a 1984 film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close and Robert Duvall...
(1984). She won an Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential (film)
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
(1997). Basinger also acted in the movies 9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. It is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth McNeill....
(1986) and 8 Mile
8 Mile (film)
8 Mile is a 2002 American hip-hop drama film written by Scott Silver, directed by Curtis Hanson, and starring Eminem, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, and Kim Basinger....
(2002).
Early life
Basinger was born in Athens, GeorgiaAthens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
. Her father, Donald Wade Basinger, was a big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
musician and loan manager who as a U.S. Army soldier landed in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
on D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
(June 6, 1944). Her mother, Ann (née Cordell), was a model, an actress, and a swimmer who appeared in several Esther Williams
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams is a retired American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team...
films. The third of five children, she has two brothers, Mick and Skip, and two sisters, Ashley and Barbara. Basinger's ancestry includes German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, Swedish, Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, and she was raised a Methodist.
She spent most of her childhood studying ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
from about the time she was three to her mid-teens. When Basinger was 16, she started modeling by winning the Athens Junior Miss contest. She then won the title “Junior Miss Georgia”. She competed in the national Junior Miss pageant and was offered a modeling contract with Ford Modeling Agency. She turned it down in favor of singing and acting, but reconsidered and went to New York to become a Ford model.
Career
Breck Shampoo
Breck Shampoo is an American brand of shampoo that is also known for its Breck Girls advertising campaign.In 1930 Dr. John H. Breck, Sr. of Springfield, Massachusetts, founded Breck Shampoo. In 1936, son Edward J...
girl. She alternated between modeling and attending acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse as well as performing in Greenwich Village clubs.
In 1976, after five years as a cover girl, Basinger moved to Los Angeles to act. After guest roles on TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...
and Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
in 1976, and a starring role on the short-lived series Dog and Cat
Dog and Cat
Dog and Cat is an American television series that aired on ABC in 1977.Lou Antonio played Sgt. Jack Ramsey, an undercover detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, who found himself teamed with a very green partner named J.Z. Kane...
(1977), her first feature-length role was in a made-for-TV movie, Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978) in which she played a smalltown young woman who goes to Hollywood to become an actress and winds up a famous centerfold for a men's magazine. She was then cast as a prostitute in From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity (TV series)
From Here to Eternity was a six-hour 1979 television mini-series, followed by a thirteen episode 1980 television series.The mini-series was a remake of the 1953 film From Here to Eternity and based on the 1951 novel of the same name...
(1979), in which she starred alongside Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...
. Basinger played the same character in a 13-episode TV spinoff in 1980. She made her theatrical film debut in Hard Country
Hard Country (1981 film)
Hard Country is a 1981 dramatic movie starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Kim Basinger, and co-starring country music star Tanya Tucker. It was directed by David Greene and is rated PG in the USA.-Main cast:*Jan-Michael Vincent ... Kyle...
(1981) with Jan Michael Vincent, followed by Mother Lode (1982) with Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
.
Basinger's breakout role was as Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
Domino Petachi in Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...
(1983), starring opposite Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
. She posed nude for Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
to promote the film. Basinger said Playboy led to opportunities such as Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...
's The Natural
The Natural (film)
The Natural is a 1984 film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close and Robert Duvall...
(1984), co-starring Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress. She starred opposite Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
in the sexually provocative 9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks
9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. It is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth McNeill....
(1986). Oscar-winning writer-director Robert Benton
Robert Benton
Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and film director.Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Dorothy and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee. He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University. Benton has won numerous awards for both writing and...
cast her in the title role for the film Nadine
Nadine (1987 film)
Nadine is a 1987 comedy film directed by Robert Benton that stars Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger.It is the story of a woman living in 1950's Austin, Texas who persuades her ex-husband into helping her break into a photographer's studio to retrieve embarrassing cheesecake pictures...
(1987) with Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
. Basinger played Vicki Vale
Vicki Vale
Victoria Vale is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appears in Batman #49 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.-1940s-1960s:...
in the 1989 blockbuster Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
, directed by Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
.
Directors repeated her in their films, such as Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
for The Man Who Loved Women (1983) and Blind Date (1987), as well as Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
for Fool for Love
Fool for Love (film)
Fool for Love is a 1985 film directed by Robert Altman. The film stars Sam Shepard, who also wrote the screenplay. It was entered into the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
(1985) and Prêt-à-Porter
Prêt-à-Porter (film)
Prêt-à-Porter is a 1994 American satirical black comedy film co-written, directed, and produced by Robert Altman and shot during the Paris, France, Fashion Week with a host of international stars, models and designers...
(1994). In 1992, Basinger was guest vocalist on a re-recorded version of Was (Not Was)
Was (Not Was)
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Contributions:* A Christmas Record - "Christmas Time In The Motor City"* That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are"...
's "Shake Your Head
Shake Your Head
"Shake Your Head" is a song by the band Was . It was originally released in 1983 on the album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes.The original version features legendary Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne on lead vocals...
", which also featured Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
on vocals, and reached the UK Top 5. In the video for Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
's 1993 song "Mary Jane's Last Dance
Mary Jane's Last Dance
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" is the title of a song written by Tom Petty and recorded song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was recorded on July 22, 1993 while Petty was recording his Wildflowers album, and was produced by Rick Rubin, guitarist Mike Campbell, and Tom Petty...
", Basinger played the unconscious woman whom Petty brings home from the morgue for dinner, dressing her in a wedding gown. Later, Petty is shown throwing her into the sea. In a macabre ending, she floats with her eyes open.
Basinger acted less in the 1990s to take care of her family. She made a comeback in 1997 as the femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
in the neo-noir L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential (film)
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
, co-starring Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
. This earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, as well as the Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild Award. The film's director, Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson is an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. His directing work includes The Hand That Rocks the Cradle , L.A...
, cast her once more as Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's mother in 8 Mile
8 Mile (film)
8 Mile is a 2002 American hip-hop drama film written by Scott Silver, directed by Curtis Hanson, and starring Eminem, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, and Kim Basinger....
(2002). She appeared mostly in television and independent films such as While She Was Out
While She Was Out
While She Was Out is a 2008 American thriller film starring Kim Basinger and Lukas Haas. Basinger plays a suburban housewife who is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four murderous thugs. It was written and directed by film producer Susan Montford...
, The Burning Plain
The Burning Plain
The Burning Plain is a 2008 drama film directed and written by Guillermo Arriaga, the screenwriter of Amores perros , 21 Grams , and Babel . The film stars Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Basinger and Joaquim de Almeida...
, and Lifetime's The Mermaid Chair
The Mermaid Chair
The Mermaid Chair is a 2005 novel written by American novelist Sue Monk Kidd, which has also been adapted as a Lifetime movie-Synopsis:...
. She was also seen in the mainstream thrillers Cellular
Cellular (film)
Cellular is a 2004 thriller film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham and William H. Macy. The screenplay was written by Chris Morgan, Larry Cohen and J...
(2004) and The Sentinel
The Sentinel (2006 film)
The Sentinel is a 2006 action thriller film about a veteran United States Secret Service bodyguard who is suspected as a traitor after an attempted assassination of the president reveals that someone within the Service is providing information to the assassins...
(2006), and The Informers (2009).
Basinger played Zac Efron
Zac Efron
Zachary David Alexander "Zac" Efron is an American actor. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and became known with his lead roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical, the WB series Summerland, and the 2007 film version of the Broadway musical Hairspray...
's mother in the 2010 film Charlie St. Cloud.
Relationships and family
Basinger lived with model, Dale Robinette, in the 1970's.On October 12, 1980, Basinger married makeup artist, Ron Snyder-Britton (born 1938), who worked on the crew of her film, Hard Country
Hard Country (1981 film)
Hard Country is a 1981 dramatic movie starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Kim Basinger, and co-starring country music star Tanya Tucker. It was directed by David Greene and is rated PG in the USA.-Main cast:*Jan-Michael Vincent ... Kyle...
. The marriage ended in divorce in 1988. He later wrote a memoir in 1998, Longer than Forever: The Story of Our Strange Marriage, about their time together, and her rumored affair with actor, Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
, with whom she starred in No Mercy
No Mercy (film)
No Mercy is a 1986 film starring Richard Gere and Kim Basinger about a cop who accepts an offer to kill a Cajun gangster.-Plot:Eddie Jilette is a Chicago cop on the vengeance trail as he follows his partner's killers to New Orleans to settle his own personal score...
(1986) and Final Analysis
Final Analysis
Final Analysis is an American neo-noir drama directed by Phil Joanou and written by Wesley Strick. It stars Richard Gere, Kim Basinger and Uma Thurman...
(1992).
After the divorce Basinger dated casting director, Jon Peters
Jon Peters
Jon Peters is an American movie producer.-Early life:Peters was born John H. Peters in Van Nuys, California, the son of Helen , a receptionist, and Jack Peters, a cook...
, and singer, Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
.
She met her second husband, Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
, in 1990 when they played lovers in The Marrying Man
The Marrying Man
The Marrying Man is a 1991 romantic comedy film starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. The script is by Neil Simon. Basinger's performance in the film earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress.-Plot:Charley Pearl is the heir to a toothpaste empire's fortune...
. They married on August 19, 1993, and appeared in the remake of The Getaway
The Getaway (1994 film)
The Getaway is a 1994 crime thriller and a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. The film stars Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jennifer Tilly, and was directed by Roger Donaldson.-Plot:...
(1994). They played themselves in a 1998 episode of The Simpsons
When You Dish upon a Star
"When You Dish Upon a Star" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons tenth season, which was originally broadcast on November 8, 1998. When the family spend the day at Lake Springfield, Homer meets Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, who are hiding from the media in their secluded summer home...
(which includes Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
), in which Basinger corrects Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
on the pronunciation of her last name and polishes her Oscar statuette. Basinger and Baldwin have a daughter, Ireland Eliesse Baldwin (born October 23, 1995).
They filed for divorce in January 2001, and it was finalized in February 2002. Since then the couple have been in a contentious custody battle over the daughter. Alec Baldwin's book A Promise To Ourselves chronicles the lengths to which Basinger has gone to deny Baldwin access to their daughter since separation.
Financial problems
Some family members recommended Basinger buy the small town of Braselton, GeorgiaBraselton, Georgia
Braselton is a town in Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, and Jackson Counties in the U.S. state of Georgia, about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 7,511....
in 1989 for US$20 million, to establish as a tourist attraction with movie studios and film festival, but she met financial difficulties and started to sell parts off in 1995. The town is now owned by developer Wayne Mason. In a 1998 interview with Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters
Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...
Basinger admitted that "nothing good came out of it" because a rift resulted within her family. Her financial difficulties were exacerbated when she pulled out of the controversial film Boxing Helena
Boxing Helena
Boxing Helena is a 1993 romantic drama film and the debut feature film by Jennifer Chambers Lynch, daughter of David Lynch. The film stars Julian Sands and Sherilyn Fenn as the eponymous Helena.-Plot:...
, resulting in the studio's winning an US$8.1 million judgment against her. Basinger filed for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
ed the jury's decision to a higher court, which sided with her. She and the studio settled for $3.8 million instead.
Activism
Basinger is a vegan animal rightsAnimal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
supporter. She has posed for anti-fur advertisements by PETA
Peta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...
. She has written to fashion designers such as Yohji Yamamoto
Yohji Yamamoto
Yōji Yamamoto , is an award winning Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. Yohji is considered to be among the master tailors whose work is thought to be of fashion genius and he has been described by Julie Gilhart, fashion director for Barney's New York as probably the only designer...
to ask that they stop using fur.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Hard Country | Jodie | |
| 1982 | Mother Lode | Andrea Spalding | |
| 1983 | Never Say Never Again Never Say Never Again Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball... |
Domino Petachi | |
| The Man Who Loved Women | Louise Carr | ||
| 1984 | The Natural The Natural (film) The Natural is a 1984 film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close and Robert Duvall... |
Memo Paris | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
| 1985 | Fool for Love Fool for Love (film) Fool for Love is a 1985 film directed by Robert Altman. The film stars Sam Shepard, who also wrote the screenplay. It was entered into the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:... |
May | |
| 1986 | 9½ Weeks 9½ Weeks 9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. It is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth McNeill.... |
Elizabeth | |
| No Mercy No Mercy (film) No Mercy is a 1986 film starring Richard Gere and Kim Basinger about a cop who accepts an offer to kill a Cajun gangster.-Plot:Eddie Jilette is a Chicago cop on the vengeance trail as he follows his partner's killers to New Orleans to settle his own personal score... |
Michele Duval | ||
| 1987 | Blind Date | Nadia Gates | |
| Nadine Nadine (1987 film) Nadine is a 1987 comedy film directed by Robert Benton that stars Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger.It is the story of a woman living in 1950's Austin, Texas who persuades her ex-husband into helping her break into a photographer's studio to retrieve embarrassing cheesecake pictures... |
Nadine Hightower | ||
| 1988 | My Stepmother Is an Alien My Stepmother Is an Alien My Stepmother Is An Alien is a 1988 comedy science fiction film produced by the Weintraub Entertainment Group for release through Columbia Pictures, directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Kim Basinger and Dan Aykroyd, with featured performances by Jon Lovitz and Alyson Hannigan.-Plot:Celeste is... |
Celeste Martin | Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 1989 | Batman Batman (1989 film) Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance... |
Vicki Vale Vicki Vale Victoria Vale is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appears in Batman #49 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.-1940s-1960s:... |
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1991 | The Marrying Man The Marrying Man The Marrying Man is a 1991 romantic comedy film starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. The script is by Neil Simon. Basinger's performance in the film earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress.-Plot:Charley Pearl is the heir to a toothpaste empire's fortune... |
Vicki Anderson | |
| 1992 | Final Analysis Final Analysis Final Analysis is an American neo-noir drama directed by Phil Joanou and written by Wesley Strick. It stars Richard Gere, Kim Basinger and Uma Thurman... |
Heather Evans | |
| Cool World Cool World Cool World is a 1992 American live-action/animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi, and starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, and Brad Pitt. It tells the story of a cartoonist who finds himself in the animated world he created, and is seduced by one of his characters, a comic strip vamp who wants to... |
Holli Would | ||
| The Real McCoy The Real McCoy (film) The Real McCoy is a 1993 crime film, directed by Russell Mulcahy. It stars Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer.-Plot summary:Karen McCoy is released from prison with nothing but the clothes on her back... |
Karen McCoy | ||
| 1993 | Wayne's World 2 Wayne's World 2 Wayne's World 2 is a 1993 comedy film starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as hosts of a Public-access television cable TV show from Aurora, Illinois. The film was adapted from a sketch on NBC's Saturday Night Live and is the sequel to Wayne's World.... |
Honey Horné | |
| Mary Jane's Last Dance Mary Jane's Last Dance "Mary Jane's Last Dance" is the title of a song written by Tom Petty and recorded song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was recorded on July 22, 1993 while Petty was recording his Wildflowers album, and was produced by Rick Rubin, guitarist Mike Campbell, and Tom Petty... |
The Unconscious Woman | Music video Music video A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings... for Tom Petty Tom Petty Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T... |
|
| 1994 | A Century of Cinema A Century of Cinema A Century of Cinema is a 1994 documentary directed by Caroline Thomas about the art of filmmaking , containing numerous interviews with some of the most influential film personalities of the 20th century.... |
Herself | documentary Documentary film Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record... |
| The Getaway The Getaway (1994 film) The Getaway is a 1994 crime thriller and a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. The film stars Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jennifer Tilly, and was directed by Roger Donaldson.-Plot:... |
Carol McCoy | ||
| Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) Prêt-à-Porter (film) Prêt-à-Porter is a 1994 American satirical black comedy film co-written, directed, and produced by Robert Altman and shot during the Paris, France, Fashion Week with a host of international stars, models and designers... |
Kitty Potter | National Board of Review Award for Best Cast National Board of Review Award for Best Cast The National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble is an annual film award given by the National Board of Review.-1990s:... |
|
| 1997 | L.A. Confidential L.A. Confidential (film) L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity... |
Lynn Bracken | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress The Southeastern Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress is one of the awards given by the Southeastern Film Critics Association to honor the finest achievements in filmmaking.-Winners:-2000s:-2010s:... Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :... Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |
| 2000 | I Dreamed of Africa I Dreamed of Africa I Dreamed of Africa is a 2000 film starring Kim Basinger, Vincent Perez, Eve Marie Saint, Garrett Strommen, Liam Aiken and Daniel Craig. It is based on the autobiographical novel I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann, an Italian writer who moved to Kenya and became involved in conservation work... |
Kuki Gallmann | |
| Bless the Child Bless the Child Bless the Child is a 2000 supernatural thriller film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Angela Bettis, Rufus Sewell, Christina Ricci, and Holliston Coleman... |
Maggie O'Connor | ||
| 2002 | 8 Mile 8 Mile (film) 8 Mile is a 2002 American hip-hop drama film written by Scott Silver, directed by Curtis Hanson, and starring Eminem, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, and Kim Basinger.... |
Stephanie Smith | |
| People I Know People I Know People I Know is a 2002 crime drama film directed by Daniel Algrant and stars Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, and Téa Leoni.-Plot:Eli Wurman is a Jewish publicist on the out, but all he knows is how to hustle and cajole, threaten and persuade. The hazy mania of his everyday life is fuelled by a steady... |
Victoria Gray | ||
| 2004 | The Door in the Floor The Door in the Floor The Door in the Floor is a 2004 American drama film written and directed by Tod Williams. The screenplay is based on the first third of the 1998 novel A Widow for One Year by John Irving.-Plot:... |
Marion Cole | |
| Elvis Has Left the Building | Harmony Jones | ||
| Cellular Cellular (film) Cellular is a 2004 thriller film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham and William H. Macy. The screenplay was written by Chris Morgan, Larry Cohen and J... |
Jessica Martin | Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress | |
| 2006 | The Sentinel The Sentinel (2006 film) The Sentinel is a 2006 action thriller film about a veteran United States Secret Service bodyguard who is suspected as a traitor after an attempted assassination of the president reveals that someone within the Service is providing information to the assassins... |
1st Lady Sarah Ballentine | |
| The Mermaid Chair The Mermaid Chair (film) The Mermaid Chair is a 2006 movie adapted from the book written by Sue Monk Kidd. It was directed by Steven Schachter and stars Kim Basinger, Alex Carter, and Bruce Greenwood. The movie was filmed in British Columbia Canada... |
Jessie Sullivan | ||
| 2007 | Even Money Even Money (film) Even Money is a 2006 American crime film.The story concerns three strangers who are addicted to gambling and how their lives come to be intertwined. They are a novelist who struggles to write her follow-up book, a former stage magician and an older brother of a college basketball star... |
Carol Carver | |
| 2008 | While She Was Out While She Was Out While She Was Out is a 2008 American thriller film starring Kim Basinger and Lukas Haas. Basinger plays a suburban housewife who is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four murderous thugs. It was written and directed by film producer Susan Montford... |
Della Myers | |
| 2009 | The Informers | Laura Sloan | |
| The Burning Plain The Burning Plain The Burning Plain is a 2008 drama film directed and written by Guillermo Arriaga, the screenwriter of Amores perros , 21 Grams , and Babel . The film stars Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Basinger and Joaquim de Almeida... |
Gina | ||
| 2010 | Charlie St. Cloud | Claire St. Cloud |
Television work
- Charlie's AngelsCharlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
(1976) (episode: Angels in Chains) - Dog and CatDog and CatDog and Cat is an American television series that aired on ABC in 1977.Lou Antonio played Sgt. Jack Ramsey, an undercover detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, who found himself teamed with a very green partner named J.Z. Kane...
(1977) (TV) (canceled after six episodes) - The Ghost of Flight 401 (1978) (TV)
- Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978) (TV)
- From Here to EternityFrom Here to EternityFrom Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
(1979) (miniseries) - From Here to EternityFrom Here to Eternity (TV series)From Here to Eternity was a six-hour 1979 television mini-series, followed by a thirteen episode 1980 television series.The mini-series was a remake of the 1953 film From Here to Eternity and based on the 1951 novel of the same name...
(1980) (canceled after thirteen episodes) - Killjoy (1981) (TV)
- Sean Connery, an Intimate Portrait (1997) (documentary)
- The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(1998: 13.17) – Herself - The Mermaid ChairThe Mermaid ChairThe Mermaid Chair is a 2005 novel written by American novelist Sue Monk Kidd, which has also been adapted as a Lifetime movie-Synopsis:...
(2006) (TV)