Divorced from makeup artist Ron Snyder and actorAlec Baldwin, Basinger cohabitates with her longtime hairdresser, Mitch Stone. She had a high-profile relationship between marriages with musicianPrince, with whom she recorded an album,Hollywood Affair, and is the mother of social media influencerIreland Baldwin from her marriage to Baldwin.
Basinger was born inAthens, Georgia, on December 8, 1953.[3] Her mother, Ann Lee (née Cordell; 1925–2017), was a model, actress and swimmer who appeared in severalEsther Williams films.[3][4] Her father, Donald Wade Basinger (1923–2016), was abig band musician and loan manager; as aU.S. Army soldier, he landed inNormandy onD-Day.[5] The middle of five children, she has two older brothers, Skip (b. 1950) and Mick (b. 1951), and two younger sisters, Barbara (b. 1956) and Ashley (b. 1959).[3] Basinger's ancestry includesEnglish,German, andUlster Scots.[6][7] She was raised aMethodist.[8] Basinger has described herself as extremelyshy, which had a major effect on her during her childhood and young adulthood.[7] She has said that her shyness was so extreme that she wouldfaint if asked to speak in class.[3][7]
Basinger studiedballet from about age three to her mid-teens. By her mid-teens, she grew in confidence and successfully auditioned for the school cheerleading team.[3] At 17, she entered America's Junior Miss Scholarship Pageant, won at the city level and was crowned Athens Junior Miss. While she didn't win at the state level, her beauty was profiled in the national program.[9] She had competed at the state level for the Breck Scholarship and was featured in an ad for Breck in a joint portrait with her mother.
Basinger was offered a modeling contract with theFord Modeling Agency,[3] but turned it down in favor of singing and acting, and enrolled at theUniversity of Georgia. She soon reconsidered and went to New York to become a Ford model.[3] Despite earning US$1,000 a day, Basinger never enjoyed modeling, saying: "It was very hard to go from one booking to another and always have to deal with the way I looked. I couldn't stand it. I felt myself choking."[3] Basinger has said that even as a model, when others relished looking in the mirror before appearing, she abhorred it and would avoid mirrors out of insecurity.[10] Not long after her Ford deal, Basinger appeared on the cover of magazines. She also appears on the cover of thedebut album by the bandSurvivor. She appeared in hundreds of advertisements throughout the early 1970s, most notably as theBreck Shampoo girl.[11] She alternated between modeling and attending acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse, as well as performing inGreenwich Village clubs as a singer.[12] Basinger is an alumna of theWilliam Esper Studio for the performing arts inManhattan,New York City.[13]
In 1976, after four years as a cover girl, Basinger quit modeling and moved to Los Angeles to act. She made guest appearances on a few television shows such asMcMillan & Wife andCharlie's Angels,[14] turning down a regular role in the latter series that eventually went toCheryl Ladd.[15] Her first starring role was a made-for-TV movie,Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978), in which she played a small town girl who goes to Hollywood to become an actress and winds up becoming a famous centerfold for a men's magazine.[16] She also had the lead in a short lived TV seriesDog and Cat.[17]
Her breakthrough role came asDomino Petachi, theBond girl inNever Say Never Again (1983), where she starred oppositeSean Connery. In his review of the film, Gary Arnold ofThe Washington Post said Basinger "looks like a voluptuous sibling ofLiv Ullmann and has a certain something."[18] Worldwide,Never Say Never Again grossed US$160 million.[19] As part of its promotion, Basinger did a famous nude pictorial forPlayboy,[15] which she has said led to good opportunities, such as her role as the romantic interest of a baseball team star inBarry Levinson'sThe Natural (1984), alongsideRobert Redford, for which she earned aGolden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Blake Edwards cast her twice in his films; as a beautiful woman married to a Texas millionaire inThe Man Who Loved Women (1983), and as an apparently shy woman who goes on a date with a workaholic man inBlind Date (1987).Robert Altman cast Basinger in the role of a woman hiding from her former lover at an old motel inFool for Love (1985). In 1986, Basinger starred as a New York City art gallery employee who has a brief yet intense affair with a mysterious Wall Street broker, oppositeMickey Rourke, inAdrian Lyne's controversial erotic romantic drama9½ Weeks.[20] Though the film failed at the North American box office, it performed very well in Europe, especially France, and acquired a large American fanbase on home video and cable.Roger Ebert praised the film, comparing it toLast Tango in Paris, and said Basinger helped "develop an erotic tension [...] that is convincing, complicated and sensual."[21]
Writer-directorRobert Benton also cast her in the title role of a slightly pregnant woman in trouble forNadine (1987). While most of the films Basinger starred in during this period were released to varying degrees of success, they helped to establish her as an actress. With over US$400 million in box office totals,[22] the highest-grossing film of her career thus far isTim Burton's 1989 filmBatman,[23] in which Basinger took on role of photojournalistVicki Vale, oppositeMichael Keaton. Basinger re-wrote the film's third act with producerJon Peters with whom she was having a behind the scenesaffair.[24]The Hollywood Reporter, in its original review, remarked that "the uniqueness and very soul of the film [...] is achieved through the beautifully defined and probing performances of Michael Keaton asBruce Wayne and Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale".[25]
Following the success ofBatman, Basinger played a glamorous singer, alongsideAlec Baldwin, in the comedyThe Marrying Man (1991), and starred withRichard Gere, as a woman romantically involved with her sister's psychiatrist, in the neo-noirFinal Analysis (1992). Both films were released to moderate box office returns.[26] In 1992, Basinger was also a guest vocalist on a re-recorded version ofWas (Not Was)'s "Shake Your Head", which featuredOzzy Osbourne on vocals, and reached the UK Top 5,[27] and starred in what marked her only voice-acting project to date, the filmCool World, directed byRalph Bakshi, as a cartoon bombshell who longs to become a real human woman.
In 1993, Basinger took on the roles of a woman recently released from prison in the crime filmThe Real McCoy, a woman named Honey Hornée in the comedyWayne's World 2, and was in the music video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' hit single Mary Jane's Last Dance. In 1994, she reunited professionally with Baldwin for the thrillerThe Getaway, in which she portrayed the wife of a former con, and with director Robert Altman for the comedyPrêt-à-Porter, playing a breathlessly dim-witted cable reporter.[28] Amid financial issues, Basinger went into hiatus from the screen by the mid-1990s.
InI Dreamed of Africa, Basinger portrayed writer and environmentalistKuki Gallmann, withVincent Pérez, whom she called the "most incredible actor she had ever worked with".[10] The film was described as a "passion project" for her, and she toldUrbanCinefile that she "cried for hours" when she had to leaveKenya, where filming took place. Budgeted at US$50 million,I Dreamed of Africa got a 10 percent rating onRotten Tomatoes, and only managed to pull in US$14 million at the worldwide box office.[31]
Curtis Hanson cast her again, this time as the alcoholic mother of an aspiring rapper, in8 Mile (2002), oppositeEminem andBrittany Murphy. The film appeared on many top ten lists of the year, and in his review, Roger Ebert asserted: "There has been criticism of Kim Basinger, who is said to be too attractive and even glamorous to play [Eminem]'s mother, but [...] Her performance finds the right note somewhere between love and exasperation; it cannot be easy to live with this sullen malcontent, whose face lights up only when he sees his baby sister".8 Mile was a commercial success, grossing $242.9 million worldwide.[32]
Basinger next appeared in two crime thrillers—Cellular (2004) andThe Sentinel (2006). InCellular, oppositeChris Evans andJason Statham, she played a wealthy high school biology teacher taken hostage in her home.[34]Entertainment Weekly considered that "Basinger makes a vividly frightened yet resourceful woman in peril",[35] and the film was a moderate commercial success.[36] InThe Sentinel, Basinger portrayed theFirst Lady of the United States, oppositeMichael Douglas,Kiefer Sutherland andEva Longoria. Despite mixed reviews, the film made US$78.1 million globally.[37] In 2006, Basinger also starred in theLifetime filmThe Mermaid Chair, as a married woman who falls in love with a Benedictine monk and experiences a self-awakening.
Basinger then played a mother having extramarital affairs in directorGuillermo Arriaga's feature film debutThe Burning Plain (2008), a drama narrated in ahyperlink format, oppositeCharlize Theron andJennifer Lawrence. While the film found a limited release in theaters,The Telegraph, in its review, wrote: "Arriaga pulls together the strands of his narrative with great expertise [and] his job is made easier by great performances from three actresses: Theron and Basinger, who both look like racing certs for next year's awards season, and Jennifer Lawrence as Basinger's teenage daughter".[38]
In 2008, Basinger produced and starred in the independent thrillerWhile She Was Out, as a suburban housewife who is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four murderous thugs.[39] Despite a very limited release in theaters,L.A. Weekly described that film as a "surprisingly enjoyable female revenge tale" and called Basinger's performance "first-rate".[40] Her next film,The Informers (2009), which was written byBret Easton Ellis, premiered at theSundance Film Festival. In it, Basinger starred as the chronically depressed wife of a jaded film executive (played byBilly Bob Thornton).[41]
Basinger returned to Africa in her next film, the 2012 Nigerian dramaBlack November, about aNiger Delta community's struggle to save their environment, which was being destroyed by excessiveoil drilling. As part of an ensemble cast (which included her9½ Weeks co-star Mickey Rourke), she played the role of a kidnapped reporter. While the film had a significant impact upon its release,[44]The Hollywood Reporter noted: "Don't be fooled by the names of Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger on the marquee. Despite the tantalizing prospect of a reunion of the stars of a certain '80s-era hit erotic drama, their minor presence is largely extraneous to the proceedings of [this] overwrought and preachy thriller".[45]
Basinger played the role of wife in two 2013 films — the independent dramaThird Person, withLiam Neeson andOlivia Wilde, and the sports comedyGrudge Match, withRobert De Niro andSylvester Stallone. Critic Odie Henderson, describing Basinger in his review for the latter film, remarked that she "looks stunning at 60 and provides the film's sole voice of reason".[46] She subsequently took on the role of mother in the independent drama4 Minute Mile (2014) as well as the part of a woman who, after a miscarriage, sets out on a dangerous quest to obtain a child in the likewise independent productionThe 11th Hour (also 2014), which was released for VOD.[47]IndieWire felt that Basinger "does what she can with [The 11th Hour] material, but that's not much".[48] In 2016, she had a brief role, as a crooked high-ranking official in theUnited States Department of Justice, in the crime comedyThe Nice Guys, alongsideRussell Crowe andRyan Gosling.
Basinger played Elena Lincoln, the business partner and former lover ofChristian Grey, in the film adaptation ofFifty Shades Darker (2017), the sequel toFifty Shades of Grey.[49]Dakota Johnson, her co-star, described her as "one of the great people to work with".[50] Despite negative reviews, the film made US$381.4 million globally.[51] Basinger reprised the role in the 2018 sequel,Fifty Shades Freed.
In January 2022, Basinger collaborated withPeter Bogdanovich to createLIT Project 2: Flux, a first of its kind short film made available on the Ethereum blockchain as anon-fungible token.[52] She is a prominent character in the video gameCrime Boss: Rockay City (2023).
Before she was famous, Basinger dated model Tim Saunders, photographer Dale Robinette and football playerJoe Namath.[53][54]
On October 12, 1980, she married makeup artist Ron Snyder-Britton, whom she met on the filmHard Country. Basinger developedagoraphobia that same year, following a panic attack in a health-food store, and was housebound for six months.[10][55] Snyder quit his job during the marriage and changed his surname to Britton after Basinger requested he choose "something with a B" so she could keep the same initials when using her married name.[53] The pair divorced just before Christmas 1989,[56] after which Basinger paid him $9,000 monthlyalimony for eight years.[57] Britton wrote a memoir titledLonger Than Forever, published in 1998, about their time together and about her affair withRichard Gere, with whom she starred inNo Mercy (1986) andFinal Analysis (1992).[58]
While her first divorce was in the works, Basinger had romantic relationships with hairdresser/producerJon Peters as well as singerPrince, who did thealbum forBatman and also produced her unreleased 1989 albumHollywood Affair.[54] She was then involved briefly with fitness trainer Phil Walsh and fashion designer Alexio Gandara.[53][59]
In 1990, Basinger met her second husband,Alec Baldwin, when they played lovers inThe Marrying Man. They married on August 19, 1993, and starred in the 1994 remake ofThe Getaway. They also played themselves in a 1998 episode ofThe Simpsons, in which Basinger correctedHomer Simpson on the pronunciation of her surname and polished her Oscar statuette. Basinger and Baldwin have a daughter,Ireland, born October 23, 1995. They separated at the end of 2000 and divorced on September 3, 2002.[60][61] In his 2008 book,A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce, Baldwin chronicled the contentious seven-year custody battle with Basinger over their daughter following their separation, contending that she spent more than $1.5 million in her efforts to deny him parental access.[62]
After the divorce from Baldwin, Basinger was reported to be romantically linked with8 Mile (2002) co-starEminem,[54][63] which the rapper repeatedly denied.[64][65] She would not have another public attachment until 2014, when she began dating Mitch Stone.[66] Like Snyder and Peters before him, Stone is also Basinger's hairstylist.[67] The couple wears matching gold bands and have since moved in together.[68]
Some family members recommended Basinger buy the bulk of the privately owned land in the small town ofBraselton, Georgia, some 1,691 acres in 1989, for $20 million, to establish it as a tourist attraction with movie studios and a film festival.[69] However, she encountered financial difficulties and started to sell parts of it off in 1995.[70] The town is now owned by developer Wayne Mason. In a 1998 interview withBarbara Walters, Basinger stated that "nothing good came out of it," because a rift resulted within her family.
Basinger's financial difficulties were exacerbated when she pulled out of the filmBoxing Helena (1993), resulting in the studio winning an $8.9 million judgment against her.[71] Basinger filed forbankruptcy[72] and appealed the decision to a higher court, which ruled in her favor. She and the studio settled for $3.8 million instead.[70]
Basinger's parents were legally married from 1948 to 2016, though they separated in 1980 and had little or no contact for the last 36 years of her father's life. Contrary to erroneous reports,[73] they never divorced.[74]
Starting in the mid-1990s, Basinger was estranged from her mother, Ann, and all but one of her four siblings. Her father Don and youngest sister Ashley were the only family members invited to her second wedding in 1993,[60] and the only family members she thanked in her acceptance speech at the Academy Awards in 1998.[75] Basinger was still estranged from her mother as of 2002.[76] However, they appeared to have reconciled by 2015, when Ann toldRadarOnline in an exclusive interview that Kim would be coming home to Georgia for Christmas.[68]
Basinger is avegetarian and ananimal rights supporter. She has posed for anti-fur advertisements byPETA,[77] and also filmed a public service announcement on downed farm animals forFarm Sanctuary.[78] She was involved in the creation of a bill offering protection to diseased and crippled farm animals, whichGovernor of CaliforniaPete Wilson signed.[79]
After transitioning from modeling to acting in the late 1970s, Basinger has had over fifty credits in film and television productions, as of 2018. She garnered aGolden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance inThe Natural (1984), and as part of the cast ofPrêt-à-Porter (1994), she received an ensemble award from theNational Board of Review.[80] She won theAcademy Award, aGolden Globe Award, aBAFTA Award, aScreen Actors Guild Award, and a Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress inL.A. Confidential (1997).
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