Biography for
Kim Basinger More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

8 December 1953, Athens, Georgia, USA

Birth Name

Kimila Ann Basinger

Height

5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Mini Biography

Kim Basinger was born December 8, 1953 in Athens, Georgia, the third of five children. Both her parents had been in entertainment, her father had played big-band jazz, and her mother had performed water ballet in several Esther Williams movies. Kim was introspective, from her father's side. As a schoolgirl, she was very shy. To help her overcome this, her parents had Kim study ballet from an early age. By the time she reached sweet sixteen, the once-shy Kim entered the Athens Junior Miss contest. From there, she went on to win the Junior Miss Georgia title and traveled to New York to compete in the national Junior Miss pageant. Kim, who had blossomed to a 5' 7" beauty, was offered a contract on the spot with the Ford Modeling Agency. At age 20, Kim was a top model, commanding $1,000 a day. Throughout the early 1970s, she appeared on dozens of magazine covers and in hundreds of ads, most notably as the Breck girl. Kim took acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse, performed in various Greenwich Village clubs, and sang under the stage name Chelsea.

In 1976, Kim moved to Los Angeles, ready to conquer Hollywood. Kim broke into television doing episodes of such hit series as "Charlie's Angels" (1976). Kim also starred in several TV movies including Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978) (TV) and the award-winning remake of "From Here to Eternity" (1979). In 1980, Kim married Ron Snyder (aka Ron Britton), a makeup artist she had met in 1979 on the set of Hard Country (1981). Kim asked him to change his surname to "something with a B" so as to match a luxury set of luggage they owned, hence the name Britton. Kim did good work in a few low-key movies like Mother Lode (1982) before skyrocketing to fame as Domino Petachi, Sean Connery's love interest in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983). Kim was next paired with Burt Reynolds in The Man Who Loved Women (1983), and received a Golden Globe nomination for her turn as Memo Paris in The Natural (1984) opposite Robert Redford. In 1985, Kim gave a tour-de-force performance in the screen adaptation of Sam Shepard's play Fool for Love (1985). During the remainder of the 1980s, Kim's career flourished. She starred in Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986), No Mercy (1986), Blind Date (1987), Nadine (1987), and My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988), then played Vicki Vale in Tim Burton's blockbuster redux of Batman (1989).

With perhaps too much disposable income, Kim headed up an investment group that purchased the entire town of Braselton, in her native Georgia, for $20 million in 1989 (she would later have to sell it). That same year, Kim divorced Ron Britton, telling Cosmopolitan magazine that she would never marry again. However, in 1993, after rejecting several proposals, Kim remarried to actor Alec Baldwin. They had a daughter, Ireland Eliesse, in 1995. Kim took some time off to stay at home with her child. Kim, who loves animals and is a strict vegetarian, devoted energy to animal rights issues and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), even posing for some ads.

Kim made an Oscar-winning comeback as mysterious prostitute Lynn Bracken in the film noir L.A. Confidential (1997). Her salary for I Dreamed of Africa (2000) was $5,000,000, putting her firmly back in the category of big-name movie star. Kim later appeared in the box office hit 8 Mile (2002), proving her versatility in an against-type role as Eminem's alcoholic mother. More recently, Kim has starred in the thrillers Cellular (2004) and The Sentinel (2006), and there are still many great things ahead, in the career of cover girl turned Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger.

IMDb Mini Biography By: kdhaisch@aol.com

Spouse

Alec Baldwin	(19 August 1993 - 3 February 2002) (divorced) 1 child
Ron Snyder	(12 October 1980 - 16 December 1989) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Platinum blonde hair

Sparkling blue eyes

Voluptuous figure

Lisp, breathless voice

Her scream. She's often referred to as the 'Scream Queen'.

Trivia

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#40). [1995]

Studied ballet from the age of 3 to mid-teens.

She describes her father as an introspective, classically trained trumpeter, her mother as a flamboyant, extroverted "Lucy-like" housewife.

Loved the movie My Fair Lady (1964) and the "Loverly" song in it, which prompted her father to encourage her to enter local Junior Miss pageant and sing the song as her "talent." She didn't win, but later did succeed in competition to become the 'Breck (shampoo) Girl." This led to career as Ford model, then to acting.

Went to high school with Keith Strickland of The B-52's.

Had a miscarriage in 1981 during the production of Mother Lode (1982).

When she reneged on her verbal agreement to star in Boxing Helena (1993), the producers sued her for breach of contract. A jury ordered her to pay over $8 million, which forced Basinger to declare bankruptcy. The decision was reversed on appeal.

Ex-sister-in-law of Sherrill Snyder, Daniel Baldwin, Chynna Phillips, William Baldwin and Stephen Baldwin. Ex-cousin-in-law of Joseph Baldwin.

Her last name is often mispronounced. The writers on "Saturday Night Live" (1975) made fun of this fact when she and her second husband, Alec Baldwin, hosted the show. In his opening monologue, he asks her how to pronounce her name. She answers (correctly) "Bay-sing-ger," with a hard 'g' in the final syllable.

First "Bond Girl" (she played Domino in Never Say Never Again (1983) to win an Oscar (won for L.A. Confidential (1997)). The only other actress who has since done so is Halle Berry.

Was a cheerleader at Athens High School.

She and second husband Alec Baldwin met and fell in love in 1990 on the set of the trouble-plagued movie The Marrying Man (1991).

Her grandmother was part Cherokee Indian. She is also of German, Swedish and Irish ancestry.

Turned down the role she played in L.A. Confidential (1997) three times before accepting it.

Was originally cast in Kansas City (1996) as Carolyn.

Daughter of Don, a jazz musician, and Ann, a former model and champion swimmer.

Sister of Mick, Skip, Ashley and Barbara.

Met Ron Snyder on the set of her film Hard Country (1981), which was filmed in 1979 but shelved for two years. Snyder was part of the film's makeup crew.

Wanted to play Donna in Mamma Mia! (2008) but the role went to Meryl Streep.

Born at 11:04 AM.

First actress to win an Oscar after appearing naked in Playboy magazine. The only other actress who has since done so is Charlize Theron.

Was ranked #3 in a poll for MovieFone's top ten sexiest Bond girls, behind Ursula Andress and Halle Berry.

Her first husband, Ron Snyder, wrote a memoir entitled "Longer Than Forever," published in 1998, about their ten-year marriage.

Had a long-term relationship with model Dale Robinette in the 1970s. They lived together in New York, and he moved with her to Los Angeles when she decided to become an actress.

Turned down the role of Annie in Bull Durham (1988).

Turned down the role of the mother in The Virgin Suicides (1999) before Kathleen Turner was cast in the part.

Had never seen a Bond film when she signed on to do Never Say Never Again (1983).

Auditioned for the lead role in Squirm (1976).

Gave birth to her only child at age 42, a daughter, Ireland Baldwin (aka "Ireland Eliesse Baldwin"), on October 23, 1995. Child's father is her second husband, Alec Baldwin.

Is a vegetarian.

In the divorce from first husband Ron Snyder, Kim paid him $8,000 monthly alimony and made the mortgage payments on their San Fernando Valley home, where he continued to reside.

Received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

The famous tiger swimsuit she wore in Never Say Never Again (1983) was given to her by the Playboy organization in 1981.

Didn't leave her house for two months after having a panic attack in a grocery store. [1980].

Personal Quotes

I work in a strange business, and trust is a word that's not even in the vocabulary.

I think any girl who comes to Hollywood with sex symbol or bombshell hanging over her has a rough road.

I feel there are two people inside me - me and my intuition. If I go against her, she'll screw me every time, and if I follow her, we get along quite nicely.

My hand still shakes when I sign autographs. I still go and sit in the movies like everyone else and look up there and go "God! Movie stars! Wow!" And I'm in this business. I walk out there just fascinated and I always want to stay like that. I'm just a little kid going to these movies and I don't ever want to change.

You have to be a little unreal to be in this business.

[on her 1988 divorce from Ron Snyder-Britton] I wanted to end the marriage many years before that but didn't know how to do it. I didn't want to hurt him.

[on Sean Connery] I fantasize about riding an Arabian horse bareback with him along a sandy beach. We fall naked to the ground and, as the horse wanders off along the water's edge, we make passionate love in the moonlight. It always leaves me hot and bothered -- I just love the man.

Salary

Hard Country (1981)	$125,000
Mother Lode (1982)	$125,000
Never Say Never Again (1983)	$250,000
The Man Who Loved Women (1983)	$200,000
The Natural (1984)	$250,000
Fool for Love (1985)	$208,000
Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986)	$508,000
No Mercy (1986)	$1,000,000
Blind Date (1987)	$1,000,000
Nadine (1987)	$1,150,000
My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)	$1,250,000
Batman (1989)	$3,000,000
The Marrying Man (1991)	$2,500,000
Final Analysis (1992)	$3,000,000
Cool World (1992)	$1,700,000
The Real McCoy (1993)	$3,000,000
I Dreamed of Africa (2000)	$5,000,000