2023-12-08 20:11:37
For several generations Kim Basinger is and will be, despite herself, a ‘sex symbol’. That of the beautiful blonde who exuded sensuality and fear in ‘Nine and a Half Weeks’ alongside Mickey Rourke. But there is much more to the career of the American actress who reaches the age of 70 with an Oscar, three husbands and many mediocre films in a life full of personal and professional ups and downs due to her vulnerable, fickle and tormented personality.
A vegetarian since she was a child, a defender of animal rights and with a volatile character, her uneven career stalled in the 90s after refusing to make ‘My Obsession with Helena’. She was denounced by the producers, she had to pay new millions of dollars after losing the trial.
Born on December 8, 1953 in Athens (Georgia, USA) Kimila Ann Basinger, Dodo to her family, was the third of five siblings. With English, German, French, Swedish and Irish blood in her veins, she was the daughter of a jazz musician and businessman and a model and swimmer who appeared in Esther Williams films.
Educated in the Methodist religion, she studied ballet as a child and was Miss Georgia when she was only 16 years old. At 17 she settled in New York as a model and made advertisements and video clips. Her father’s contempt – “I never did anything good for him,” she said – turned her into such a shy and lonely child that they thought she was autistic.
She wanted to be an actress and trained in acting and singing. She got roles and looked palmetto in series like ‘Starsky and Hutch’ or ‘Charlie’s Angels’. And she had affairs with model Tim Saunders, photographer and actor Dale Robinette and American football player Joe Namath.
Bunny and Bond girl
In 1980 she started in film with ‘Jodie Palmer’s Ambition’ and fell in love with the makeup artist Ron Snyder-Britton, whom she married. They had no children. Shortly after, the production companies competed for her and she produced unforgettable films. In 1982 she suffered her first panic attack and was confined for four months with agoraphobia. Answer, she posed for ‘Playboy’ in 1983 and after being a bunny she was a Bond girl with Sean Connery in ‘Never Say Never Again’. She participated in ‘My Problems with Women’, a comedy by Blake Edwards that brought her back to the hilarious ‘Blind Date’ with Bruce Willis.
But the defining title of his career was ‘Nine and a Half Weeks’ (1986), the filming of which was like a nightmare. Adrian Lyne, the director, prevented her from meeting Rourke before filming the most torrid scenes to make her “feel afraid.” Rourke grabbed her so hard it made her cry and slapped her so hard that it stunned her. The film about a sadomasochistic relationship failed in the US and was a huge success in Europe. She turned Basinger into an erotic myth, especially because of her striptease to the tune of ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’ by Joe Cocker.
He was the object of Robert Redford’s desire in ‘The Best’ and in 1987 he starred in ‘Dead End’ with Richard Gere. ‘The affair’ with the actor ended her marriage and she divorced in 1989. At the age of 33 at the height of her beauty and fame, she worked in films such as ‘Batman’, ‘My girlfriend is an extraterrestrial’ or ‘LA Confidencial’, that would give her the Oscar for best supporting actress and vindicated her talent. She joined producer Jon Peters and Prince, with whom she would record an album. While filming ‘She Always Says Yes’ (1990) she met Alec Baldwin, who would be her new husband in 1993. After filming another film together, ‘The Escape’, in 1995 they had a daughter, Ireland Eliesse. Their marriage was stormy. They divorced in 2002 and fought a legal war for custody of their daughter.
In the last decade Basinger has settled her family life with hairdresser Mitchell Stone with whom she has lived since 2014. She has appeared in titles such as ‘Eight Miles’, ‘Far from the Burnt Earth’, ‘Always by My Side’ and ‘Celullar’. ‘Fifty Shades Freed’, filmed in 2019, is her last film.
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