Kim Basinger life and biography

Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger is an American film actress and former fashion model.

Kim Basinger was born December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia, the 3rd of 5 children. Both her parents had been in entertainment, her dad 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 the age of 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 she sang under the stage name Chelsea. Kim moved to Los Angeles in 1976, ready to conquer Hollywood. Kim broke into television doing episodes of such hit series as ‘Charlie’s Angels’. In 1980, she married Ron Britton (they divorced in 1989). In movies, she had roles like being a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983)’ and playing a small-town Texan beauty in ‘Nadine’ (1987). Her breakout role was as photojournalist Vicki Vale in the blockbuster hit ‘Batman’. There was no long-orchestrated campaign on her part to snag this plumb role, Kim was a last-minute replacement for Sean Young. This took her to a career high. 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 (she would later have to sell it).

Personal life

In 1993, Kim married Alec Baldwin, and in 1995 they had a daughter, Ireland Eliesse. 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. In 1997, Kim gave an Oscar-winning performance in the film noir classic L.A. Confidential. Kim’s salary for ‘I Dreamed of Africa’ is $5,000,000 putting her firmly in the category of big-name movie star. And no doubt there are still many great things ahead, in the career of cover girl turned Oscar-winning actress Kim Basinger.

The marriage ended in divorce in 1988. He later wrote a memoir, Longer than Forever: The Story of Our Strange Marriage, in 1998, 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 (musician).

Some family members recommended Basinger buy the small town of Braselton, Georgia in 1989 for $20 million, to establish as a tourist attraction with movie studios and film festival, but she met financial difficulties and sold it in 1993. 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 $8-million judgment against her. Basinger filed for bankruptcy and appealed the jury's decision to a higher court, which sided with her. She and the studio settled for a lesser amount.

In 1990, she met her second husband, Alec Baldwin, when they played lovers in The Marrying Man. They married on 19 August 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 "Addie" Baldwin (born 23 October 1995). They filed for divorce in January 2001; it was finalized in February 2002. Since then, the couple have been in a contentious custody battle. Alec Baldwin's book A Promise To Ourselves chronicles the lengths Basinger has gone to deny Baldwin access to their daughter since separation.

Basinger is close to her sister Ashley and father, Don, but she is estranged from her brother Mick and her mother, Ann, who has been sympathetic to ex-son-in-law Baldwin in the aftermath of the divorce. "Kim has just written off the ones who don't agree with her", says a source close to the family.

Basinger helps animal rights issues, notably posing for anti-fur advertisements with PETA. She has written to fashion designers such as Yohji Yamamoto to ask that they stop using fur.

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