Kim Basinger
Actress
Kim Basinger is one of the most beautiful actresses in the world, and has had a very successful career as model and actress.
Both of her parents came from entertainment backgrounds: dad studied at Chicago's American Conservatory of Music and spent a few years playing big-band jazz before marrying Basinger's mother, a champion swimmer and model who performed water ballet in several Esther Williams movies. Eventually, she followed in her mother's footsteps, becoming a diver, dancer, and gymnast in high school. She was just sixteen when she entered the Athens Junior Miss contest, and sang her way to the tiara with a number from My Fair Lady, "Wouldn't It Be Loverly." 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. While there, she met fashion modeling magnate Eileen Ford, who on the spot offered the full-lipped, blue-eyed blonde a contract with her renowned Ford Modeling Agency. Though she initially declined Ford's offer, hoping to pursue a career either in singing or acting, the young beauty queen had a change of heart when she got back home to Georgia, and promptly returned to New York. She never abandoned her dreams of performing, and made time in her busy schedule for acting classes at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse and open-mike-night performances in various Greenwich Village clubs, where she sang under the stage name "Chelsea." Although she was highlighted in campaigns for such major cosmetic lines as Breck, Revlon, Clairol and Maybelline, Basinger decided to forego modeling for an acting career. After living in New York for five years, in 1976 Basinger moved to the West Coast and made her feature film debut in Hard Country in 1981. Over the next several years she won roles that displayed an impressive range. In Blind Date, she proved herself a consummate comedian. In The Natural, she smoldered as a femme fatale, and in 9 1/2 Weeks, she took on the controversial role of an eager love slave.
In 1982, Kim Basinger married makeup artist Ron Britton, whom she met on Hard Country. Her marriage broke up in late 1988. Then in 1989 she and Baldwin met over dinner to discuss their upcoming film, The Marrying Man. That was the beginning of what seemed to be an endless scandals. Basinger and Baldwin had problems with the movie studio that produced the movie, The Marrying Man. Outrageous stories of the two actors'behaviour on the movie set surfaced on tabloids. The movie didn't do well financially when it was released.
Also in 1989, Basinger headed up an investment group that purchased the tiny burg of Braselton, in her native Georgia, for $20 million. Just four years later, Basinger filed for bankruptcy after a judge ordered her to pay Main Line Pictures $8.1 million for backing out of a verbal commitment to star in Boxing Helena. Though she eventually appealed that ruling and reached an out-of-court settlement with Main Line, Basinger was forced to sell her interest in Braselton for just $1 million; court documents revealed that her monthly expenses at the time of her bankruptcy filing totaled $43,100, including $6,100 for clothing and $7,000 for "pet care and other personal expenses."
On the heels of all the bad tidings, Basinger rebounded, with a high-profile marriage to actor Alec Baldwin on Aug. 19, 1993 in East Hampton, N.Y. On Oct. 23, 1995, their first child, Ireland Eliesse (8 lbs., 3 ozs.), was born in Los Angeles. She concentrated on her new-born daughter and took some time off from making movies. But when she returned in 1997 with a supproting role in L.A. Confidential, she was awarded with Golden Globe and Oscar for her role. She has since divorced from Alec Baldwin in 2002.
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