Saturday, March 24, 2012

Yvonne De Carlo






































Yvonne De Carlo (September 1, 1922 – January 8, 2007) was a Canadian-born American actress of film and television. During her six-decade career, her most frequent appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s and included her best-known film roles, such as of Anna Marie in Salome Where She Danced (1945); Anna in Criss Cross (1949); Sephora the wife of Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), starring Charlton Heston; and Amantha Starr in Band of Angels (1957) with Clark Gable. In the early 1960s, De Carlo accepted the offer to play Lily Munster for the CBS television series The Munsters, alongside Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis.


Early life

The daughter of an aspiring actress, Marie De Carlo, and a salesman, William Middleton, De Carlo was born Margaret Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia, and nicknamed 'Peggy'. "I was named Margaret Yvonne – Margaret because my mother was very fond of one of the derivatives of the name. She was fascinated at the time by the movie star Baby Peggy, and I suppose she wanted a Baby Peggy of her own." Her maternal grandfather, Michael de Carlo, was Sicilian-born, and her maternal grandmother, Margaret Purvis, was Scottish-born. Margaret's mother ran away from home when she was 16 to become a ballerina; after a couple of years of working as a shop girl, she was married in 1924. Little Peggy was three years old when her father abandoned the family. She lived with her grandparents. By the time she entered grade school, she found that her strong singing voice brought her the attention she longed for. Although her mother recognized Peggy's singing talent, she had already decided that her daughter would be a dancer. As a teenager Peggy was taken by her mother to Hollywood where she enrolled her in dancing school; she also attended Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood. Margaret lived in a downtown apartment with her mother, while Marie took on odd jobs such as waitressing. Mother and daughter were uprooted when their visas expired. Unable to find work, they returned to Vancouver.
She attended and dropped out of Vancouver's now-defunct King Edward High School, to focus more on her dance studies. She then attended the B.C. School of Dancing. It was there that Canadian dance instructor, June Roper, started her in a new direction, for which she was grateful and relieved. The following year at the Orpheum Theatre, Peggy appeared as a hula dancer in the famous revue Waikiki. A new nightclub, the Palomar, opened in Vancouver, and she acquired a week-long booking. Hoping to present a more sophisticated image, she combined her middle name with her mother's maiden name and became "Yvonne De Carlo."
The pair made several such trips until 1940, when De Carlo was first runner-up to "Miss Venice Beach" and was hired by showman Nils Granlund as a dancer at the Florentine Gardens. She had been dancing for Granlund only a short time when she was arrested by immigration officials and deported to Canada, but in January 1941, Granlund sent a telegram to Canadian immigration officials pledging his sponsorship of De Carlo in the United States, and affirmed his offer of steady employment, both requirements to reenter the country.
Before she worked at Florentine, she also got her first job at 16, working at Vancouver's Palomar, where it expanded from a ballroom to a nightclub in 1938. Her time at the nightclub ended when she allegedly was pressured to expose her breasts. Seeking contract work in the movies, she abruptly quit the Florentine Gardens after less than a year, landing a role as a bathing beauty in the 1941 B-movie Harvard, Here I Come. Other roles were slow to follow, and De Carlo took a job in the chorus line of Earl Carroll, another Hollywood showman. Her sixth film appearance was at the request of Nils Granlund, and the film Rhythm Parade was set at the Florentine Gardens nightclub in Hollywood.
In December 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor signaled America's entrance into World War II. During this period she engaged in morale boosting performances for U.S. servicemen. De Carlo was a favorite leading lady in the 1940s, and a recipient of many letters from GI's.

De Carlo in the trailer for Criss Cross (1949)

Film career

Early successes

She was a Paramount starlet, but the studio apparently signed her mainly for her slight resemblance to Dorothy Lamour, as it was common then for studios to sign lookalikes in order to remind the stars in question that they easily could be replaced should their behavior become difficult or their box-office appeal begin to wane. When she moved to Universal Studios, she was used as a B-movie version of Maria Montez, one of the studio's reigning divas.
Her break came in 1945 playing the title role in Salome, Where She Danced. Though not a critical success, it was a box office favorite, and De Carlo was hailed as an up-and-coming star. Of the role, she was less sure, saying of her entrance, "I came through these beaded curtains, wearing a Japanese kimono and a Japanese headpiece, and then performed a Siamese dance. Nobody seemed to know quite why."

De Carlo in the trailer for Buccaneer's Girl (1950)
In 1947 she played her first leading role in Slave Girl and then in 1949 had her biggest success. As the female lead opposite Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross, she played a femme fatale, and her career began to ascend. She starred in the 1953 film The Captain's Paradise, as one of two wives a ship captain (Alec Guinness) keeps in separate ports.

The Ten Commandments


with Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments (1956)
In 1954, during the casting for Cecil B. DeMille's biblical-epic The Ten Commandments (1956), actress Audrey Hepburn was suggested for the role of "Nefretiri" and actress Anne Baxter was chosen for the part of "Sephora". After Hepburn was turned down for the role of the Egyptian throne princess for being too "flat chested", the part of "Nefretiri" was handed down to Baxter.
When DeMille saw De Carlo in Sombrero (1953), he offered her the vacant role of "Sephora". De Carlo accepted, and declined another role she was offered in a German film at the time. De Carlo quotes "working with Mr. DeMille was a learning experience that I will never forget".
With a pay of $25,000; De Carlo's performance in the film made her into a first-class actress who could play any kind of role in big-budget films. Besides filming at Paramount Studios, De Carlo accompanied DeMille and the rest of the crew to Egypt, where several exterior shots were filmed. De Carlo met stuntman Robert Morgan in Egypt, and married him on November 21, 1955 in Reno, Nevada.

Band of Angels

The 1957 film Band of Angels featured her opposite Clark Gable in an American Civil War story, along with Sidney Poitier and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. The actress worked steadily for the next several years, although many of the films failed to advance her career.

Character actress

Prior to becoming a full-fledged movie star, De Carlo also became a character actress, and made her debut on a 1952 episode of Lights Out. The part led to other roles in The Ford Television Theatre, Shower of Stars, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Bonanza, Screen Directors Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Burke's Law, Follow the Sun (2 episodes), Adventures in Paradise, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Custer, The Name of the Game and The Virginian (2 episodes), among others.

Television series

The Munsters

The year 1964 was a rocky one for De Carlo, as she was deeply in debt. After having worked for over 30 years, her film career came to a sudden end, and she was suffering from depression. She signed a contract with Universal Studios after receiving an offer to perform the female lead role in The Munsters opposite Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster. She was also the producers' choice to play Lily Munster when Joan Marshall, who played Phoebe, was dropped from consideration for the role. When De Carlo was asked how a glamorous actress could succeed as a ghoulish matriarch of a haunted house, she replied simply, "I follow the directions I received on the first day of shooting: 'Play her just like Donna Reed.'
The short-lived cult sitcom also starred familiar actor Al Lewis as Lily's father, Grandpa Munster, and new actors Beverley Owen/Pat Priest as Marilyn Munster and Butch Patrick as Eddie Munster.
During its second season, ratings began to drop, due in part to the debut of Batman, which dominated the ratings, early in 1966. Later that year, De Carlo accepted an offer to reprise her role in a color Munster movie, Munster, Go Home! (1966), partially in hopes of renewing interest in the TV series. Despite the attempt, The Munsters was cancelled after 72 episodes.

Honour

Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Yvonne De Carlo was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6124 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 6715 Hollywood Blvd. for her contribution to television.

Opera and Musical Theatre

Trained in opera and a former chorister at St Paul's Anglican Church, Vancouver, when she was a child, De Carlo possessed a powerful contralto voice. In 1951 she was cast in the role of Prince Orlovsky in a production of the opera Die Fledermaus at the Hollywood Bowl. De Carlo released an LP of standards called Yvonne De Carlo Sings in 1957. This album was orchestrated by the movie composer John Williams. She sang and played the harp on at least one episode of The Munsters.
From 1967 onward she became increasingly active in musicals, appearing in off-broadway productions of Pal Joey and Catch Me If You Can (not to be confused with the 2002 movie, or the 2009/2011 musical). In early 1968 she joined Donald O'Connor in a 15 week run of Little Me staged between Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas, performing 2 shows per night. But her defining stage role came with her big break on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's Follies, which ran from February 1971 until July 1, 1972. As "Carlotta Campion" she introduced the song "I'm Still Here", which would become an anthem of sorts. The show opened later in Los Angeles with the original Broadway cast on July 22, 1972, and closed 11 weeks later. She was the last lead female performer from the original production to die (having been predeceased by Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Ethel Shutta, Mary McCarty, and Fifi D'Orsay). DeCarlo received recognition for her work in various B-horror films and thrillers, such as The Power, The Seven Minutes, House of Shadows, Sorority House Murders, Cellar Dweller, The Man with Bogart's Face, Mirror, Mirror, Blazing Stewardesses, and American Gothic.

De Carlo circa 1979.
She also made a cameo appearance on The Late Show which was hosted by comedian Ross Shafer in 1988, to talk about her own autobiography, she had written Yvonne: An Autobiography in 1987.

Last appearances

De Carlo's final appearance on the big-screen was as Aunt Rosa in the 1991 Sylvester Stallone comedy Oscar, directed by John Landis. De Carlo also appeared on the talk show, Vicki, hosted by her lifelong fan, Vicki Lawrence, on a special episode Sitcom Legends, along with Dawn Wells, Jamie Farr, Dick Sargent, Donna Douglas and former co-star Butch Patrick in 1994.
She had a small cameo role on the Munsters TV movie remake Here Come the Munsters in 1995. Her last TV movie appearance was as Norma, in the 1995 Disney remake of The Barefoot Executive, opposite Eddie Albert.
Her last TV interview appearance was on January 20, 2002, in a segment of Larry King Live which also featured Richard Hack, author of Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters.

Quotes

  • Yvonne: "Men, no matter what their promises, rarely leave their spouses... the louses." (Source: Behind The Bedroom Doors of Famous Women)
  • Yvonne on writing her own autobiography: "If I could, I'd change a lot of things because I'm not proud of everything I've done in my life. But to those people who helped me, and there were a lot, I say, thank you. They're the reason I wrote this book." (Source: USAToday.com)
  • Yvonne on The Munsters: "It meant security. It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn't have had otherwise. It made me 'hot' again, which I wasn't for a while." (Source: LATimes.com)
  • Yvonne on using a car that would be perfect for The Munsters: "I thought it would be fun to drive around." (Source: LATimes.com)
  • Yvonne when Stephen Sondheim invited her to join the musical, Follies: "He wrote it for me, just for me!" (Source: Eonline.com)
  • Yvonne when asked in 1972 about her affair with Howard Hughes before he turned into a legendary recluse: "Howard taught me how to land a plane and how to take off. But he never taught me anything about flying in between. He thought that I had learned the difficult parts, and that was enough." (Source: LATimes.com)
  • Yvonne on Howard Hughes's romance, after watching Salome Where She Danced (1945): "A man came over ... he said 'Mr. Hughes would like to meet you.' Well, I was not too much aware of Mr. Hughes at the time --- who he was or anything. So, I said, 'Oh, yes, fine!' And so, I looked and thought, 'Wow, this would be a terrific boyfriend for my aunt.'" (Source: Eonline.com)
  • Yvonne who told the media in 1971 about her stars, if she was really nervous about residing in New York City: "I'm from Hollywood, I'm too dumb to be nervous about New York." (Source: Eonline.com)
  • Yvonne: "I was on cloud nine all the time. After I made my hit in Salome, Universal sent me to New York so I could learn to be a proper movie star." (Source: Eonline.com)

Personal life

While starring in The Gal Who Took the West (1949), De Carlo not only walked away with the picture, but she walked away with Jock Mahoney, who was her boyfriend at the time. She and Jock were going to start a family, and in 1949, they were engaged. In her first trimester, she suffered a miscarriage, and De Carlo called off the engagement.
She married the stuntman Robert Morgan, whom she met on the set of Shotgun, on November 21, 1955. They had two sons, Bruce and Michael. Morgan also had a daughter, Bari, from a previous marriage. Morgan's left leg had to be amputated after he was run over by a train while doing stunt work on How the West Was Won (1962). However, his contract with MGM assumed no responsibility for the accident. De Carlo and Morgan filed a $1.4 million lawsuit against the studio, claiming her husband was permanently disabled. They divorced in June 1974.
In her autobiography, published in 1987, she listed 22 intimate friends, including Prince Aly Khan, Billy Wilder, Burt Lancaster, Howard Hughes, Robert Stack and Robert Taylor.
Her mother died in 1993 from a fall. Her son Michael died in 1997; causes were unknown, although a Santa Barbara Police report contains concerns about possible foul play. De Carlo had a stroke the following year, but soon recovered.
De Carlo was a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Death

De Carlo moved to the Black Lake Retirement Community, in Nipomo, California. In declining health, she then became a resident of the Motion Picture & Television Hospital, in Woodland Hills, California, where she spent her last years. Her son Bruce was her key caregiver during her last days. There, on January 8, 2007, she died of natural causes. A memorial service was held a few days later at The Woodland Hills MGM Theater; among those attending the service was television and film producer Kevin Burns. She is survived by her son, Bruce, who is filming ProjectLodestar, a film featuring a cameo appearance by De Carlo. After she died she was cremated, and the ashes were given to either her family or her friend.









Filmography

Harvard, Here I Come! (1941)
This Gun for Hire (1942)
Road to Morocco (1942)
Youth on Parade (1942)
Lucky Jordan (1942)
Rhythm Parade (1942)
The Crystal Ball (1943)
Salute for Three (1943)
So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Let's Face It (1943)
Deerslayer (1943)
True to Life (1943)
Standing Room Only (1944)
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) (unbilled)
Kismet (1944) - Handmaiden (uncredited)
Rainbow Island (1944)
Here Come the Waves (1944)
Practically Yours (1944)
Bring on the Girls (1945)
Salome Where She Danced (1945)
Frontier Gal (1945)
Song of Scheherazade (1947)
Brute Force (1947)
Slave Girl (1947)
Black Bart (1948)
Casbah (1948)
River Lady (film) (1948)
Criss Cross (1949)
Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949)
The Gal Who Took the West (1949)
Buccaneer's Gal (1950)
The Desert Hawk (1950)
Tomahawk (1951)
Hotel Sahara (1951)
Silver City (1951)
The San Francisco Story (1952)
Scarlet Angel (1952)
Hurricane Smith (1952)
Sombrero (1953)
Sea Devils (1953)
The Captain's Paradise (1953)
Fort Algiers (1953)
Border River (1954)
Happy Ever After (1954)



Passion (1954)
Shotgun (1955)
La Contessa di Castiglione (1955)
Flame of the Islands (1956)
Raw Edge (1956)
Magic Fire (1956)
The Ten Commandments (1956) - Sephora
Death of a Scoundrel (1956)
Band of Angels (1957)
The Sword and the Cross (1958)
Timbuktu (1959)
McLintock! (1963)
A Global Affair (1964)
Law of the Lawless (1964)
Forbidden Temptations (1965) (documentary)
Munster, Go Home! (1966)
Hostile Guns (1967)
The Power (1968)
Arizona Bushwhackers (1968)
The Delta Factor (1970)
The Seven Minutes (1971)
Black Fire (1975)
Blazing Stewardesses (1975)
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1975)
House of Shadows (1976)
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) (cameo)
Satan's Cheerleaders (1977)
Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979)
Guyana: Cult of the Damned (1979)
Black Fire (1979) (Spanish version)
The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)
Silent Scream (1980)
Liar's Moon (1981)
Play Dead (1981)
Vultures (1983)
Flesh and Bullets (1985)
American Gothic (1988)
Cellar Dweller (1988)
Mirror, Mirror (1990)
Oscar (1991)
The Naked Truth (1992 direct-to-video)
Seasons of the Heart (1993) (voice only)

Short subjects

I Look at You (1941)
The Kink of the Campus (1941)
The Lamp of Memory (1942)
Fun Time (1944)

TV work

Bonanza: A Rose For Lotta (1959) - Miss Lotta Crabtree
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Night the Monkey Died (1964)
The Munsters (1964–1966) - Lily Munster
Custer (1 episode, 1967)
The Girl on the Late, Late Show (1974)
The Mark of Zorro (1974)
Roots (1977) (miniseries)
The Munsters' Revenge (1981)
Murder, She Wrote: Jessica Behind Bars (1985) (guest star)
A Masterpiece of Murder (1986)
Tales From the Crypt (1995)
Here Come the Munsters (1995) (cameo)
The Barefoot Executive (1995)

Awards
Year Ceremony Award Result
1987 Fantafestival Awards Best Actress for American Gothic Won

Friday, March 23, 2012

Full Film,Queen of Outher Space 1958 Starring Zsa Zsa Gabor

Queen of Outer Space is a 1958 American CinemaScope science fiction feature film starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, and Laurie Mitchell in a tale about a revolt against a cruel Venusian queen. The screenplay by Charles Beaumont was based on an outline supplied by Ben Hecht. The film was directed by Edward Bernds, has been broadcast on television, and has been released to VHS and DVD.


Plot

Capt. Patterson (Eric Fleming) and his space crew (Dave Willock, Patrick Waltz, and Paul Birch) crash land on Venus and are captured. They learn the planet is under the dictatorship of cruel Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell), a masked woman who has banished men from the planet. In the palace, the astronauts are aided by a beautiful courtier named Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) and her friends (Lisa Davis, Barbara Darrow, and Marilyn Buferd). The women long for the love of men again and plot to overthrow the evil Queen. When Patterson has the opportunity to remove the Queen's mask, he discovers she has been horribly disfigured by radiation burns caused by men and their wars. In a fury, the Queen decides to destroy Earth and its warlike peoples but she dies in the attempt. The Venusians are free again to enjoy the love of men.

Cast

Cast includes Guy Prescott as Col. Ramsey (uncredited), Gerry Gaylor as Base commander, Ralph Gamble as Officer in anteroom (uncredited), and Joi Lansing as an astronaut's girlfriend (uncredited). Venusians are played by Tania Velia, Norma Young, Marjorie Durant, Brandy Bryan, Ruth Lewis, and June McCall.

Kim Basinger





































Kimila Ann "Kim" Basinger ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress, singer, and former fashion model.
She is known for her portrayals of Domino Petachi, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983), and Vicki Vale, the female lead in Batman (1989). Basinger received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture nomination for her work in The Natural (1984). She won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in L.A. Confidential (1997). Basinger also acted in the movies 9½ Weeks (1986) and 8 Mile (2002).


Early life

Basinger was born in Athens, Georgia. Her father, Donald Wade Basinger, was a big band musician and loan manager who as a U.S. Army soldier landed in Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944). Her mother, Ann (née Cordell), was a model, an actress, and a swimmer who appeared in several Esther Williams films.The third of five children, she has two brothers, Mick and Skip, and two sisters, Ashley and Barbara. Basinger's ancestry includes German, Swedish, Irish and Native American, and she was raised a Methodist.
She spent most of her childhood studying ballet from about the time she was three to her mid-teens. Was suspended from her elementary school talent show after she stripped down to a bikini and sang "The Game of Love." When Basinger was 16, she started modeling by winning the Athens Junior Miss contest. She then won the title “Junior Miss Georgia”. She competed in the national Junior Miss pageant and was offered a modeling contract with Ford Modeling Agency. She turned it down in favor of singing and acting, but reconsidered and went to New York to become a Ford model.

Career

Basinger at the 1990 Academy Awards
Not long after the Ford deal, Basinger was on the cover of magazines. She appeared in hundreds of ads throughout the early 1970s, most notably as the Breck Shampoo girl. She alternated between modeling and attending acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse as well as performing in Greenwich Village clubs.
In 1976, after five years as a cover girl, Basinger moved to Los Angeles to act. After guest roles on TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch and Charlie's Angels in 1976, and a starring role on the short-lived series Dog and Cat (1977), her first feature-length role was in a made-for-TV movie, Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978) in which she played a smalltown young woman who goes to Hollywood to become an actress and winds up a famous centerfold for a men's magazine. She was then cast as a prostitute in From Here to Eternity (1979), in which she starred alongside Natalie Wood. Basinger played the same character in a 13-episode TV spinoff in 1980. She made her theatrical film debut in Hard Country (1981) with Jan Michael Vincent, followed by Mother Lode (1982) with Charlton Heston.
Basinger's breakout role was as Bond girl Domino Petachi in Never Say Never Again (1983), starring opposite Sean Connery. She posed nude for Playboy to promote the film. Basinger said Playboy led to opportunities such as Barry Levinson's The Natural (1984), co-starring Robert Redford, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actress. She starred opposite Mickey Rourke in the sexually provocative 9½ Weeks (1986). Oscar-winning writer-director Robert Benton cast her in the title role for the film Nadine (1987) with Jeff Bridges. Basinger played Vicki Vale in the 1989 blockbuster Batman, directed by Tim Burton.
Directors repeated her in their films, such as Blake Edwards for The Man Who Loved Women (1983) and Blind Date (1987), as well as Robert Altman for Fool for Love (1985) and Prêt-à-Porter (1994). In 1992, Basinger was guest vocalist on a re-recorded version of Was (Not Was)'s "Shake Your Head", which also featured Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, and reached the UK Top 5. In the video for Tom Petty's 1993 song "Mary Jane's Last Dance", Basinger played the unconscious woman whom Petty brings home from the morgue for dinner, dressing her in a wedding gown. Later, Petty is shown throwing her into the sea. In a macabre ending, she floats with her eyes open.
Basinger acted less in the 1990s to take care of her family. She made a comeback in 1997 as the femme fatale in the neo-noir L.A. Confidential, co-starring Russell Crowe. This earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the Golden Globe and Screen Actor's Guild Award. The film's director, Curtis Hanson, cast her once more as Eminem's mother in 8 Mile (2002). She appeared mostly in television and independent films such as While She Was Out, The Burning Plain, and Lifetime's The Mermaid Chair. She was also seen in the mainstream thrillers Cellular (2004) and The Sentinel (2006), and The Informers (2009).
Basinger played Zac Efron's mother in the 2010 film Charlie St. Cloud.

Personal life

Relationships and family

Basinger with Alec Baldwin at the 1994 César Awards ceremony in Paris.
Basinger dated and lived with Dale Robinette in the 1970s.
On October 12, 1980, Basinger married makeup artist, Ron Snyder-Britton (born 1938), who worked on the crew of her film, Hard Country. The marriage ended in divorce in 1988. He later wrote a memoir in 1998, Longer than Forever: The Story of Our Strange Marriage, 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.
She met her second husband, Alec Baldwin, in 1990 when they played lovers in The Marrying Man. They married on August 19, 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 Baldwin (born October 23, 1995).
They filed for divorce in January 2001, and it was finalized in February 2002. Since then the couple have been in a contentious custody battle over their daughter. Alec Baldwin's book A Promise To Ourselveschronicles the lengths to which Basinger has gone to deny Baldwin access to their daughter since separation.

Financial problems

Some family members recommended Basinger buy the small town of Braselton, Georgia in 1989 for US$20 million, to establish as a tourist attraction with movie studios and film festival, but she met financial difficulties and started to sell parts off in 1995. 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 US$8.1 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 $3.8 million instead.

Activism

Basinger is a vegan animal rights supporter. She has posed for anti-fur advertisements by PETA. She has written to fashion designers such as Yohji Yamamoto to ask that they stop using fur.










Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1976 Gemini Man Sheila TV series; episode: "Night Train to Dallas"
Charlie's Angels Linda Oliver TV series; episode: "Angels in Chains"
1977 McMillan & Wife Janet Carney TV series; episode: "Dark Sunrise"
The Six Million Dollar Man Lorraine Stenger TV series; episode: "The Ultimate Imposter"
Dog and Cat Officer J.Z. Kane TV (canceled after 6 episodes)
1978 The Ghost of Flight 401 Prissy Frasier TV movie
Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold Katie McEvera TV movie
Vega$ Allison Jorden TV series; episode: "Lady Ice"
1979 From Here to Eternity Lorene Rogers TV movie
1980 From Here to Eternity Lorene Rogers Spinoff (canceled after 13 episodes)
1981 Hard Country Jodie
Killjoy Laury Medford
1982 Mother Lode Andrea Spalding
1983 Never Say Never Again Domino Petachi
The Man Who Loved Women Louise Carr
1984 The Natural Memo Paris Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1985 Fool for Love May
1986 9½ Weeks Elizabeth
No Mercy Michele Duval
1987 Blind Date Nadia Gates
Nadine Nadine Hightower
1988 My Stepmother Is an Alien Celeste Martin Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actress
1989 Batman Vicki Vale Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1991 The Marrying Man Vicki Anderson
1992 Final Analysis Heather Evans
Cool World Holli Would
1993 The Real McCoy Karen McCoy
Wayne's World 2 Honey Horné
1994 The Getaway Carol McCoy
Ready to Wear Kitty Potter National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
1997 L.A. Confidential Lynn Bracken Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2000 I Dreamed of Africa Kuki Gallmann
Bless the Child Maggie O'Connor
2002 8 Mile Stephanie Smith
People I Know Victoria Gray Limited release
2004 The Door in the Floor Marion Cole Limited release
Elvis Has Left the Building Harmony Jones Straight to video
Cellular Jessica Martin Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2006 The Sentinel 1st Lady Sarah Ballentine
The Mermaid Chair Jessie Sullivan TV movie
Even Money Carol Carver Limited release
2008 While She Was Out Della Myers Limited release
The Informers Laura Sloan Limited release
The Burning Plain Gina Limited release
2010 Charlie St. Cloud Claire St. Cloud
[edit] Discography
Year Album Producer(s) Label
1989 Hollywood Affair Prince Sabotage Records