<P> Basinger studied ballet from about age three to her mid-teens . By her mid-teens, she grew in confidence and successfully auditioned for the school cheerleading team . At 17, she entered the America's Junior Miss Scholarship Pageant, won at the city level and was crowned Athens Junior Miss . Although she lost in the state pageant to Sue Whitted, who competed as "Georgia's Junior Miss," her beauty was profiled in the national program . She had competed at the state level for the Breck Scholarship and was featured in an ad for Breck in a joint portrait with her mother . She was subsequently offered a modeling contract with the Ford Modeling Agency . She turned it down in favor of singing and acting, and enrolled at the University of Georgia, but soon reconsidered and went to New York to become a Ford model . Despite earning $1,000 a day, Basinger never enjoyed modeling, saying "It was very hard to go from one booking to another and always have to deal with the way I looked . I couldn't stand it . I felt myself choking ." Basinger has said that even as a model, when others relished looking in the mirror before appearing, she abhorred it and would avoid mirrors out of insecurity . Not long after her Ford deal, Basinger appeared on the cover of magazines . She appeared in hundreds of advertisements 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 as a singer . </P> <P> In 1976, after five years as a cover girl, Basinger quit modeling and moved to Los Angeles to act . She made guest appearances on a few TV shows such as McMillan & Wife and Charlie's Angels, turning down a regular role in the latter series that eventually went to Cheryl Ladd . Her first starring vehicle was a made - for - TV movie, Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978), in which she played a small - town girl who goes to Hollywood to become an actress and winds up becoming a famous centerfold for a men's magazine . In 1979, she co-starred with Natalie Wood, William Devane and Steve Railsback in the miniseries remake of From Here to Eternity, reprising the role in a 13 - episode spinoff that aired in 1980 . Her feature debut was the critically well - received rural drama Hard Country (1981), followed by the Charlton Heston - directed adventure film Mother Lode (1982). </P> <P> In 1981, Basinger posed for a famous nude pictorial for Playboy, which didn't appear for two years, until she used it to promote her breakthrough role as the Bond girl Domino Petachi in Never Say Never Again (1983), where she starred opposite Sean Connery . In his review of the film, Gary Arnold of The Washington Post said Basinger "looks like a voluptuous sibling of Liv Ullmann and has a certain something ." Basinger said her subsequent Playboy appearance led to further 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 . </P> <P> In 1986, Basinger starred opposite Mickey Rourke in Adrian Lyne's controversial erotic romantic drama 91⁄2 Weeks . Though the film failed at the U.S. box office, it performed very well in Europe, especially France, and acquired a large American fanbase on home video and cable . Roger Ebert praised the film, comparing it to Last Tango in Paris, and said Basinger helped "develop an erotic tension...that is convincing, complicated and sensual ." Academy Award - winning writer - director Robert Benton cast her in the title role for the film Nadine (1987). Several directors cast her twice in their films, including Blake Edwards for The Man Who Loved Women (1983) and Blind Date (1987) and Robert Altman for Fool for Love (1985) and Prêt - à - Porter (1994). </P>

Former bond girl oscar winner for la confidential