LG: Didn’t you also turn down “Charlie’s Angels”?
KB: I could have been the Angels’ little sister. But it was a mess. I did one segment-“Angels in Chains”-and it became a classic “Charlie’s Angels.” But I just knew I wanted to do film and I wanted to sing. Real simple.
I'm not sure I buy that. When you are a complete unknown like Kim was in 1976, getting something like CA would be HUGE. I just can't see someone in that situation saying, "Thanks, but no, thanks. I want to do film and sing."
Besides, what did she mean by, "I could have been the Angels' little sister"? She makes it sound like someone offered to create a new part in the show for her, but she opted out of it. Have any of you ever heard of them creating a little sister role for Kim? I know they said at the end of "Angels in Chains" that she was hired as their new receptionist, but they just said that to create a happy ending all around, they never had a receptionist before or after that episode.
Sounds like she was originally tapped to play Kris after the producers noticed her in her short Angels In Chains part.
Also, considering did a tv series version of From Here to Eternity in 1980, I very much doubt she turned down tv roles. Sounds like she's not being entirely truthful.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075495/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_49
She went on to do a series called DOG AND CAT, It lasted for 6 episodes in 1977
I don't think that she was tapped to play Kris, because all accounts say that Aaron Spelling had his eye on Cheryl Ladd from the beginning. Cheryl turned it down the first time because she thought she was getting the more serious, dramatic role of Nancy Maitland in "Family" but when she lost that to someone else, she reconsidered and accepted the role in CA.
Kim Basinger may have auditioned for the part of Kris, but the search for Farrah's replacement was the shortest, least publicized "Angel search" of all because of Spelling already having decided on Cheryl for the role. This is according to the Casebook and the "Behind the Camera" movie from a few years ago.
It's probably more like Kim, a pretty but inexperienced actress, auditioned and was turned down, along with several others. Her ego may cause her to spin it a different way.
I'm weary as to listen too closely to what Aaron Spelling claims as he was a spin-master, but I think it's possible that Kim was briefly in the running before Ladd's pilot deal fell through. I do agree that Kim is clearly re-writing history here as she took on regular television roles after Charlie's Angels. She probably didn't expect people to remember that she was in two short-lived television series 10-15 years before she did that interview.
Case in point of Aaron Spelling's spin-mastery: Family was co-produced by his production company. It debuted in the a few months before Charlie's Angels so Ladd would've lost out on the part at least a year before being approached about being on Charlie's Angels. The character of Nancy debuted in the fall of 1976, the same as the first season of Charlie's Angels.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPainNeHyM4/
The Almost Ascended - Many actresses have auditioned to be one of Charlie's Angels over the years, most, thankfully, weren't cast, but a few faces in the crowd could have been amazing Angels. Farrah Fawcett(-Majors) left after the first season, starting the first of many "Angel hunts".share
Kim Basinger, who became the Townsend Agency's secretary in the original Angels In Chains, was in the running to replace Farrah, after Spelling's first choice, Cheryl Ladd, declined the role. Eventually Cheryl came around, when it was decided she could play a "rookie Angel"- making mistakes, and growing. Her character Kris was Jill's younger sister, an ingenious way to get audience support.
When a rightfully bitter Kate Jackson (she had to turn down Kramer v Kramer due to Angel obligations) left after the third season, one of the largest "Angel hunts" began.
https://twitter.com/doesntmattr/status/429064790879641600
After Farrah Fawcett left Charlie's Angels, they were trying to position Kim Basinger as the next "it-girl."
Does he mean "they" as in, Aaron Spelling? if he was trying to position Kim as the next "it girl" then it seems that he would have cast her in "The Love Boat", "Dynasty", "TJ Hooker", or "Hotel", or more obviously, as one of the later season replacement Angels in CA. At the very least, one of his other shows, "Starsky and Hutch" had multiple episodes where a pretty girl was cast in a supporting role and he used Priscilla Barnes, Caren Kaye, Season Hubley, Karen Valentine, Tracy Brooks Swope, Karen Carlson, Shera Danese, etc, etc. Why not use Kim in one or more of those parts if he was so impressed with her?
IDK, it really doesn't matter, it just makes me wonder.
[deleted]
Her ego may cause her to spin it a different way.
This 80’s A+ list actress is now barely in demand for any movies. She used to be married to an A+ lister who has been A list for a few decades. Our actress stopped getting roles after she fired multiple directors and directors of photography because they were not shooting her the way she wanted. She also fired writers who didn’t give her enough dialogue.
Kim Basinger/Alec Baldwin
Cheryl turned it down the first time because she thought she was getting the more serious, dramatic role of Nancy Maitland in "Family" but when she lost that to someone else, she reconsidered and accepted the role in CA.Cheryl already knew she didn't get the FAMILY role, not while she was being considered for CA. The FAMILY role was 1-2 yrs earlier`
What in Kim’s eyes is so wrong with doing weekly episodic television? It sounds like to her doing something like a sitcom for example is absolutely “beneath her” (regardless of its actual quality within itself). And the fact that Kim actually did do a TV show for a while called Dog and Cat back in the ’70s means that she doesn’t much of a leg to stand on. I just think that Kim is somewhat of a lazy and pretentious actress, who couldn’t see that doing TV could help get her some “seasoning”.
Kim Basinger for all intents and purposes, more than often comes off as her own worst enemy. Reading this, I immediately get the notion that she as a humongous ego/too high of an opinion on her supposed or alleged talents and is therefore bitter that she doesn’t get more credit or recognition for it. For her, it has to be one blunt comment after another without much of a filter or a more careful choice of words.
It seems like Kim has a hard time finding a true silver lining among just about anything that she had done. In Kim’s eyes, it seems like her past experiences were chores to get through. There’s just about little to no appreciation in her past work. Kim to me, comes off as sounding very flighty, bitter and entitled.
It’s also very apparent now that I think about it, is that Kim in part, got into so much trouble on movie sets because she started biting off more than she can chew.
Kim Basinger in particular, seems like a woman who is very self-absorbed/self-serving and in her own mini universe. It’s as if she has little to know perspective or self-awareness about what’s going on around her. And then, when back against a corner, she’ll play the bitter victim card and won’t hold herself remotely accountable.
And what also seems quite apparent is that when she talks about rewriting for her movies like Batman, she seemingly says it without the slightest hint of irony. I really think that Kim was being absolutely sincere when she alluded to her “talents” as a screenwriter and having a hard time getting her work appreciated and accomplished.
[deleted]
https://www.datalounge.com/thread/16093204-let-s-chat-about-the-incandescent-cheryl-ladd-homosexuals
[R80], Dog and Cat had already been cancelled when they approached her about CA. However, the concept that she would be Farrah's little sister was not appealing to Basinger who already have a healthy ego.share
—Anonymous
reply 100 11/25/2015
I get the feeling that on Dog and Cat, Kim was given the opportunity to be the unquestioned female "star", while on Charlie's Angels, she would've had to play essentially the third wheel (and share the spotlight and glory) to Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith.
shareI think Kim Basinger was trying to say that the producers were considering her to replace Farrah and play the Kris Munroe character. I am pretty sure she would have taken the role if they had actually offered it to her instead of Cheryl Ladd. Basinger was an unknown at the time and I doubt if she would have passed on the opportunity to play a leading role on a phenomenally popular tv series. Suzanne Somers has said that Arron Spelling spoke to her about replacing Farrah also. But Somers was able decline because she was already on a another successful TV series. No doubt she would have been happy to play Kris if it wasn't for "Three's Company".
share