Sharon Stone (68) Still Turns Heads 44 Years After ‘Basic Instinct’
Sharon Stone, now 68, has had a long and fascinating career in Hollywood, but it was her role in Basic Instinct that truly made her a household name. Before she became a star, Stone started out as a model.
While attending Edinboro State College, she won the title of Miss Crawford County and even competed for Miss Pennsylvania in 1976. A pageant judge encouraged her to leave college and move to New York to become a model.
She soon signed with Ford Modeling Agency and lived in Milan and Paris before deciding to try acting. “So I packed my bags, moved back to New York, and stood in line to be an extra in a Woody Allen movie,” she later recalled. She landed small roles in films like Stardust Memories (1980) and Deadly Blessing (1981).
Throughout the 1980s, Stone appeared on TV shows such as Silver Spoons, Remington Steele, and Magnum, P.I., while also appearing in films like Irreconcilable Differences (1984) and King Solomon’s Mines (1985). She had a mix of guest roles, small parts, and a few action-adventure films, but nothing had made her a star yet.
Stone’s breakthrough came in 1990 with Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, where she played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife. The film was a major hit and helped set the stage for what would be her defining role two years later. In 1992, she starred in Basic Instinct as Catherine Tramell, a clever and dangerous novelist who might be a serial killer.
The role was controversial because of its nudity, and several actresses turned it down. Critics had mixed feelings about the movie, but Stone’s performance was widely praised. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers wrote, “Stone, a former model, is a knockout… [Basic Instinct] establishes Stone as a bombshell for the 1990s.” The film made $352.9 million worldwide and earned her a Golden Globe nomination, solidifying her status as a leading actress.
After Basic Instinct, Stone became one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actresses. She starred in Sliver (1993), Intersection (1994), The Specialist (1994), and the critically acclaimed Casino (1995), earning another Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination. She also took creative control in The Quick and the Dead (1995), choosing director Sam Raimi and paying Leonardo DiCaprio’s salary herself to secure him for the film.
Despite her success, Stone faced challenges in the 2000s. A serious health issue in 2001 forced her to take a break from acting. She returned with guest roles in TV shows like The Practice and smaller films such as Cold Creek Manor (2003) and Catwoman (2004), though some of these projects flopped. Still, she proved her talent in independent films and ensemble projects, like Broken Flowers (2005) and The Disaster Artist (2017).
Stone also explored television, earning praise for her roles in HBO’s Mosaic (2018) and Netflix’s Ratched (2020). She continues to act in both movies and TV, including her upcoming role in Euphoria’s third season, which she described as “honored” to be part of.
Over her career, Stone has been celebrated not only for her beauty but also for her bold choices as an actress. She became a cultural icon thanks to Basic Instinct, a movie that changed how people saw her and made her a symbol of 1990s Hollywood. Stone herself reflected on her image, telling Oprah Winfrey in 2014, “It’s a pleasure for me now… If people want to think I’m a sex symbol, it’s, like, yeah. Think it up. You know. Good for me.”
Sharon Stone’s journey shows how one role can change everything. Basic Instinct was more than just a hit, it defined her career and made her a Hollywood legend. What do you think about the impact of Basic Instinct on her career? Share your thoughts in the comments.