Kevin Costner is an actor and director known for playing upright heroes in big-budget epics. He was a hit as heroic G-man Eliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987, with Sean Connery) and followed that with two popular baseball movies: Bull Durham (1988, with Susan Sarandon) and Field of Dreams (1989, with Burt Lancaster). Costner gained enough clout to direct and star in his own movie: the western Dances With Wolves (1990) was a smash hit, winning the Best Picture Oscar and the Best Director Oscar for Costner. His 1995 movie Waterworld was a famous big-budget flop, but he bounced back the next year as a golfer in the romantic comedy Tin Cup (1996). His other films have included The Bodyguard (1992, with Whitney Houston), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991, as Robin Hood), the Elvis-friendly crime adventure 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) and the 2005 film The Upside of Anger (with Joan Allen).
Costner has been in two different movies about John F. Kennedy: JFK (1991) and Thirteen Days (2000)... Costner and his brother operate a casino, the Midnight Star, in Deadwood, South Dakota... Costner's scenes as the suicidal chum in The Big Chill (1983) were cut from the movie before its release... Costner wed his longtime girlfriend, Christine Baumgartner, on 25 September 2004. Costner was 49, Baumgartner 30. It was Baumgartner's first marriage; Costner was married to the former Cindy Silva from 1978-94.
Career Highlights: Bull Durham, The Untouchables, JFK
First Major Screen Credit: Stacy's Knights (1983)
Biography
One of Hollywood's most prominent strong, silent types, Kevin Costner was for several years the celluloid personification of the baseball industry, given his indelible mark with baseball-themed hits like Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and For Love of the Game. His epic Western Dances with Wolves marked the first break from this trend, and JFK carried him further afield and established Costner as a formidable directing talent to boot. Although several flops in the late '90s diminished his bankability, for many, Costner remained one of the industry's most enduring and endearing icons.
A native of California, Costner was born January 18, 1955, in Lynnwood. While a marketing student at California State University in Fullerton, he became involved with community theater. Upon graduation in 1978, Costner took a marketing job that lasted all of 30 days before deciding to take a crack at acting. After an inauspicious 1974 film debut in the ultra-cheapie Sizzle Beach USA, Costner decided to take a more serious approach to acting. Venturing down the usual theater-workshop, multiple-audition route, the actor impressed casting directors who weren't really certain of how to use him. That may be one reason why Costner's big-studio debut in Night Shift (1982) consisted of little more than background decoration, and the same year's Frances featured the hapless young actor as an off-stage voice.
Director Lawrence Kasdan liked Costner enough to cast him in the important role of the suicide victim who motivated the plot of The Big Chill (1983). Unfortunately, all that was visible of the actor -- who had turned down Matthew Broderick's role in WarGames to take the part -- was part of his dress suit, along with a fleeting glimpse of his hairline and hands as the undertaker prepared him for burial during the opening credits. Two years later, a guilt-ridden Kasdan chose Costner for a major part as a hell-raising gunfighter in the "retro" Western Silverado (1985), this time putting him in front of the camera for virtually the entire film. The actor's big break came two years later as he burst onto the screen in two major films, No Way Out and The Untouchables; his growing popularity was further amplified with a brace of baseball films, released within months of one another. In Bull Durham (1988), the actor was taciturn minor-league ballplayer Crash Davis, and in the following year's Field of Dreams he was Ray Kinsella, a farmer who constructs a baseball diamond in his Iowa cornfield at the repeated urging of a voice that intones "if you build it, he will come."
Riding high on the combined box-office success of these films, Costner was able to make his directing debut. With a minuscule budget of 18 million dollars, he went off to the Black Hills of South Dakota to film the first Western epic that Hollywood had seen in years, a revisionist look at American Indian-White relationships titled Dances With Wolves (1990). Detractors had a field day with this supposedly doomed project, labeling the film "Costner's Folly" and "Kevin's Gate." But the film, in addition to being one of '90s biggest moneymakers, also took home a slew of Academy Awards, including statues for Best Picture and Best Director.
Costner's luck continued with the 1991 costume epic Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; this, too, made money, though it seriously strained Costner's longtime friendship with the film's director, the notoriously erratic Kevin Reynolds. The same year, Costner had another hit on his hands with Oliver Stone's JFK. The next year's The Bodyguard, a film which teamed Costner with Whitney Houston, did so well at the box office that it seemed the actor could do no wrong. However, his next film, A Perfect World (1993), directed by Clint Eastwood and casting the actor against type as a half-psycho, half-benign prison escapee, was a major disappointment, even though Costner himself came through with a strong performance. More bad luck followed Perfect World in the form of another cast-against-type failure, the 1994 Western Wyatt Earp, which proved that even director Lawrence Kasdan could have his off days.
Adding insult to injury, Costner's 1995 epic sci-fi adventure Waterworld received a whopping amount of negative publicity prior to opening due to its ballooning budget and bloated schedule, and cemented industry misgivings by failing colossally at the box office. The following year, Costner was able to rebound somewhat with the romantic comedy Tin Cup, which was well-received by the critics and the public alike. Unfortunately, he opted to follow this up with another large-scaled directorial effort, an epic filmization of author David Brin's The Postman. The 1997 film featured Costner as a Shakespeare-spouting drifter in a post-nuclear holocaust America whose efforts to reunite the country give him messianic qualities. Like Waterworld, The Postman (waggishly dubbed "Dryworld" by critics) received a critical drubbing and did poorly with audiences. Costner's reputation, now at an all-time low, received some resuscitation with the 1998 romantic drama Message in a Bottle, and later the same year he returned to the genre that loved him best with Sam Raimi's baseball drama For Love of the Game. A thoughtful reflection on the Cuban missile crisis provided the groundwork for the successful Thirteen Days (2000), though Costner's next turn as a member of a group of Elvis impersonating casino bandits drew harsh criticism for its pointless and excessive violence, relegating it to a quick death at the box office. Though Costner's next effort was a more sentimental supernatural drama lamenting lost love, Dragonfly (2002) was dismissed by many as a cheap clone of The Sixth Sense and met an almost equally hasty, though notably less outright despised fate.
Costner fared better in 2003 (and returned to directing) with Open Range, a Western co-starring himself and the iconic Robert Duvall -- while it was no Dances With Wolves in terms of mainstream popularity, it certainly received more positive feedback than The Postman or Waterworld. In 2004, Costner starred alongside Joan Allen, Keri Russell, and Alicia Witt in director Mike Binder's drama The Upside of Anger. That picture cast Allen as a woman unexpectedly abandoned by her husband, who strikes up a romance with one of his best friends (Costner). The picture suffered from flaws typical of the director's work, but boasted a pair of sensational lead performances by Costner and Allen.
After narrating the same year's documentary Ever Again, on the disturbing contemporary rise of anti-Semitism, Costner undertook a massive change-of-pace with one of his first psychological thrillers: 2007's Mr. Brooks, directed by Bruce A. Evans (Kuffs). The film casts the actor as a psychotic criminal spurred on to macabre acts by his homicidal alter ego (William Hurt), while he thrives off of a symbiotic relationship with an icewater-veined female detective (Demi Moore). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Happy 50th birthday to actor Kevin Costner! Costner, who has often played heroic leading men in movies like The Untouchables and Wyatt Earp, won Oscars for best direction and best film for his 1990 epic Dances With Wolves.
Costner was born in Lynwood, California, the youngest of three sons (the middle
of whom died at birth) of William Costner, an electrician and later utilities executive,[1] and Sharon Rae (née
Tedrick), a welfare worker.[2] He has German, Irish and Cherokee ancestry.[3] Costner attended
elementary school at McKevette School in Santa Paula, California, Cabrillo Jr.
High School and Buena High School in Ventura, California. A poor student, Costner
enjoyed sports in spite of his small stature, and took piano lessons, wrote poetry and even sang in the First Baptist
Choir.[1]
Costner became interested in acting whilst in college, and on graduation married Cindy. The couple honeymooned in
Puerto Vallarta, and on the return plane journey had a chance encounter with
actor and fellow passenger Richard Burton, and struck up a
conversation with him.[1] Burton advised
the young man that if he wanted to pursue acting, he should give everything up completely and go after it with both hands.
Having agreed to undertake a job as a marketing executive on return, with the support of his wife Costner began taking acting
lessons five nights a week. His marketing job lasted 30 days. He took work which allowed him to develop his acting skills via
tuition, including working on fishing boats, as a cow rider, and giving smashing lessons of stars' Hollywood homes to support the
couple while he also made the audition rounds.[1]
Career
Costner made his film debut at age 19, in the 1974 film, Sizzle Beach, U.S.A., although the film was not released until 1986. Costner then appeared in a commercial for the Apple Lisa in 1983. He was
cast in the hit The Big Chill (1983).
He filmed several scenes which were planned as flashbacks, but they never made it to the final cut. His role was as Alex, the
friend who committed suicide, the event around which the plot of the movie revolves. All that is
seen of him are his slashed wrists as the mortician dresses his corpse in the movie's opening scenes.[4]
Costner was a friend of director Lawrence Kasdan, who later promised the actor a role in
a future project, which became the 1985 film Silverado and became a breakout role for
Costner. In return, Costner helped to get Kasdan's 1975 script for the The
Bodyguard produced.
Costner's most popular success was the epic Dances with Wolves (1990). He
directed and starred in the film and served as one of two producers. The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best Picture and Best Director).
Costner followed this with Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991),
the Oliver Stone-directed JFK (1991) and
The Bodyguard (1992), all of which provided huge box office takings
or critical acclaim. Some of his subsequent film efforts have been criticized for being too long and overly serious, and for
squandering financial resources. Costner has included his family members in several of his films, including Dances with Wolves (his children Annie, Lily and Joe), Tin
Cup (his son Joe and his own parents), For Love of the
Game (childhood home movies) and The Postman (again featuring his
children Annie, Lily and Joe).[5]
He also took the title role in the biopic Wyatt Earp (1994), directed by
established collaborator Lawrence Kasdan, which fizzled at the summer 1994 box office.
The science fiction epics Waterworld (1995)
and The Postman (1998), the latter of which Costner also directed, were both
initially considered major disappointments at the box office. However, Waterworld
grossed $264 million worldwide from a $175 million budget, despite generally poor reviews. Costner developed the film
Air Force One and was set to play the lead role, but ultimately decided to
concentrate on finishing The Postman instead. He personally offered the
project to Harrison Ford. Costner tried his hand at singing in The Postman,
recording a duet with Contemporary Christian music and pop music artist Amy Grant for the end credits. The song is titled "You
Didn't Have To Be So Nice".[5]
Costner's career revived somewhat in 2000 with Thirteen Days.
Open Range, in which he directed and starred, received high critical acclaim in 2003
as a Revisionist Western, though it was only a minor success commercially. In 2006,
he branched into the music field, performing free concerts for charity. A June 2006 concert netted almost $100,000 for four
Shreveport, Louisiana charities. Costner starred in The Guardian, which also starred Ashton Kutcher and
was released September 29, 2006. He starred in
Mr. Brooks, where he portrays a serial killer. Costner was honored on September 6, 2006, when his hand and foot prints were set in the concrete in
front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre along side other great actors and
entertainers.[5]
Costner's band, named 'Modern West',[6] has made
appearances at various concert venues and events. They were featured at the 2007 Newport Taste of Newport festival[7] and sponsored a free concert in Santa Fe to be included
in his film Swing Vote.[8]
Personal life
While in college, Costner was a member of Delta Chi fraternity, where he met another Greek
student, Cindy Silva.[1] They started
dating in March 1975, and their marriage produced three children: Annie (born in 1984), Lily (born
in 1986), and Joe (born in 1988). Kevin and Cindy divorced in 1994 after 16 years of
marriage. He also has a son, Liam (born in 1996), with Bridget Rooney, with whom he had a brief
relationship following his divorce.[9]
On September 25, 2004, after 10 years of being single,
Costner married his girlfriend of four years, the German model and handbag designer Christine Baumgartner,[10][11] at his ranch in Aspen,
Colorado. Guests, including Oprah Winfrey, Oliver
Stone, and Bruce Willis, were treated to activities including horse riding and
baseball during the weekend festivities. Costner took his new bride for a canoe ride on a lake following the ceremony. The couple
honeymooned in Scotland.[12] Their first child, Cayden Wyatt Costner, was born on May 6,
2007 at 10:30 P.M. at a Los Angeles hospital. He weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz.[13]
Costner was registered as a Republican until the 1996 election, when
he changed his registration to Independent. He supported Democratic candidates in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 Presidential elections;
however, he still prefers to be known as a "conservative".[citation needed]
Several of Costner's films have included a baseball theme. They include Chasing Dreams,
Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and
For Love of the Game. (In The Upside of Anger, his character is a former baseball professional.) Costner has a love for
baseball and has stated he loves to play baseball even more than he loves watching it.[citation needed] He plays regularly in celebrity golf
tournaments, including the annual BMW Pro-Am held each April in Greenville County, South Carolina.
Costner owns 93.5% of the "Midnight Star"casino in Deadwood, South Dakota. The casino, its sports bar "Diamond Lil's", and its restaurant "Jake's"
are all named after characters and locations from the movie Silverado; and the facility
contains posters, costumes, and other memorabilia from Costner's films. In July 2004, Costner fired
Francis and Carla Caneva, who managed the Midnight Star. A judge subsequently order Costner to pay $6.1 million to buy out
the Caneva's as his business partners. In October 2006, Costner asked the South Dakota Supreme
Court to re-examine the ruling, as an accountant hired by the actor had determined the market value of the casino at $3.1m, to
dissolve the partnership.[14]
Costner has a home in Austin, Texas and sometimes appears at University of Texas Longhorn baseball practices and games.
Costner is a close friend to Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido,[16] from Garrido's days coaching at Cal State Fullerton where Costner attended. He cast Garrido to play
the role of "Yankee Manager" in his film For Love of the Game.[17] He is also known to attend every college world series game that Cal State Fullerton plays in
Omaha.
Controversy
On 24 April, 2006, it was revealed that Costner was the
mystery celebrity involved in a controversial case at a hotel at the St Andrews golf course,
Scotland, owned by his friend Herbert Kohler, Jr.
While on his honeymoon in October 2004, a hotel employee complained that Costner had performed a
lewd act while she was attempting to massage him. She informed the hotel management but was not dismissed until the following
August.[18]
Costner’s former girlfriend Birgit Cunningham was one of his friends who denied the allegations.[19] However, when the case reached a Scottish employment tribunal, the tribunal chairman agreed to the release of the actor's name as it formed a
basis for both parties case. The woman, who remains unnamed, settled out of court with the hotel under a tight confidentiality
agreement.[18][20][21]
