Jeanine Basinger

Jeanine Basinger (born 3 February 1936), a film historian, was for many years the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and Founder and Curator of The Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.

She is also a trustee emeritus of the American Film Institute,^[1] a member of the Steering Committee of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation, and one of the Board of Advisors for the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers. On February 11, 2005, she was named to the board of directors of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.^[1] She has a BS and MS from South Dakota State University.^[2]

Basinger has been described as "one of the most important film scholars alive today."^[3] Among other accomplishments, she is credited with having built Wesleyan's Film Studies program into one of the ten best film schools in the world.^[4][5] "A shockingly disproportionate number of Hollywood movers and shakers" are graduates of the program.^[6] Former graduates include Akiva Goldsman, Joss Whedon, Michael Bay, Paul Weitz, Laurence Mark, Paul Schiff, Alex Kurtzman, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Toby Emmerich, Nick Meyer, Marc Shmuger, Rick Nicita, Bradley Fuller, Dana Delany, Stephen Schiff, Rodger Grossman, Toni Ross, Bradley Whitford, Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Liz Garcia, Marc Longenecker, Jon Turteltaub, Owen Renfroe, Jeffrey Lane, Zak Penn, Jeremy Arnold and Miguel Arteta.^[7][8]

She has appeared in numerous documentaries, and also in a dramatic role in A Better Way to Die (2000). In 2006 she participated in Wanderlust, a documentary film on road movies and their effect on American culture.

Awards

• 1996 Wesleyan Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching^[1]
• 1999 National Board of Review's William K. Everson Prize for Film History for Silent Stars^[9]
• 2005 Governor's Arts and Tourism Award from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism^[10]
• Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the American Film Institute on June 7, 2006^[11]
• 2008 Theatre Library Association Award for The Star Machine^[12]
• 2013 Wesleyan Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching

Works

Books

• The World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre (1985, 2003)
• Anthony Mann: A Critical Study
• The It's a Wonderful Life Book
• Shirley Temple (1975)
• Lana Turner (1976)
• Gene Kelly (1976)
• A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women 1930-1960 (1993)
• American Cinema: 100 Years of Filmmaking (companion book for a PBS series).
• Silent Stars (1999)
• The Star Machine, Alfred A. Knopf (2007) (ISBN 978-1-4000-4130-5). About the height of the studio system in the Golden Age from the 1930s to the 1950s.
• I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies (2013)^[13]

Audio commentaries

• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, with film historian Kenneth Geist
• Gigi, with actress Leslie Caron
• In This Our Life
• It
• It's a Wonderful Life (Criterion laserdisc)
• Jezebel
• Laura, with composer David Raksin
• The Philadelphia Story
• Pearl Harbor, with director Michael Bay
• Sergeant York
• The Tall T
• Three Coins in the Fountain
• Week-End in Havana
• The Wild One

Notes

1. "Wesleyan Film Chair Jeanine Basinger to Join the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Board of Directors". National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, accessed October 20, 2011.
2. "Faculty". wesleyan.edu.
3. Pulle, Goug (August 12, 2011). "Experts' insights add to Plaza Classic Film Festival experience". El Paso Times, accessed October 18, 2011.
4. Appelo, Tim (July 27, 2011). "The 25 Best Film Schools Rankings". The Hollywood Reporter, accessed October 18, 2011.
5. Women's Impact Report 2012: Academics Jeanine Basinger, Film Studies Chair, Wesleyan U. Variety. By Anneta Konstantinides. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
6. "Wesleyan's Entertaining Class". Vanity Fair, Oct. 2008, Issue 578, p180-180, 1p, 32 Color Photographs.
7. Loewenstein, Lael (March 27, 2008). "Basinger's students make their mark". Variety, accessed October 20, 2011.
8. "Students and peers praise Basinger". Variety (March 27, 2008), accessed October 18, 2011.
9. "William K. Everson Award for Film History". National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, accessed October 21, 2011.
10. "The Wesleyan Connection's Achievements 2006". Weslyan University newsletter, accessed October 18, 2011.
11. Rich, Katey (May 5, 2006). "Basinger to receive honorary degree". The Wesleyan Argus, accessed October 20, 2011.
12. "Theatre Library Association Award - Winners, 1974-2009". Theatre Library Association, accessed October 21, 2011.
13. "I Do and I Don't by Jeanine Basinger - PenguinRandomHouse.com". PenguinRandomhouse.com.

References

• Wesleyan Faculty Page (accessed 30 Nov 2014)
• Bio on Rotten Tomatotes
• Quotations from Jeanine Basinger (accessed 16 June 2006)
• Jeanine Basinger at the Internet Movie Database (accessed 16 June 2006)
• WNYC Leonard Lopate June 3, 2013 interview on marriage and the movies.
• NY Times Review March 10, 2013 review of "I Do and I Don't"
• Washington Post Feb. 1, 2013 Review "I Do and I Don't"