Sharon Stone (1958) is an American actress, producer, and former fashion model. With her role in Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct (1992), she became one of the most talked about actresses of the 1990s, earning both admiration and infamy for her on- and off-screen personae. Cast as an ex-prostitute in Martin Scorsese's Casino (1995), she won an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for her work, as well as the general opinion that she was capable of dramatic acting.
![Sharon Stone]()
Italian postcard, no. 1054. Photo: Bruce McBroom / Action Jackson / Grazia Neri. Publicity still for Action Jackson (Craig R. Baxley, 1988).
![Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992)]()
British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC 2495. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
![Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992)]()
Vintage postcard, no. FA 328. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
Sharon Vonne Stone was born in 1958 in Meadville, a small town in Pennsylvania. Her parents were Dorothy Marie (née Lawson), an accountant, and Joseph William Stone II, a tool and die manufacturer and factory worker. She was the second of four children.
At the age of 15, she studied in Saegertown High School, Pennsylvania, and at that same age, entered Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with a degree in creative writing and fine arts. While attending Edinboro University, Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County, Pennsylvania and was a candidate for Miss Pennsylvania.
One of the pageant judges told her to quit school and move to New York City to become a fashion model. In 1977, Stone left Meadville and moved in with an aunt in New Jersey. She was signed by Ford Modeling Agency in New York City. In 2016, Stone, inspired by Hillary Clinton, went back to Edinboro University to complete her degree.
After modelling in television commercials and print advertisements, she made her film debut as "pretty girl in train" in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Stardust Memories (1980). Her first speaking part was in Wes Craven's horror film Deadly Blessing (1981), and French director Claude Lelouch cast her in Les Uns et les Autres (1982), starring James Caan.
She had a supporting role in Irreconcilable Differences (Charles Shyer, 1984), starring Ryan O'Neal, Shelley Long, and a young Drew Barrymore. In 1984, she married Michael Greenburg, the producer of MacGyver (1985), but they divorced two years later.
Stone was often cast as the stereotypical blonde bimbo. Throughout the 1980s, she went on to appear in films such as King Solomon's Mines (J. Lee Thompson, 1985) with Richard Chamberlain, Cold Steel (Dorothy Ann Puzo, 1987) with Brad Davis, and Above the Law (Andrew Davis, 1988) as the wife of Steven Seagal. On television, Stone had a notable performance in the mini-series War and Remembrance (1987).
She finally got a break with her part in Paul Verhoeven's Sci-Fi action film Total Recall (1990), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. She played the role of Lori Quaid, the seemingly loving wife of Schwarzenegger's character, later revealed to be an agent sent by a corrupt and ruthless governor to monitor him. The film received favourable reviews and made $261.2 million worldwide, giving Stone's career a major boost. She also posed nude for Playboy, a daring move for a 32-year-old actress. But it worked.
![Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992)]()
Spanish postcard by Novograf. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
![Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992)]()
Spanish postcard by Novograf. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
![Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992)]()
Spanish postcard by Novograf. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
Sharon Stone became a sex symbol and international star when she played Catherine Tramell, a brilliant, bisexual author and alleged serial killer in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992). Several actresses at the time turned down the role, mostly because of the nudity required. Her interrogation scene has become a classic in film history and her performance captivated everyone, from MTV viewers, who honoured her with Most Desirable Female and Best Female Performance Awards, to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
She headlined the erotic thriller Sliver (Phillip Noyce, 1993), based on Ira Levin's eponymous novel about the mysterious occurrences in a privately owned New York City high-rise apartment building. The film was heavily panned by critics and earned Stone a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress but Sliver became a commercial success, grossing US$116.3 million at the international box office.
She starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in the action thriller The Specialist (Luis Llosa, 1994), portraying May Munro, a woman who entices a bomb expert she is involved with (Stallone) into destroying the criminal gang that killed her family. Despite negative reviews, the film made US $170.3 million worldwide.
In the Western The Quick and the Dead (Sam Raimi, 1995) with Gene Hackman and Russell Crowe, she obtained the role of a gunfighter who returns to a frontier town in an effort to avenge her father's death.
She received critical acclaim with her performance as the beautiful but drug-crazy wife of Robert de Niro in Martin Scorsese's crime drama Casino (1995), garnering the Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1998, she married newspaper editor Phil Bronstein but they divorced in 2004. Sharon Stone received two more Golden Globe Award nominations for her roles in The Mighty (Peter Chelsom, 1998) and The Muse (Albert Brooks, 1999).
![Sharon Stone in Casino (1995)]()
Dutch postcard by Boomerang Freecards, Amsterdam. Photo: Sharon Stone in Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995).
![Sharon Stone]()
French postcard, no. C 460.
![Sharon Stone]()
French postcard, Ref. 962.
In 2000, Sharon Stone starred opposite Ellen DeGeneres in the made-for-HBO drama If These Walls Could Talk 2 (Jane Anderson, Martha Coolidge, Anne Heche, 2000), portraying a lesbian trying to start a family.
Stone then appeared in two embarrassing flops, Catwoman (Pitof, 2004), and the sequel Basic Instinct 2 (Michael Caton-Jones, 2006). In between, she played one of Bill Murray's ex-girlfriends in Jim Jarmusch's Golden Palm winner Broken Flowers (2005) - and walked away with the most memorable and endearing role in the picture - a role that showcases her skills as a disciplined thespian.
She was also in the American drama Bobby (2006), written and directed by Emilio Estevez. In the biographical drama Lovelace (Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, 2013), Stone obtained the role of the mother of porn actress Linda Lovelace, played by Amanda Seyfried.
Her later films include Fading Gigolo (John Turturro, 2013) with Woody Allen, the Italian dramedy Un ragazzo d’oro/A Golden Boy (Pupi Avati, 2014) and The Disaster Artist (James Franco, 2017). In 1995, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2005, she was named Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
Stone made guest-appearances on TV in The Practice (2004), winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, and in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2010). She has also starred in the action drama series Agent X (2015), Steven Soderbergh's murder-mystery Mosaic (2017) and the series The New Pope (Paolo Sorrentino, 2019) with Jude Law.
Sharon Stone is the mother of three adopted sons: Roan (2000), Laird (2005) and Quinn (2006).
![Sharon Stone]()
Italian postcard in the collection 'Le più belle del mondo' by Teletutto, no. 6.
![Sharon Stone]()
Belgian postcard by MutiChoice Kaleidoscope. Photo: Isopress / Outline (White).
![Sharon Stone]()
Belgian postcard in the 'De 50 mooiste vrouwen van de eeuw' (The 50 most beautiful women of the century) series by P magazine, no. 12. Photo: Bettina Reims.
Sources: Johannes Prayudhi (IMDb), Rebecca Flint Marx (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.
Italian postcard, no. 1054. Photo: Bruce McBroom / Action Jackson / Grazia Neri. Publicity still for Action Jackson (Craig R. Baxley, 1988).
British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd., London, no. SPC 2495. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
Vintage postcard, no. FA 328. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
Cast as the stereotypical blonde bimbo
Sharon Vonne Stone was born in 1958 in Meadville, a small town in Pennsylvania. Her parents were Dorothy Marie (née Lawson), an accountant, and Joseph William Stone II, a tool and die manufacturer and factory worker. She was the second of four children.
At the age of 15, she studied in Saegertown High School, Pennsylvania, and at that same age, entered Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with a degree in creative writing and fine arts. While attending Edinboro University, Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County, Pennsylvania and was a candidate for Miss Pennsylvania.
One of the pageant judges told her to quit school and move to New York City to become a fashion model. In 1977, Stone left Meadville and moved in with an aunt in New Jersey. She was signed by Ford Modeling Agency in New York City. In 2016, Stone, inspired by Hillary Clinton, went back to Edinboro University to complete her degree.
After modelling in television commercials and print advertisements, she made her film debut as "pretty girl in train" in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Stardust Memories (1980). Her first speaking part was in Wes Craven's horror film Deadly Blessing (1981), and French director Claude Lelouch cast her in Les Uns et les Autres (1982), starring James Caan.
She had a supporting role in Irreconcilable Differences (Charles Shyer, 1984), starring Ryan O'Neal, Shelley Long, and a young Drew Barrymore. In 1984, she married Michael Greenburg, the producer of MacGyver (1985), but they divorced two years later.
Stone was often cast as the stereotypical blonde bimbo. Throughout the 1980s, she went on to appear in films such as King Solomon's Mines (J. Lee Thompson, 1985) with Richard Chamberlain, Cold Steel (Dorothy Ann Puzo, 1987) with Brad Davis, and Above the Law (Andrew Davis, 1988) as the wife of Steven Seagal. On television, Stone had a notable performance in the mini-series War and Remembrance (1987).
She finally got a break with her part in Paul Verhoeven's Sci-Fi action film Total Recall (1990), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. She played the role of Lori Quaid, the seemingly loving wife of Schwarzenegger's character, later revealed to be an agent sent by a corrupt and ruthless governor to monitor him. The film received favourable reviews and made $261.2 million worldwide, giving Stone's career a major boost. She also posed nude for Playboy, a daring move for a 32-year-old actress. But it worked.
Spanish postcard by Novograf. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
Spanish postcard by Novograf. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
Spanish postcard by Novograf. Photo: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992).
A brilliant, bisexual author and alleged serial killer
Sharon Stone became a sex symbol and international star when she played Catherine Tramell, a brilliant, bisexual author and alleged serial killer in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992). Several actresses at the time turned down the role, mostly because of the nudity required. Her interrogation scene has become a classic in film history and her performance captivated everyone, from MTV viewers, who honoured her with Most Desirable Female and Best Female Performance Awards, to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
She headlined the erotic thriller Sliver (Phillip Noyce, 1993), based on Ira Levin's eponymous novel about the mysterious occurrences in a privately owned New York City high-rise apartment building. The film was heavily panned by critics and earned Stone a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress but Sliver became a commercial success, grossing US$116.3 million at the international box office.
She starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in the action thriller The Specialist (Luis Llosa, 1994), portraying May Munro, a woman who entices a bomb expert she is involved with (Stallone) into destroying the criminal gang that killed her family. Despite negative reviews, the film made US $170.3 million worldwide.
In the Western The Quick and the Dead (Sam Raimi, 1995) with Gene Hackman and Russell Crowe, she obtained the role of a gunfighter who returns to a frontier town in an effort to avenge her father's death.
She received critical acclaim with her performance as the beautiful but drug-crazy wife of Robert de Niro in Martin Scorsese's crime drama Casino (1995), garnering the Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1998, she married newspaper editor Phil Bronstein but they divorced in 2004. Sharon Stone received two more Golden Globe Award nominations for her roles in The Mighty (Peter Chelsom, 1998) and The Muse (Albert Brooks, 1999).
Dutch postcard by Boomerang Freecards, Amsterdam. Photo: Sharon Stone in Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995).
French postcard, no. C 460.
French postcard, Ref. 962.
Two embarrassing flops
In 2000, Sharon Stone starred opposite Ellen DeGeneres in the made-for-HBO drama If These Walls Could Talk 2 (Jane Anderson, Martha Coolidge, Anne Heche, 2000), portraying a lesbian trying to start a family.
Stone then appeared in two embarrassing flops, Catwoman (Pitof, 2004), and the sequel Basic Instinct 2 (Michael Caton-Jones, 2006). In between, she played one of Bill Murray's ex-girlfriends in Jim Jarmusch's Golden Palm winner Broken Flowers (2005) - and walked away with the most memorable and endearing role in the picture - a role that showcases her skills as a disciplined thespian.
She was also in the American drama Bobby (2006), written and directed by Emilio Estevez. In the biographical drama Lovelace (Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, 2013), Stone obtained the role of the mother of porn actress Linda Lovelace, played by Amanda Seyfried.
Her later films include Fading Gigolo (John Turturro, 2013) with Woody Allen, the Italian dramedy Un ragazzo d’oro/A Golden Boy (Pupi Avati, 2014) and The Disaster Artist (James Franco, 2017). In 1995, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2005, she was named Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
Stone made guest-appearances on TV in The Practice (2004), winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, and in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2010). She has also starred in the action drama series Agent X (2015), Steven Soderbergh's murder-mystery Mosaic (2017) and the series The New Pope (Paolo Sorrentino, 2019) with Jude Law.
Sharon Stone is the mother of three adopted sons: Roan (2000), Laird (2005) and Quinn (2006).
Italian postcard in the collection 'Le più belle del mondo' by Teletutto, no. 6.
Belgian postcard by MutiChoice Kaleidoscope. Photo: Isopress / Outline (White).
Belgian postcard in the 'De 50 mooiste vrouwen van de eeuw' (The 50 most beautiful women of the century) series by P magazine, no. 12. Photo: Bettina Reims.
Sources: Johannes Prayudhi (IMDb), Rebecca Flint Marx (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.