John Basinger

John Peter Basinger (born Peter Reese; May 10, 1934 – May 29, 2026) was an American actor, writer and educator. He is believed to be the only person to have memorized all twelve books of Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Early life and education Basinger was born Peter Reese on May 10, 1934, at a Salvation Army hospital in Chicago to Marguerite Reese, an unmarried German immigrant.

Career In 1968, Basinger became active in National Theatre of the Deaf, acting in the award-winning 1977 performance of Under Milk Wood, for which he also composed the music. Although he was not deaf, he learned American Sign Language and remained a core member of the troupe for decades. Basinger also appeared in the film adaptation of Children of a Lesser God,

From 1973 to 1993, Basinger taught speech, sign language and theater at Wesleyan and Connecticut State Community College, where a theater was named after him. In December 2001, he performed the complete poem over three days at a theater in Norwich, Connecticut. He subsequently toured the United States performing individual books and excerpts. He described the work as "a cathedral I carry around in my mind, a place that I can enter and walk around at will."

His achievement attracted scholarly attention. In 2010, psychologists John Seamon, Paawan Punjabi and Emily Busch cited Basinger's accomplishment in the journal Memory as evidence that exceptional memorization skills can be acquired later in life through sustained practice rather than innate ability.

Personal life and death Basinger married film historian Jeanine Basinger in 1967 after the two met at Wesleyan University. They were married for 59 years, up until John's death in 2026, and had one daughter. He died on May 29, 2026, from complications of pneumonia in Brookings, South Dakota, at the age of 92.