Berry Berenson

Infobox Model
bgcolour = silver
name = Berry Berenson


birthname = Berinthia Berenson
birthdate = birth date|1948|4|14
location = New York City, New York
deathdate = death date and age|2001|9|11|1948|4|14
deathplace = New York City, New York
spouse = Anthony Perkins
(1973-1992)

Berinthia "Berry" Berenson (a.k.a. Berry Perkins), (April 14, 1948 – September 11, 2001), was an American photographer, actress, and model who was best known as the wife of actor Anthony Perkins.

Career

Following a brief modeling career in the late 1960s, Berenson became a freelance photographer. By 1973, her photographs had been published in Life [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_%28magazine%29] , Glamour, Vogue and Newsweek. [Judy Klemesrud, "And Now, Make Room for the Berenson Sisters", The New York Times, 19 April 1973, page 54]

She also appeared in several motion pictures, including "Cat People", with Malcolm McDowell. She starred opposite Anthony Perkins in the 1978 Alan Rudolph film "Remember My Name" and opposite Jeff Bridges in the 1979 film "Winter Kills".

Background

Berinthia Berenson was the younger daughter of Robert L. Berenson, an American diplomat turned shipping executive, who was of Lithuanian Jewish descent; his family's original surname was Valvrojenski. [Bernard Berenson, "Sketch for a Self-Portrait", NY: Pantheon, 1949] ["Robert L. Berenson, Ex-Envoy and Head of Shipping Line, Dies", The New York Times, 3 February 1965, page 35] Her mother was born Countess Maria Luisa Yvonne Radha de Wendt de Kerlor, better known as Gogo Schiaparelli, a socialite of Italian, Swiss, French, and Egyptian ancestry.Elsa Schiaparelli, "Shocking Life", NY: Dutton, 1954] [She married, as her second husband, Gino, Marchese Cacciapuoti di Giugliano, an actor and director.]

Her maternal grandmother was the Italian-born fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, [Linda Greenhouse, "Schiaparelli Dies in Paris; Brought Color to Fashion", The New York Times, 15 November 1973] and her maternal grandfather was Count Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor, a Theosophist and psychic medium. [ [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/10/27/031027fa_fact_thurman New Yorker article about Elsa Schiaparelli] ] [ [http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/h/bel_18.html Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica entry] ] Her elder sister, Marisa Berenson, became a well-known model and actress. She also was a great-grand-niece of Giovanni Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer who believed he had discovered the supposed canals of Mars, and a great-grand-niece of art expert Bernard Berenson (1865 – 1959) and his sister Senda Berenson (1868 – 1954), an athlete and educator who was one of the first two women elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9125376/Senda-Berenson#668134.hook "Encyclopaedia Britannica Online entry"] ]

Marriage

In August 1973, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Berenson married the bisexual actor Anthony Perkins; [ [http://www.glbtq.com/arts/perkins_a,2.html glbtq >> arts >> Perkins, Anthony ] ] who later died from complications of AIDS in 1992. [Charlotte Curtis, "Tony Perkins Weds Berry Berenson; Turquoise Ring", The New York Times, 11 August 1973, page 17] They had two sons: the actor-musician Oz Perkins (born 1974) and the folk/rock singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins (born 1976). [Joyce Maynard, "Tony Perkins and Family: A Study in Informal Togetherness", The New York Times, Westchester Weekly Section, 12 January 1977, page 58]

Death

Berenson died at age 53 in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on American Airlines Flight 11. She was returning to her California home following a holiday on Cape Cod. In a strange coincidence, at the same time Berenson's plane crashed, her sister, Marisa, was flying from Paris to New York. She landed hours later in Newfoundland, where Marisa's daughter told her of her sister's death by phone.

Her death happened one day before the 9th anniversary of Anthony Perkins' death.

Quotes

"I hope she didn't suffer. It's hard to take in. I have hope and tremendous faith. I think that's what gets you through life...through tragedies is when you have faith." Marisa Berenson on the death of her sister Berry Berenson in the attacks of September 11.

References

ee also

* on the September 11 wiki

External links

*imdb name|id=0073550|name=Berry Berenson
*amg name|2:5565
* [http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/showbiz.today/featured.story/0109/12.html CNN Showbiz Today—Cultural figures among the victims]
* [http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=10rsu1g&s=2 Image of Berry Berenson]
* [http://www.tampabaycoalition.com/files/TBC911BerryBerensonFriend.htm Several news stories about Berry Berenson]