Berry Berenson
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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.
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[edit] Career
Following a brief modeling career in the late 1960s, Berenson became a freelance photographer. By 1973, she had seen her photographs published in Life[1], Glamour, Vogue, and Newsweek.[1]
She also appeared in several motion pictures, including Cat People with Malcolm McDowell. She starred opposite Jeff Bridges in the 1979 Alan Rudolph film Remember My Name.
[edit] 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.[2][3] 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.[4][5]
Her maternal grandmother was the Italian-born fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli,[6] and her maternal grandfather was Count Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor, a Theosophist and psychic medium.[7][8][9] 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.[10]
[edit] Marriage
In August 1973, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Berenson married the bisexual actor Anthony Perkins; he died from complications of AIDS in 1992.[11] They had two sons: the actor-musician Oz Perkins (born 1974) and the folk/rock singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins (born 1976).[12]
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Judy Klemesrud, "And Now, Make Room for the Berenson Sisters", The New York Times, 19 April 1973, page 54
- ^ 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
- ^ Elsa Schiaparelli, "Shocking Life", NY: Dutton, 1954
- ^ She married, as her second husband, Gino, Marchese Cacciapuoti di Giugliano, an actor and director.
- ^ Linda Greenhouse, "Schiaparelli Dies in Paris; Brought Color to Fashion", The New York Times, 15 November 1973
- ^ Elsa Schiaparelli, "Shocking Life", NY: Dutton, 1954
- ^ New Yorker article about Elsa Schiaparelli
- ^ Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica entry
- ^ "Encyclopaedia Britannica Online entry"
- ^ Charlotte Curtis, "Tony Perkins Weds Berry Berenson; Turquoise Ring", The New York Times, 11 August 1973, page 17
- ^ Joyce Maynard, "Tony Perkins and Family: A Study in Informal Togetherness", The New York Times, Westchester Weekly Section, 12 January 1977, page 58
[edit] See also
- Memorial to Berry Berenson on the September 11 wiki
