Marisa Berenson

Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson (born February 15, 1947) is an American actress and model.[1] She appeared on the front covers of Vogue and Time, and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Natalia Landauer in the 1972 film Cabaret. The role also earned her Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations. Her other film appearances include Death in Venice (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), S.O.B. (1981) and I Am Love (2009).

Marisa Berenson
Berenson in 2013
Born	Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson February 15, 1947 New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, model
Years active	1967–present
Spouse(s)	James Randall ​ ​ (m. 1976; div. 1978)​ Aaron Richard Golub ​ ​ (m. 1982; div. 1987)​
Children	1
Relatives	Elsa Schiaparelli (grandmother) Berry Berenson (sister) Oz Perkins (nephew) Elvis Perkins (nephew)

In 2001, she made her Broadway debut in the revival of Design for Living.

Early life

Childhood

Berenson was born in New York City, the elder of two daughters. Her father, Robert Lawrence Berenson, was an American career diplomat turned shipping executive of Lithuanian Jewish descent, and his family's original surname was Valvrojenski.[2][3] Her mother was Maria-Luisa Yvonne "Gogo" Radha de Wendt Schiaparelli, a socialite of Italian, Swiss, French, and Egyptian ancestry.[1][4]

Family

Berenson's maternal grandmother was the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli,[5][1] and her maternal grandfather was Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor, a theosophist and psychic medium.[4][6][7] Her younger sister, Berinthia, became a model, actress, and photographer as Berry Berenson.

She is also a great-grandniece of Giovanni Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer who was the first to describe the canals of Mars, and a second cousin, once removed, of art expert Bernard Berenson and his sister Senda Berenson, an athlete and educator who was one of the first two women elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.[8]

Career

Berenson at the 2009 Venice Film Festival

A fashion model discovered as a teenager by Vogue editor Diana Vreeland,[1] Berenson came to prominence in the 1960s ("I once was one of the highest paid models in the world", she told The New York Times). She appeared on the cover of the July 1970 issue of Vogue as well as the cover of Time on December 15, 1975. She appeared in numerous fashion layouts in Vogue in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[1] She was known as "The Queen of the Scene" for her frequent appearances at nightclubs and other social venues in her youth,[9] and Yves Saint Laurent dubbed her "the girl of the Seventies".[10][1]

Berenson's early film roles included Gustav von Aschenbach's wife in Luchino Visconti's 1971 film Death in Venice and the Jewish department store heiress Natalia Landauer in the 1972 film Cabaret. The latter role led to two Golden Globe nominations, a BAFTA nomination and an award from the National Board of Review). She also portrayed tragic beauty Lady Lyndon in the Stanley Kubrick film Barry Lyndon (1975).[1] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "Marisa Berenson splendidly suits her costumes and wigs."[11][12] She recalled her experience working under Kubrick's direction:

I liked him very much. He had a lot of dry humour. Contrary to what people think – they have this image of Stanley as this difficult ogre – he wasn’t at all. He was a perfectionist but every great director I’ve worked with has been a perfectionist. You have to be to make extraordinary films.[13]

Berenson's other performances included Casanova & Co. (1977), Killer Fish (1979), the Blake Edwards comedy S.O.B. (1981), The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud (1984) and Clint Eastwood's White Hunter Black Heart (1990), as well as in made-for-TV movies in the United States, such as the Holocaust-themed drama Playing for Time (1980). She guest-hosted an episode of The Muppet Show during its third season in 1978.[14] She made her Broadway debut in the 2001 revival of Design for Living, which also starred Jennifer Ehle, Alan Cumming and Dominic West. In 2009, she appeared in the film I Am Love.

In August 2016 she appeared in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick Theatre in London, as Lady Capulet.[15]

Berenson is chairman of the board of Culture Project, an organization that sponsors the theater.

Personal life

On September 11, 2001, her younger sister and sole sibling, Berry Perkins, widow of actor Anthony Perkins, was killed in the first flight to hit the World Trade Center. Marisa was also in an airplane during the terrorist attacks, flying from Paris to New York. In an interview with CBS, she told of the experience and how hours later she landed in Newfoundland (flights were diverted to Canada), and was told of her sister's death by a phone call with her daughter.[1] Said Berenson: "I have hope and tremendous faith. I think that's what gets you through life ... through tragedies is when you have faith."[16]

Of her practice of Transcendental Meditation[1] she said:

India changed my life, because I was searching for my spiritual path, and I ended up in an ashram in Rishikesh with Maharishi and the Beatles. We’d sit on the floor at night, and George and Ringo would play the guitar, and we'd meditate all day, and have meals together, and become vegetarians, and live in huts. But it was just normal. It wasn't like, "Oh, here are the Beatles." The most important thing was my transcendental meditation.[17]

Berenson lives in a villa on the outskirts of Marrakech.[1] She is fluent in English and Italian.[18]

Relationships

Berenson's first husband was James Randall, a rivet manufacturer;[1] they wed in Beverly Hills in 1976[19] and divorced in 1978. The couple have one daughter, Starlite Melody Randall (born 1977).[20]

Her second husband was Aaron Richard Golub, a lawyer, whom she married in 1982 and divorced in 1987. During the divorce proceedings, the judge ruled "the increased value of Ms. Berenson's acting and modeling career during the marriage were marital property" and therefore subject to consideration in any settlement agreements.[21][22][23][24]

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Death in Venice	1971	Frau von Aschenbach
Cabaret	1972	Natalia Landauer	NBR Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated – Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer - Female Nominated – BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Un modo di essere donna	1973	Sibilla Ferrandi
Barry Lyndon	1975	Lady Honoria Lyndon
Some Like It Cool	1977	The Caliph's Wife
Killer Fish	1979	Ann
S.O.B.	1981	Mavis
Led by the Nose	1984	Vera
The Syringe	1984	L'Arbalète'
The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud	1984	Emma Herrmann
Flagrant désir	1986	Jeanne Barnac
Via Montenapoleone	1987	Francesca
White Hunter Black Heart	1990	Kay Gibson
Night of the Cyclone	1990	Françoise
Il giardino dei ciliegi	1992	Charlotte
Venti dal Sud	1994	Anne de Bois
Le grand blanc de Lambaréné	1995	Helene Schweitzer
Tonka	1997	Mme Pflaum
Elles	1997	Chloé
Riches, belles, etc.	1998	Alizéa
Retour à la vie	1999	Stéphanie
The Photographer	2000	Julie Morris
Primetime Murder	2000	Martha Werther
Lisa	2001	Princess Maruschka
Lonesome	2001	Verena
People	2004	Daniella
Le plus beau jour de ma vie	2004	Barbara
Color Me Kubrick	2005	Alex Witchell
24 Bars	2007	La mère
Vote and Die: Liszt for President	2008	Dr. Elizabeth Dyson
I Am Love	2009	Allegra Rori Recchi
Cinéman	2009	Lady Lyndon
The Disciple	2010	Maria
Weddings and Other Disasters	2010	Lucrezia
Hitler in Hollywood	2010	Marisa Berenson
Gigola	2011	Solange
Opium	2013	Marquise Casati
The Love Punch	2013	Clothilde
Branagh Theatre Live: Romeo and Juliet	2016	Lady Capulet
The Bay	2012
Broken Poet	TBR	Kathy Madison
Unforgettable	TBR

Television

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Coronet Blue	1967	Mary Barclay	Episode: "Faces"
Tourist	1980	Marian	Television film
Playing for Time	1980	Elzvieta	Television film
Bel ami	1983	Clotilde de Marelle	Limited series
The Equalizer	1985	Andrea Browne	Episode: "Back Home"
Sins	1986	Luba Tcherina	Recurring role (3 episodes)
Who's The Boss?	1986	Genevieve Pescher	Episode: "Not with My Client You Don't"
ABC Afterschool Specials	1986	Liz Childs	Episode: "Getting Even: A Wimp's Revenge"
Lo scialo	1987	Nina	Recurring role (3 episodes)
Hemingway	1988	Pauline Pfeiffer	Main role (4 episodes)
Spy Wars	1989	Isabella De Ambrosis	Main role (3 episodes)
Ocean	1989	Muneca Chavez	Main role (6 episodes)
Have A Nice Night	1990	Barbara Jenkins	Television film
Blue Blood	1990	Ann Ryder	Episode: "Schatten der Vergangenheit"
Chillers	1990	Professor Rebecca Vernay	Episode: "The Thrill Seeker"
L'enfant des loups	1991	Radegonde	Television film
Hollywood Detective	1991	Dorothy Parker	Episode: "Romanoff a Clef"
Ti ho adottato per simpatia	1991	Unknown	Television film
Murder, She Wrote	1992	Claudia Cameron	Episode: "Danse Diabolique"
Notorious	1992	Katarina Sebastian	Television film
Maigret	1995	Mme Crosby	Episode: "Maigret et la tête d'un homme"
Het verdriet van België	1995	Madame Laura	Recurring role (2 episodes)
Maintenant et pour toujours	1998	Marianne	Television film
Ama il tuo nemico 2	2001	Unknown	Television film
Commissaire Valence	2004	Mme Irène	Episode: "Machination"
Julie, chevalier de Maupin	2004	Madame de Maintenon	Television film
Venus and Apollo	2005	Albina de Braise	Episode: "Soin défraîchi"
Le juge est une femme	2005	Julie de Berg	Episode: "La petite marchande de fleurs"
Mafiosa	2006– 2007	Caterina Paoli	Recurring role (6 episodes)
Lost Signs	2007	Irène de Lestrade	Recurring role (12 episodes)
Il peccato e la vergogna	2010	Elena Fontamara	Recurring role (2 episodes)
Caldo criminale	2010	Lucrezia	Television film
Le sang de la vigne	2011	Shirley	Episode: "Le dernier coup de Jarnac"
La collection: Ecrire pour... la trentaine vue par des écrivains	2014	Marianne	Episode: "Rose Mystica"
Velvet Colección	2018	Sandra Petribello	Recurring role (2 episodes)

Theatre

Title	Year	Role	Venue	Ref.
Holiday	1980	Julia Seton	Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles	[25]
Design For Living	2001	Grace Torrence	Broadway, Roundabout Revival	[26]
Romeo and Juliet	2016	Lady Capulet	West End, Kenneth Branagh Revival	[27]

References

1. Saner, Emine (October 30, 2019). "'I did the first nude in Vogue': Marisa Berenson on being a blazing star of the 70s and beyond: Interview". The Guardian. London. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
2. Berenson, Bernard (1949). Sketch for a Self-Portrait. Pantheon.
3. "Robert L. Berenson, Ex-Envoy And Head of Shipping Line, Dies". The New York Times. February 3, 1965. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
4. Elsa Schiaparelli, Shocking Life, NY: Dutton, 1954
5. Linda Greenhouse, "Schiaparelli Dies in Paris; Brought Color to Fashion", The New York Times, November 15, 1973
6. Thurman, Judith (October 20, 2003). "Mother of Invention" – via www.newyorker.com.
7. Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica entry Archived May 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
8. "Senda Berenson | Biography & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica.
9. John Corry, "About New York", The New York Times, February 4, 1974
10. Judy Klemesrud, "And Now, Make Room for the Berenson Sisters", The New York Times, April 19, 1973, p. 54
11. Vincent Canby, Barry Lyndon review, The New York Times, December 19, 1975
12. "marisa berenson" – via www.youtube.com.
13. "Marisa Berenson on the making of Barry Lyndon: Kubrick wasn't a 'difficult ogre - he was a perfectionist'", Independent, July 13, 2016
14. Video on YouTube
15. Kellaway, Kate (July 24, 2016). "Marisa Berenson: 'Being directed by Branagh is an amazing adventure'". The Guardian. London.
16. "48 Hours: And Then There Were 2". CBS. October 12, 2001.
17. "Chatting Up Marisa Berenson", Leslie Camhi, September 27, 2011. The New York Times. Retrieved Sept 2011
18. https://www.vogue.com.au/culture/features/actors-who-speak-italian/image-gallery/179116268dcd3756f5927153e4d63ecf
19. "People, Nov. 22, 1976". November 22, 1976 – via content.time.com.
20. "Milestones, Nov. 21, 1977". November 21, 1977 – via content.time.com.
21. David Margolick, "Divorce Quandary: Is Fame Property?", The New York Times, September 26, 1990
22. Ronald Sullivan, "Her Fame Is Ruled His Too: Soprano Must Share Income", The New York Times, July 3, 1991
23. Joyce Wadler, "Public Lives: Still a Bad Boy, as a Lawyer and a Novelist", The New York Times, April 7, 2000, B2:4
24. "Claude Solnik, "Breaking up is even harder to do for celebrities", Long Island Business News, 20 January 2006". Archived from the original on February 15, 2009. Retrieved June 30, 2007.
25. https://wtfestival.org/main-events/holiday/
26. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/marisa-berenson-81244
27. https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Marisa-Berenson/

External links

• Marisa Berenson at IMDb
• Marisa Berenson at AllMovie