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. He was of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent; the family's original paternal surname was Valvrojenski.[2][3] Her mother was Maria-Luisa Yvonne "Gogo" Radha de Wendt Schiaparelli, a socialite of Italian, Swiss and French descent.[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, and was known as Berry Berenson. She was married to actor Anthony Perkins. Berry Berenson died on September 11, 2001 in New York City.
A fashion model discovered as a teenager by Vogue editor Diana Vreeland,[1] Berenson came to prominence in the 1960s. 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 portrayed the 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 is chairman of the board of Culture Project, an organization that sponsors the theater.[citation needed]
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]
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]
In the 1970s, Berenson was a vegetarian and believer in reincarnation.[18] She later abandoned vegetarianism and returned to eating meat.[19][20]
Berenson lives in a villa on the outskirts of Marrakesh.[1] She is fluent in English, Italian,[21] and French.[22]
Relationships
Berenson's first husband was James Randall, a rivet manufacturer;[1] they wed in Beverly Hills in 1976[23] and divorced in 1978. The couple have one daughter, born 1977, who is a social worker.[24]
Her second husband was Aaron Richard Golub (born 1942, Worcester, Massachusetts), 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.[25][26][27][28]
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