REMEMBERING Berinthia "Berry" Berenson Perkins (April 14, 1948 – September 11, 2001) was an American photographer, actress, and model. Perkins was also known as the wife of actor Anthony Perkins and died in the September 11 attacks as a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11.
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. 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.
Her maternal grandmother was the Italian-born fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and her maternal grandfather was Count Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor, a Theosophist and psychic medium. Her elder sister, Marisa Berenson, became a well-known model and actress. She also was a great-grandniece of Giovanni Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer who believed he had discovered the supposed canals of Mars, and a great-grandniece 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.
Career:
Following a brief modeling career in the late 1960s, Berenson became a freelance photographer. By 1973, her photographs had been published in Life, Glamour, Vogue and Newsweek.
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.
Marriage :On August 9, 1973, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Berenson married actor Anthony Perkins. They had two sons: actor-musician Oz Perkins (born February 2, 1974) and folk/rock recording artist Elvis Perkins (born February 9, 1976).[10] They remained married until Perkins' death of AIDS on September 12, 1992.
Death:
Berenson died at age 53 in the September 11, 2001, attacks aboard American Airlines Flight 11, one day before the 9th anniversary of Perkins' death. She was returning to her California home following a holiday on Cape Cod.
