Halle Berry

Ebony, August, 1999 by Laura B. Randolph

Which is why the only thing she will say about her relationship with recording artist Eric Benet, whom she has been widely reported to be dating, is this: "I've been a big fan of Eric's music since his first record came out, and we really just hit it off as people. We're very good friends." Just friends or something more? Halle thinks for a moment, then looks out on her terrace. "Eric has been through some serious experiences that have made him grow, and so we have a lot to talk about on many different levels," she says finally. "That's really all I want to say."

While Halle will say no more about Benet, she can't seem to stop talking about Dandridge. "I feel like I've been preparing for this role half my life," says Halle who, before she shot a single scene, spent months taking dance lessons ("Every move we took from something we saw her do"), singing lessons ("Just to get the breathing down so I could lip-sync more effectively"), and talking with Dandridge's closest friend and confidante, Geri Branton.

"Geri was in the hospital having hip surgery when I first went to meet her," says Halle, who not only gave up her salary to make more money available for the movie, but served as its executive producer so she could have a voice in everything from casting to script. "It was really emotional because she said to me, `You were always the one I wanted to play Dorothy, and now that you're sitting in front of me, I see you're the only one who can play her. You even have Dottie's feet!' When she said that, I just broke down crying." Which is exactly what Halle did the night she took Branton to see the movie and she told Halle the one thing the actress had dreamed so long of hearing: She had found Dandridge's spirit and captured it onscreen. "She absolutely stole the essence of Dottie and she truly understood her," Branton says of Halle's portrayal of her best friend. "I felt like, for two hours, I'd been visiting with Dottie again. She would have been so pleased, so happy."

And so, finally, is Halle.