Berry Berenson - Interview Salutes

Interview, Nov, 2001 by Patrick Giles

1948--2001

The World Trade Center stood about half a mile from Interview's offices, and it was from our own windows that we watched as two hijacked airliners flew into the twin towers on September 11. We didn't know until a day or two later that on one of those fated planes was a member of this magazine's extended family--Berry Berenson.

It wasn't surprising that in 1972 Berry and her sister, Marisa, were drawn into Andy Warhol and Interview's orbit. The Berenson sisters had a creative pedigree that Andy loved: their granduncle was art connoisseur Bernard Berenson, and one grandmother was iconoclastic fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. At the time she came to Interview, Berry showed a talent for photography; mentioning she had a longtime crush on actor Tony Perkins, the magazine sent her to interview and photograph him. The encounter went even better than everyone hoped: Interview got a great story, and Berry not only met her idol, she married him.

Seeking to commemorate Berenson, it felt right to us to reprint this memento of her Interview years: the January 1974 cover and photos of Berry and Tony Perkins the magazine ran celebrating their union, including the interview Berry conducted with Perkins on the day they met. (The photos in this article were taken by Francesco Scavullo not long before the birth of their first son, Osgood; they later had another son, Elvis.) Both words and pictures of Berry Berenson, we hope, may prove to be healing. Sometimes when a friend's life ends so suddenly and cruelly, the greatest comfort comes in remembering her when she was at her most buoyant, and radiant--when she simply couldn't have held more life.