Marisa Berenson

A fashion model discovered as a teenager by Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, 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. She was known as "The Queen of the Scene" for her frequent appearances at nightclubs and other social venues in her youth, and Yves Saint Laurent dubbed her "the girl of the Seventies".

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). Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "Marisa Berenson splendidly suits her costumes and wigs." 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.

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-starred in an episode of The Muppet Show during its third season in 1978. 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.

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