Posted on 01/27/2005 3:18:57 PM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
When she became the first black woman to win the best actress Oscar, Halle Berry hoped she would be the first of many.
Three years on, however, no woman has repeated her success.
So Miss Berry, 38, has launched a savage attack on Hollywood producers and directors, accusing them of racial prejudice.
"The struggle for a woman of colour to find good material is still very present, and it's a struggle I fight every day," she said.
Miss Berry said there was such a shortage of decent roles on offer that she had resorted to buying the rights of books she wanted to develop into films.
The actress, who was honoured in 2002 for her role in Monster's Ball as the wife of a prisoner on Death Row, has four such projects in development.
'Called a nigger'
"I try to make the best out of what comes to me but it's going to be about making my own reality really," she added.
"I've been called a nigger straight to my face . . . but there's also much more subtle insidious ways that racism occurs here in Hollywood.
"I don't care what anyone says - they may think it doesn't exist, but it's usually those who aren't black who think that."
When she accepted her Oscar, Miss Berry made it clear she saw it as a breakthrough.
In an emotional speech, she said: "This is for every nameless, faceless woman of colour that now has a chance because this door, tonight, has been opened. Tonight the glass ceiling has been broken and I hope that it is shattered forever."
Jamie Foxx tipped for Oscar
Her comments came before today's announcement of this year's Academy Award nominations, when no woman from an ethnic minority is expected to be in the running for best actress and supporting actress.
Black male actors, however, could enjoy record success, with Don Cheadle, for Hotel Rwanda, and Morgan Freeman, for Million Dollar Baby, hot tips for honours at the awards ceremony on February 27.
Jamie Foxx, who last week won a Golden Globe for best actor in a musical for Ray, is the firm favourite for the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of soul legend Ray Charles.
Previously, best actor Oscars have gone to Denzel Washington, who won alongside Miss Berry in 2002 for his role in Training Day, and Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field in 1963.
The only black actresses to win best supporting actress Oscars are Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost in 1990 and Hattie McDaniel for Gone With The Wind in 1939.
Despite her anger at film bosses, Miss Berry, whose mother was born in Liverpool, is believed to be the world's highest-paid black actress.
She earned £25million for appearances in Gothika, X-Men 2 and Catwoman.
Another title bestowed on her was sexiest Bond girl for playing Jinx in the most recent 007 adventure, Die Another Day in 2002.
Her personal life, however, has been blighted by two broken marriages and violence from an ex-boyfriend, which left her partially deaf.
She recently divorced Eric Benet after he admitted cheating on her with a dozen other women.
So THAT'S what happened to Martin Landau!!
lmao!!! Good 1
Halle Berry is only rivaled by another black, Cuba Gooding for pissing away the goodwill and capital of an Oscar with subsequent film choices.
LOL that is SOOO true.
The "Byrd" effect. It happens.
As the Brits would say: "Brilliant!"
Ah. But you see, black women are supposed to win oscars EVERY year, and ONLY black women! If they don't then the universe is racist.
Boy who cried wolf as far as I'm concerned. Who cares.
Every year I get more turned off by MLK Day and Black Hx Month. They used to be fun times of sharing. I'm serious about that. I appreciated this when I thought folks were acknowledging progress. Now 36 or 37 years after King's death and after enormous progress, there is a large group of people that want me to feel guilty for slave trading in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. They want me to feel guilty though I have put many dollars into the pockets of black bosses and owners. It almost seems that they want me to feel guilty just for guilty's sake. I won't play.
Ten years from now, people will still be watching Training Day. NOBODY will be watching either A Beautiful Mind or Monster's Ball.
Most X-Men fans would have been annoyed at the least to see Storm (who according to canon is Kenyan) portrayed by a white. By canon the character is black, and most fans don't like the characters they love mangled for the screen. I for one wouldn't have seen the movies if they screwed with canon to that degree. Thst said, I thought she was a perfect choice for Storm. It's a shame to see her whining about the roles that she excelled in. If memory serves, the character of Storm was created before she was even born...while she may not be as much of a prestige character to play as Batman, Superman, or Spiderman, she's a well loved and classic super hero in her own right. I can't imagine the mindset behind refusing the role again, or looking down on it.
"Russell Crowe as a Schitzo was about as convincing as Hillary playing a conservative."
LOL, hey she's really trying now! You're a good woman to watch a movie about Math! Better than I could do. My friend really wanted to see that other one, The Story of PI (?) something like that. It was supposed to be pretty good, but I don't know if she ever saw it.
Uh, I carry a Y Chromosome and am "packin'" below the waist if you know what I mean. ;-)
Sorry! And I should know better, since everybody on the internet thinks I'm a guy!
so, of COURSE you liked a movie about math, at least that what President Summers of Harvard would say ; )
Denny Crane: "I want two things: First God and then Fox News."
You're from Bayonne, right? Isn't it true that the women from Bayonne are a little, uh, Butch? ;-)
She has three good choices (other than whining):
Write a script hereself. (Perhaps too time consuming.)
Hire someone to write a script for her (best choice.)
Peruse scripts and pick a good one (second choice.)
Never liked her. I found her underwhelming. She ruined a perfectly adequate james bond movie. But for the fact Madona got herself cut and paste edited in that movie, she was not the worst part of the movie.
Swordfish had her as more window dressing. Her only claim to fame there for her eminently replacable performance was that she revealed he boobs. yawn.
ooops "revealed HER boobs" not "he"
darn typos.
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