Anthony Perkins' widow was on doomed Flight

Anthony Perkins' widow was on doomed Flight 11
by Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa

Actress and photographer Berry Berenson, 53, the widow of ``Psycho'' star Anthony Perkins, died aboard American Airlines Flight 11 on her way home to California from her summer home in Wellfleet.

``She was a very, very lovely person, sweet and caring,'' said Lillian Flanagan of Wellfleet, who used to babysit Berenson's two sons. ``I can't believe this.''

Berenson and her late husband spent nearly every summer on Cape Cod in the home that had been left to them by Tony's mother.

``I met her when my two sons were young and she and her two sons needed someone to go to the beach with,'' said Flanagan. ``So we'd all go to Long Pond and hang out. She was a real sweetie.''

Berenson, the sister of actress Marisa Berenson, had a short film career, appearing in such forgettable projects as ``Cat People,'' ``Winter Kills'' and opposite her late husband in the 1978 flick, ``Remember My Name.''

Berenson's 27-year-old son, Osgood Perkins, hit the big time playing David, Reese Witherspoon's dorky pal in ``Legally Blonde.''

In an interview in July, Oz said he never got any advice or encouragement from his famous father but that his mother ``loved everything'' he did.

She was on the red carpet with him for the premiere of ``Legally Blonde'' and held a tailgate party for a bunch of friends when the flick played last month at the Wellfleet Drive-In.

``Everybody was drinking champagne and eating strawberries and cheese. She was full of fun and loved life,'' theater owner Eleanor Hazen told the Cape Codder. ``When I first met her, she would bring her sons to sell baseball cards at the flea market.''

A part-time hostess at Bubala's By The Bay in Provincetown, Berenson was a boyish-looking photographer who had shot for Vogue, Life and Newsweek when she married Perkins in 1973.

According to a biography of Norman Bates' alter-ego, Perkins, a closeted gay, saw a therapist to help him ``go straight,'' before he and Berenson tied the knot. They were married until his death from AIDS nine years ago yesterday.

Berenson had recently completed a book on fashion designer Halston. She is survived by her sons Osgood and Elvis, 25.

The repercussions of Tuesday's carnage have rippled through Hollywood and the interruption of air service has wreaked havoc at the Boston Film Festival.

Tuesday's events threw the future of Touchstone's new comedy ``Big Trouble'' into doubt as a Boston screening of the new Tim Allen flick was cancelled and the release date postponed.

A central plot line in the Barry Sonnenfeld comedy involves a suitcase bomb smuggled past airport security and onto a flight from Miami to the Bahamas.

``Due to the national tragedy, Touchstone Pictures has postponed the release date of `Big Trouble,' '' said a statement from the studio. ``Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this terrible tragedy.''

The new Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller ``Collateral Damage,'' which centers on a bomb attack in a skyscraper, is also likely to be Collateral Damage.

Locally, the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre announced it is putting off the opening of the new production ``Horrifying, Absolutely Real, True Disasters.''

``In light of (the) profoundly senseless, shocking terrorist attacks, we have decided to postpone the opening of the play,'' said Gip Hoppe, co-artistic director of WHAT. ``I wrote the play a year ago and even though it does not in any way reflect the current tragic situation, the title may offend some people.''

At the Boston Film Festival, the airline service disruption has meant some celebrity guests and films never arrived.

``In the Bedroom'' actress Sissy Spacek, ``Life As A House'' star Kevin Kline and director Irwin Winkler, who were making showings at various screenings, were en route to Boston on Tuesday. But their flights were diverted to either New York or Toronto.

Also, a print of the flick, ``Iron Monkey,'' did not arrive from New York and that screening was postponed. The flick stars Newton native Donnie Yen, who was scheduled to make an appearance to promote it.

That also may be cancelled, along with the rest of the festival's talent schedule.

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Slightly related, Sony has pulled the 'teaser trailer' for it's coming film "Spider-Man" which depicted the 'web slinger' catching the get-away helicopter of a group of vault robbers in a web spanning between the twin World Trade Center towers. The scene was previously reported not from the film.

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