Born into distinguished American and European families, she was the younger daughter of Robert L. Berenson, a U.S. diplomat of Lithuanian-Jewish descent whose original family name was Valvrojenski. Her mother was Countess Marisa de Wendt de Kerlor, a.k.a. Gogo Schiaparelli, a socialite of Italian, Swiss, and Egyptian ancestry (she is now Marchesa Cacciapuoti di Giugliano). Berry Berenson's maternal grandmother was the Paris fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and her sister was actress and model Marisa Berenson. She was also a great-great-niece of Giovanni Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer who discovered the "canals" of Mars, a great-great-niece of art expert Bernard Berenson (1865-1959), and a great-great-niece of Senda Berenson (1868-1954), an athlete and educator who was one of the first two women elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Following a successful modelling career, Berenson had a number of minor roles in big budget movies, including Cat People, before starring opposite Jeff Bridges in Remember My Name. She then developed a career in photography, shooting many photos for the covers of Life magazine, as well as fashion pictures for Vogue.
She died at age 53 in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on board American Airlines flight 11. She had been returning from a holiday in Cape Cod to her California home.
She was survived by her two sons, Elvis Perkins and Osgood Perkins 2nd, who co-starred with Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde.
See September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Casualties.