Marisa Berenson Back in American Cinema

Actress Marisa Berenson has been a jet-setter, a chic international figure, as a child, as a girl and as a young woman living in Paris and Manhattan.

She is, after all, a granddaughter of fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli and she led a charmed and somewhat indulged life as an offspring of the rich and famous.

Berenson, tall and elegant, made her major movie debut 15 years ago co-starring with Ryan O’Neal in Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon.”

Playing an 18th-Century aristocrat came easily to her. Some called it type casting, which did little to promote her career. She went on to small roles in “Cabaret,” “Death in Venice” and “S.O.B.”

Now she is back in her first American film in years, playing a small but strong role in “White Hunter, Black Heart.”

Her director and star of the picture is Clint Eastwood, providing a stark contrast of the image of a roughneck action star with a delicate haut monde Euro-American beauty.

“I met Clint in Cannes at the film festival two years ago and a year later he sent me the script to ‘White Hunter, Black Heart,’ ” Berenson said.

“You’ll have to ask Clint why he wanted me for the part. I have no idea,” she said.

The picture is based on author Peter Viertel’s book about the making of the film “The African Queen,” with Eastwood in the role of the late director John Huston.

“The African Queen” starred Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Marisa plays Hepburn, although not by Hepburn’s name.

For the last three years Berenson has made her home in Paris.

“Once I settled down in Paris I began working all the time, but people in America aren’t aware of it because so few European movies are shown here.

“I would like to do some work here, but I’m not giving up Europe completely. I’m like the Italian side of my family, very attached to the Continent. I’m adaptable and can make myself feel at home anywhere.

“In this country they think I’m European, but nobody knows I’m an American in Paris. Acting for me is the same on both continents. Performers are performers the world over.”