Halle Berry : a stormy life : [the unauthorized biography] / Frank Sanello.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sanello, Frank.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Berry, Halle.

Motion picture actors and actresses--United States--Biography.

Motion picture actors and actresses.

African American motion picture actors and actresses.

United States.

African American motion picture actors and actresses--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

262 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Virgin Books, [2003]

Summary:

Actress Halle Berry is one of the most beautiful women in the world, but her incredible talent of 'becoming' the character she portrays led to her being the first African-American in the history of the Academy Awards to win the Best Actress Oscar (for Monster's Ball) in 2002. Born to a mixed-race couple and named after her mother's favourite department store, Halle Berry's upbringing was marred by her father's abuse of her mother and sister (though never Berry herself). This, added to the racist taunts she endured at school, only made her even more determined to 'fit in' and strive to achieve all her ambitions. By the time she was in her teens she was prom queen, editor of the school newspaper and top of her class. Professionally Berry got her big break in the 1991 hit Jungle Fever alongside the formidable Samuel L Jackson, and in 2000 won a Golden Globe for her depiction of the 50s black actress Dorothy Dandridge, with whom she so closely identifies. She went on to star in films as diverse as The Last Boy Scout, Boomerang, The Flintstones, Bulworth, X-Men, Swordfish, Die Another Day, the latest in the fantastic James Bond series, and reprise her role as Storm in X-Men 2. Berry's personal life has often been rocky. Her first marriage to baseball star David Justice ended when he cheated on her. Then, after a series of disastrous (and some abusive) relationships, Halle married the singer Eric Benet, whose daughter India she later adopted. In 2000 she was also involved in a hit and run accident for which she was fined and placed on three years' probation. Frank Sanello delves into the life of Halle Berry to uncover the truth about the abuse, the racism and the screen nudity, while also showing how one of the most beautiful and talented women in the world still finds it difficult to get the parts she wants.

Contents:

1. An Ending and the Beginning 1

2. Living Hell 23

3. The Big Screen and the Big Time 29

4. White Roots 47

5. Integrating Bedrock 67

6. Losing Isaiah, Regaining Respect 75

7. Black Queen Takes White King 83

8. Injustice 87

9. Demoted to Princess 113

10. Friends and Mentors 117

11. Introducing ... Eric Benet 125

12. The Accidental Motorist 143

13. Acting Up a Storm 149

14. Gratuitous Prudery 155

15. Screen Goddesses and Monsters 163

16. Halle's Comet 177

17. Stand By Your Man 197

18. Billion-Dollar Babe 205

19. Weathering Another Storm 215

Epilogue: Thrive Another Day 221

Television 245.

Notes:

Filography: 229-243.

ISBN:

1852270926

OCLC:

53833249