Marisa Berenson: The Fascinating Life of the Gorgeous '70s Model and Actress

Before there were influencers, there was Marisa Berenson. The model began her career in the late '60s, and by the '70s, she was considered one of the most beautiful women of the era and successfully made the transition from modeling to acting.

Berenson was a staple of the decadent '70s nightlife scene, and she attracted nearly as much attention for her jet-setting socialite lifestyle as she did for her beauty. Decades later, she remains a fashion icon who embodies glamour. Here are some captivating facts you may not have known about her.

Marisa Berenson was from a high-profile family

Born Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson in New York City in 1947 to a diplomat and businessman father and a socialite mother, Berenson is of Eastern European Jewish, Italian, Swiss and French descent, and speaks French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Marisa Berenson had a privileged upbringing. Her maternal grandmother was the trailblazing fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and she was exposed to celebrity life from a young age.

However, just because Berenson had a posh background didn't mean her family life was easy. In 2001, she went through a devastating trauma when her younger sister, Berry, a model, actress and photographer and the wife of actor Anthony Perkins, was on one of the planes that was hijacked on 9/11, and died at 53 in the horrific attack.

Reflecting on the loss of her sister, Berenson said, "I try and look at things on a different level of consciousness, and I connect with my sister all the time. So that helps a lot. I believe that so strongly that I never feel alone and I always know that I’m accompanied by higher powers."

She had a spiritual experience with the Beatles

Berenson traveled the world, and in the late '60s, she found herself in India with the Beatles at the height of their hippie days. While there, she developed an enduring interest in meditation and spirituality.

As she recalled, "India changed my life, because I was searching for my spiritual path, and I ended up in an ashram in Rishikesh with Maharishi and the Beatles. We’d sit on the floor at night, and George and Ringo would play the guitar, and we’d meditate all day, and have meals together, and become vegetarians, and live in huts. But it was just normal. It wasn’t like, 'Oh, here are the Beatles.' The most important thing was my transcendental meditation. I was searching for the light."

Marisa Berenson was called "the face of the '70s"

Berenson was frequently featured in the pages of Vogue and other fashion magazines, and she was a staple of every stylish social scene, from Swinging London to disco parties with Andy Warhol at Studio 54, leading the designer Yves Saint Laurent to call her "the face of the '70s."

Unlike many other faces of the '70s, while Berenson partied regularly, she wasn't a wild child, and she abstained from drugs, saying, "There were a lot of drugs and promiscuity. I was in this world, but not of it. I never did drugs. I wanted to evolve spiritually. It saved me. I wanted to be healthy. I partied, went home and woke up early to get to work."

Today, at 77, Berenson lives a quiet (but still very glam) life in Marrakech, and is a UNESCO Ambassador Artist for Peace.

She was in three '70s period pieces by legendary directors

Like many models, Berenson made the switch to acting. In 1971, she had her first film role, in Death in Venice, an early 20th century literary adaptation from the Italian director Luchino Visconti. As soon as Visconti saw her, he knew she was perfect for his movie, and her ethereal, timeless beauty made her an ideal choice for period pieces.

In 1972, Berenson appeared opposite Liza Minelli, playing Natalia Landauer, a Jewish heiress, in the classic '30s-set musical Cabaret, directed by theater master Bob Fosse. She then played the tragic Lady Lyndon in Stanley Kubrick's sumptuously shot 19th-century epic Barry Lyndon (1975).

Looking back at Barry Lyndon, Berenson said, "It sort of crystallized me in an image, a beautiful image. But as an actress you want to show other facets of yourself. And it’s hard to be told that you’ll never be as beautiful in another movie, and that you’ll probably never do a movie as great as that. But I can’t complain because it’s also accompanied me in the most positive ways."

Berenson continued acting throughout the '70s, '80s and beyond, and still acts today, but remains best known for those three classics.