Now HERE’s an actress who has a nice outlook on life. You read about her and you want to see her movies, to show your support.
The actress is Halle Berry, who had the sublime honor of being named worst actress of 2004 by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation for her performance in “Catwoman,” by all accounts a truly putrid film. (George W. Bush won the “Razzie” worst actor of the year award for his performance as president in Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11”).
Did she issue an angry or hurt statement? Did she ignore the awards. No, she showed up to accept it — with DIGNITY…carrying the Oscar she won for 2002’s “Monster’s Ball””
“They can’t take this away from me, it’s got my name on it!” she quipped. A raucous crowd cheered her on as she gave a stirring recreation of her Academy Award acceptance speech, including tears.
She thanked everyone involved in “Catwoman,” a film she said took her from the top of her profession to the bottom.
“I want to thank Warner Brothers for casting me in this piece of shit,” she said as she dragged her agent on stage and warned him “next time read the script first.”
It is rare for a Razzie winner to show up at the spoof awards held on the night before Oscars — but Berry did, saying her mother taught her that to be “a good winner you had to be a good loser first.” She received a standing ovation.
How can you not LIKE an actress like that? There are some actors and actresses who — regardless of whether they’re on the right or left — truly don’t seem to be winners in the human being contest.
Berry deserves an Oscar in that department — several of them. We look foward to patronizing her movies..which are bound to include some great ones in the future, because she has a great sense of perspective.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.