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American Morning
Berry Takes Oscar, Loses Purse
Aired March 25, 2002 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A beautiful and historic night at the Oscars. Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind" won several awards, including best picture and best director last night at the 74th annual Academy Awards. And making history, two African-Americans win Oscars for best actor and actress.
CNN's Daryn Kagan was back stage with two time Oscar winner Denzel Washington.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry, Paula, I can't hear what you're saying because someone's talking in my ear. So can you repeat that please?
ZAHN: You know what, I was just giving you the most generous introduction you've ever gotten. But we shouldn't...
KAGAN: So tell me again. Say it again.
ZAHN: ... we should make it clear that you were backstage and got to see a lot of stuff that most of us that watched last night didn't get to see and I know someone caught up with Denzel Washington. We'd love to hear what you saw, what you heard.
KAGAN: Yes, it was an incredible night from the red carpet. You know, Leon Harris and I did the special. We saw all, everyone come in on the red carpet and then I got to be backstage and then had the opportunity to have a one-on-one interview with Halle Berry.
And as you said, a historic night. I think one of the things that made it so fascinating is going into it, it was probably the most wide open Oscar race. Just about every category could have gone any way and there was that historic angle with, of course, Will Smith and Denzel Washington and Halle Berry being nominated. But who would think it would go this way? And, again, on a night when Sidney Poitier was honored for his lifetime achievement, as well.
I can tell you one thing, the picture we're seeing right now, Paula, of Halle Berry, when I talked to her later she said, I said, I go it was a little hard for you to get out of your chair. And she said I know, I just kept saying stand up. Stand up. And then it looked like her dress got caught. But she just was so concerned with, she realized the weight and the importance of the moment and I think she just expressed it so well, that it wasn't just an award for her but of those who came before her and hope for little girls or the future.
ZAHN: And I guess you said about her only single regret about the evening was she forgot to thank her costar, Billy Bob Thornton.
KAGAN: She forgot to thank her costar. You know, there was that great moment where she went on and she was thanking and thanking and they were trying to wrap her up and she said no, 74 years, that's how long we've waited. And, of course, that's the length of the history of the Academy Awards and that's how long it's been.
I mean when you think about it, 74 years and she is the first African-American woman to win best actress. And when you think of all the phenomenal performances that came before her. And one struggle she is particularly familiar with is the Dorothy Dandridge story, because she played her if you saw the HBO film.
ZAHN: Sure.
KAGAN: And there is a scene in that movie where she is at the Oscars as Dorothy Dandridge and waiting her hear her name called. And, of course, it comes out much more disappointing in Dorothy Dandridge's story than it did for Halle Berry.
Another unknown, a little unknown twist to this, so Halle Berry, she makes history. She's beautiful. She has a great dress. We'll have more on the dress in a moment. But guess what?
ZAHN: What?
KAGAN: She lost her purse. Halle Berry lost her purse at the Oscars.
ZAHN: And what was inside of it?
KAGAN: Well, she...
ZAHN: I hope it wasn't any borrowed jewels from Harry Winston, because I know she said that she was wearing some of the jewels...
KAGAN: It almost was.
ZAHN: It was?
KAGAN: No, it almost was. She said right before she thought oh, she was getting nervous, she was fidgeting, she almost took off one of the rings and put it in the purse. But my goodness, thank god that she didn't because otherwise they would have been...
ZAHN: A lucky woman on a, yes, a lucky woman on a number of counts last night.
I thought it was interesting to hear her interviews as they progressed during the night where she was very happy about what this represented to other African-American women in the country. But then she went on to say that she hoped there comes a time in our history when no reference will be made to the gender of someone who takes home best actress.
KAGAN: Right. And Denzel Washington had similar comments to say. And we do have some sound somewhere. We're looking for that sound where he talks about that backstage, and I'm sure that's sound that folks at home haven't seen yet. And his point is we can all be part of that conversation.
You know, one of the newspaper writers backstage asked him about that, that the headlines today will read "Black Actor Wins Academy Award" and Denzel Washington said well, you know, do you work for a newspaper? And he said yes. He goes well, then tell your newspaper tomorrow morning to write "Actor Wins Academy Award" and you can take part in changing the discussion.
ZAHN: And, of course, almost every headline in America made the distinction that he did not want to have it made. But...
KAGAN: Exactly.
ZAHN: We are going to look forward to hearing from Denzel a little bit later on this morning. That has nothing to do with you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Yeah.
ZAHN: But we're still looking for it.
KAGAN: Yes. We'll have Denzel. And also, I'll tell you this one thing. It's a girlfriend thing, Paula.
ZAHN: Yes.
KAGAN: Hopefully in the next hour we're going to have the sound with Halle Berry. You know, there was history, but there also was fashion. I know you were talking a little bit about that. I asked Halle Berry about her dress. She'll explain why she picked this dress, when she found it and it could have the potential to be very revealing. We did a kind of a girlfriend one-on-one thing to talk about how she made everything was just in its right place.
ZAHN: It sounds like the...
KAGAN: And that will come up next hour.
ZAHN: It sounds like the J. Lo routine, who puts tape in all the right places.
All right, Daryn, thanks.
KAGAN: OK.
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