BEDFORD, Ohio – Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry (search) has literally given the clothes off her back to her former high school.
The Cleveland-area native donated two of her designer gowns to the school to be auctioned during its annual prom fashion show. The money raised will send Bedford High School (search) students on a field trip to the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.
"She always said that if I need anything to let her know," said Yvonne Sims, a guidance counselor and Berry's fifth-grade teacher.
One dress is a knee-length geometric print that Berry wore on an Ebony (search) magazine cover last year. The other is a white Versace halter-style gown that she wore to a party after the debut of "Lackawanna Blues," the HBO film she produced.
Bidding, which ends Thursday, starts at $500 per dress.
Berry, who graduated from Bedford in 1984, won the Academy Award for best actress in 2002 for her role in "Monster's Ball." (search) Later that year, she told InStyle magazine that Sims was her childhood role model.
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