Halle Is Roasted At Harvard

Halle Berry had to write "I will not make 'Catwoman II"' on a chalkboard four times Thursday in order to earn her pudding pot as Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year.

Berry's performance in the 2004 action bomb earned her a worst-actress award in last year's Razzies, a spoof of the Oscars that trashes Hollywood's worst.

Berry also shook her hips in a comic faux dance competition to prove her superpower skills and to jokingly test her abilities as an action star.

Before she was given the traditional brass pudding pot during a roast at Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theater, Berry danced suggestively with a Harvard student dressed like a French poodle, which Berry's presenters dubbed Dogman.

She also acted out scenes from "Monster's Ball," a film for which she won an Oscar and a SAG award in 2002.

Berry, 39, said she takes her Hasty Pudding award "very seriously."

"It's going to go right next to my Oscar," she said.

Earlier Thursday, Berry rode in a silver Bentley convertible in the traditional parade through Harvard Square, flanked by two male Harvard students dressed in drag.

Berry, who also won an Emmy for her performance in the HBO film "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," will reprise her role as Storm in "X3," the third installment in the "X-Men" series, due May 26.

Richard Gere is to be honored Feb. 24 as the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year.

The awards are given by Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the nation's oldest undergraduate drama troupe.

Peter Dodd, one of the Harvard students who participated in the roast onstage with Berry, said the actress was picked for the Hasty Pudding honor because "she's just such a good role model for anyone interested in the arts ... and she's just so fun."

Last year's Hasty Pudding winners were Catherine Zeta-Jones and Tim Robbins.