SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Years before Bening became a famous actor, before she launched her stage career in American Conservatory Theater’s main-stage company in the 1980s, before her breakout 1990 role in “The Grifters,” her marriage to Warren Beatty and her three Academy Award nominations, she was an undergraduate at San Francisco State, the alma mater she shares with Feinstein.
“I moved to San Francisco in the fall of 1978, and I was at San Francisco State in class that winter when I remember someone came running into class to inform us that (Supervisor) Harvey Milk and (Mayor) George Moscone had been murdered,” Bening said. “It was tragic. Classes were suspended. And of course, famously, that was the day Feinstein came out on the steps of City Hall and made the announcement of their deaths.”
Feinstein was sworn in that same day, November 27, 1978, as mayor.
“It was just an incredibly important time in the city’s life, and in hers,” Bening said.