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Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924) is an American film and stage actress. Known for her husky voice and sultry looks, she has become a fashion icon and role model for modern-day women. Today, she is considered a legendary actress, partly due to the longevity of her career.

She is best known for being a film noir leading lady in films such as The Big Sleep (1946) and Dark Passage (1947), as well as a sassy comedienne, as seen in 1953's How to Marry a Millionaire. In the 1970s, she made a name for herself as a Broadway musical star thanks to her two major vehicles, Applause and Woman of the Year.

Career

Early Stages

Born in New York City as Betty Joan Perske, Bacall was the only child of Jewish immigrants, William Perske (a relative of former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres) and Natalie Weinstein-Bacal.[1] Her father was a salesman and her mother was a secretary and they divorced when she was only six years old. As a result, Bacall no longer saw her father, and she formed a strong bond with her mother whom she took with her to California once she had become a movie star.

Bacall studied dancing for 13 years. She then took acting lessons at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During this time, she became a theater usher and worked as a fashion model. As Betty Bacall, she made her acting debut on Broadway in 1942, in Johnny Two by Four. At that time her idol was Bette Davis. According to her autobiography, she got the chance to meet Davis at her hotel. Years later, Davis would visit Bacall backstage to congratulate her on her performance of Margo Channing in Applause, a musical based on Davis's turn in All About Eve.

Bacall began fashion modeling part-time. This was when she experienced anti-Semitism for the first time. This made her nervous of revealing her identity and she did not let Hawks know that she was Jewish. Bacall had envisaged a career on stage for herself, but by chance, she entered the world of movies. Howard Hawks' wife Slim spotted Bacall on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, showed the photo to her husband, and he then made a phone call to New York to bring her to Hollywood for a screen test. Hawks would use the nickname "Slim" for Bacall's character in her first movie.

The Breakthrough

Not liking the name Betty, Hawks gave her the first name Lauren. He gave her several screen tests and then cast her in his next project, To Have and Have Not (1944). She was nervous in front of the camera, so Hawks suggested that she tilt her head and pull her hair over one side of her face. She pressed her chin against her chest, then tilted her eyes upward to face the camera. This effect became known as 'The Look', Bacall's trademark.

To Have and Have Not catapulted Bacall to instant stardom. Her turn in the film has later been acknowledged as one of the most powerful on-screen debuts in film history.

In the set, Bacall met Humphrey Bogart. Bogart, who was married to Mayo Methot, initiated a relationship with Bacall some weeks into shooting and they began to see each other off set.

The 20-year old Bacall made worldwide headlines on a visit to the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on 10 February 1945. Her press agent (Charlie Enfield, chief of publicity at Warner Bros.) asked her to sit on the piano which was being played by the Vice-President of the United States Harry S. Truman. The photos of the incident caused controversy^[2].

After To Have and Have Not, Bacall was seen opposite Charles Boyer in the critically panned Confidential Agent (1945). Then, she appeared with Bogart in three more pictures: the film noir The Big Sleep (1946), the thriller Dark Passage (1947), and John Huston's melodramatic suspense film Key Largo (1948). She was also cast with Gary Cooper in the adventure tale Bright Leaf (1950).

1950s

Bacall kept turning down scripts she didn't find interesting. This earned her a reputation for being difficult to deal with. Yet, she continued to get favorable reviews for her leads in a string of significant films.

In Young Man with a Horn (1950), co-starring Doris Day and Kirk Douglas, Bacall played a two-faced femme fatale, with more than a hint of lesbianism to her character. This film is often considered the first big-budget jazz film.

In 1953 Bacall starred in the colorful comedy How to Marry a Millionaire, a runaway hit that saw her teaming up with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable. Bacall garnered positive notes for her turn as the witty gold-digger, Schatze Page.

Written on the Wind, directed by Douglas Sirk in 1956, is now considered a classic tear-jerker. Teaming up with Rock Hudson, Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack, Bacall delivered a performance as a determined and tough soap opera woman. Bacall states in her autobiography that she didn't think much of the role.

While struggling at home with Bogart's severe illness, Bacall starred with Gregory Peck in the 1957 slapstick comedy Designing Woman for rave reviews [3]. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli.

1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s, Bacall's movie career waned, and she was only seen in a handful of films. Her saving grace, however, was on Broadway. Her Broadway roles included Goodbye, Charlie (1959), Cactus Flower (1965), Applause (1970) and Woman of the Year (1981). She won Tony Awards for her performances in Applause and Woman of the Year.

The few movies she shot during this period were mainly all-star vehicles such as Sex and the Single Girl (1964) with Henry Fonda and Natalie Wood, Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Janet Leigh, as well as Murder on the Orient Express (1974), with the likes of Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney and Sean Connery.

She appeared at The Muny Theater, America's oldest and largest outdoor theater, in the musical "Wonderful Town" (1977) and "Applause" (1971).

For her work in the Chicago theatre, she won the Sarah Siddons Award in 1972 and again in 1984. She also frequently appeared on London's West End.

In 1976, Bacall co-starred with John Wayne in his last picture, The Shootist. During the filming, the two created a bond, even though Wayne was politically far to the right and Bacall was a liberal. Bacall and Wayne had previously been cast together in 1955's Blood Alley.

Later career

During the 1980s, Bacall appeared in the poorly received star vehicle The Fan (1981) as well as some star-studded features such as Robert Altman's HealtH (1980) and Michael Winner's Appointment with Death (1988).

In 1997, Bacall was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), for which she had already won a Golden Globe. Most Oscar prediction polls predicted she was a lock to win so the audience and fellow nominees were shocked when the award went to Juliette Binoche for The English Patient. Bacall calmly made it clear to interviewers she was not upset over the loss.

She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997. In 1999, she was voted one of the 25 most significant female movie stars in history by the American Film Institute. Since then, her movie career has seen a new renaissance and she has attracted respectful notices for her performances in high-profile projects such as Dogville (2003) with Nicole Kidman, The Limit (2003) with Claire Forlani, and Birth (2004), again with Kidman.

In March 2006, she was seen at the 78th Annual Academy Awards introducing a film montage dedicated to the film noir genre. She also did a cameo appearance on The Sopranos in April 2006. In September 2006, Bacall was awarded the first Katharine Hepburn Medal, which recognizes "women whose lives, work and contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four-time-Oscar-winning actress," by Bryn Mawr College's Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center.

Private life

On May 21, 1945, Bacall married Humphrey Bogart. Their wedding and honeymoon took place at Malabar Farm, Mansfield, Ohio (the country home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, a close friend of Bogart). The wedding was held in the Big House. Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45. They remained married until Bogart's death from cancer in 1957. Bogart usually called Bacall "Baby", even when referring to her in conversations with other people.

During the filming of The African Queen in 1951, Bacall and Bogart became great friends of Bogart's co-star Katharine Hepburn and her partner Spencer Tracy. Bacall also began to mix in non-acting circles, becoming friends with the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and the journalist Alistair Cooke.

In 1952, she gave campaign speeches for Democratic Presidential contender Adlai Stevenson.

Shortly after Bogart's death in 1957, Bacall had a relationship with singer and actor Frank Sinatra. In her autobiography, Bacall stated that the relationship began after Bogart's death; knowing of Sinatra's reputation as a womanizer, Bacall knew that he was unlikely to be a faithful partner. She told Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in an interview that she had ended the romance. However, in her autobiography, she wrote that Sinatra abruptly ended the relationship, having become angry that the story of his proposal to Bacall had reached the press. Bacall and her friend Swifty Lazar had run into the gossip columnist Louella Parsons, to whom Lazar had spilled the beans. Sinatra then cut Bacall off and went to Las Vegas.

Bacall was later married to the actor Jason Robards from 1961 to 1969. The divorce was mainly due to Robards' alcoholism, according to Bacall's autobiography.

Bacall had two children with Bogart and one child with Robards. Her children with Bogart are Stephen Bogart, a news producer, documentary film maker and author, and daughter Leslie Bogart, a nurse. Sam Robards, her son with Robards, is an actor.

See also: the Bogart and Bacall section in the Humphrey Bogart article.

Bacall has written two autobiographies, Lauren Bacall By Myself (1978) and Now (1994). In 2005, she updated and renamed them by the title By Myself and Then Some.

Bacall is the first cousin of Shimon Peres, the former Prime Minister and current Vice Premier of Israel.

Trivia

• Contrary to some reports, Bacall does not have a vocal disorder. However, a type of one has been named after her and Humphrey Bogart. Bogart-Bacall Syndrome (or BBS) is a form of muscle tension dysphonia most common in professional voice users (actors, singers, TV/radio presenters, etc) who habitually use a very low speaking pitch. BBS is more common among women than men and has been blamed on the social pressure that professional women feel to compete with men in the business and professional arenas. The syndrome got its name from the low-pitch speaking tones that both actors used in their performances.
• According to her autobiography, she refused to press her hand- and footprints in the cemented forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre at the Los Angeles premiere of the 1953 film How to Marry a Millionaire.
• Actress Kathleen Turner has often been compared to Bacall. When Turner and Bacall met, Turner reportedly introduced herself to Bacall by saying "Hi, I'm the young you."
• Bacall appears in an episode of The Sopranos. She is introduced to Christopher Moltisanti and Little Carmine Lupertazzi by Sir Ben Kingsley. Later in the episode a ski-masked Christopher punches her and steals a gift basket she has received in exchange for presenting at an awards show.
• Bacall served as the voice-over for the PBS idents from 1996-2002.
• Bacall served as the spokesperson for the Fortunoff chain of retail stores in 1980. Petra Nemcova is the current "Face of Fortunoff".
• Bacall is currently the spokesperson for the Tuesday Morning discount chain. Commercials show her in a limousine waiting for the store to open at the beginning of one of their sales events.

Quotes

Bacall is known for speaking out her mind and her sarcastic remarks on her colleagues and peers. She has also delivered some of the most iconic lines in movie history.

Famous Movie Quotes

From To Have and Have Not (1945): "You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."

From The Big Sleep (1946): Humphrey Bogart: "What's wrong with you?" Lauren Bacall: "Nothing you can't fix."

From How to Marry a Millionaire (1953): "Look at that old fellow, what's his name, in The African Queen. Absolutely crazy about him!" (in reference to her then-husband, Bogart)

On Harry S. Truman's Piano-Playing

From an interview with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne:

• "...badly, playing the Missouri Waltz, or something."

On Howard Hawks

Of Mr. Hawks, Bacall told Larry King on CNN:

• "He was a Svengali. He wanted to mold me. He wanted to control me. And he did until Mr. Bogart got involved."

On Frank Sinatra

She told Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne:

• "He was a womanizer, he wanted to be in the sack with everybody."

She said of Sinatra to Larry King:

• "Well, his attention span was not long, shall we say."

On Being a Democrat

From the Larry King interview:

• BACALL: "I'm a total Democrat. I'm anti-Republican. And it's only fair that you know it. Even though..."
• KING: "Wait a minute. Are you a liberal?"
• BACALL: "I'm a liberal. The L word!"
• KING: "Egads!"

On Tom Cruise

She slammed Tom Cruise in the 8 August 2005 issue of Time Magazine:

• "When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It's inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but, I think it's kind of a sickness."

References in popular culture

• The 1981 romantic ballad, Key Largo (written and sang by Bertie Higgins) referenced the Bogart/Bacall movie of the same name, and their relationship.
• In the song "Rainbow High" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita, the main character Eva Peron orders her stylist to "Lauren Bacall me!"
• Bacall is mentioned among some other Hollywood icons in the lyrics for Madonna's 1990 hit single "Vogue". Out of the dozen icons Madonna mentions, Bacall is the only one still alive today.
• Bacall is mentioned in The Clash song "Car Jamming" from Combat Rock: "I thought I saw Lauren Bacall/I swear/Hey fellas/Lauren Bacall/In a car jam".
• In 1980 Kathryn Harrold played Bacall in the TV movie Bogie that was directed by Vincent Sherman and was based on the novel by Joe Hymans. Kevin O'Connor played Bogart, and the movie focused primarily upon the disintegration of Bogart's third marriage to Mayo Methot, played by Ann Wedgeworth, when Bogart met Bacall and began an affair with her.

Filmography

• To Have and Have Not (1944)
• Confidential Agent (1945)
• Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946) (Cameo)
• The Big Sleep (1946) (filmed in 1944, but actors were brought back for additional filming in 1945)
• Dark Passage (1947)
• Key Largo (1948)
• Young Man with a Horn (1950)
• Bright Leaf (1950)
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
• Woman's World (1954)
• 1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration (1955) (short subject)
• The Cobweb (1955)
• Blood Alley (1955)
• Written on the Wind (1956)
• Designing Woman (1957)
• The Gift of Love (1958)
• North West Frontier (1959)
• Shock Treatment (1964)
• Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
• Harper (1966)
• Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
• The Shootist (1976)
• HealtH (1980)
• The Fan (1981)
• Appointment with Death (1988)
• Mr. North (1988)
• John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989) (documentary)
• Tree of Hands (1989)
• Misery (1990)
• A Star for Two (1991)
• All I Want for Christmas (1991)
• A Foreign Field (1993)
• Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) (1994)
• The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
• My Fellow Americans (1996)
• Day and Night (1997)
• Diamonds (1999)
• The Venice Project (1999)
• Presence of Mind (1999)
• A Conversation with Gregory Peck (1999) (documentary)
• The Limit (2003)
• Dogville (2003)
• Amália Traïda (2004) (short subject) (voice only)
• Howl's Moving Castle (2004) (voice in English dubbed version)
• Birth (2004)
• Firedog (2005) (voice)
• Manderlay (2005)
• These Foolish Things (2006)

Selected stage appearances

• Johnny Two by Four (1942)
• Goodbye Charlie (1959)
• Cactus Flower (1965)
• Applause (1970)
• V.I.P. Night on Broadway (1979) (benefit concert)
• Woman of the Year (1981)
• Angela Lansbury: A Celebration (1996) (benefit concert)
• Waiting in the Wings (1999)

Television work

• Applause (1973)
• Perfect Gentlemen (1978)
• Dinner at Eight (1989)
• A Little Piece of Sunshine (1990)
• The Portrait (1993)
• The Parallax Garden (1993)
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995)
• Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke (1999)
• The Sopranos (2006)

Books by Lauren Bacall

• By Myself (1978)
• Now (1994)
• By Myself and Then Some (2004)

Awards and nominations

• 1970 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Applause
• 1972 & 1984 Sarah Siddons Award
• 1977 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Shootist
• 1980 National Book Award for Best Non-Fiction Book, By Myself
• 1981 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Woman of the Year
• 1993 Golden Globe, Cecil B. DeMille Award
• 1997 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, The Mirror Has Two Faces
• 1997 BAFTA Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, The Mirror Has Two Faces
• 1997 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, The Mirror Has Two Faces
• 1997 Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, The Mirror Has Two Faces
• 1997 Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement
• 2000 Stockholm Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Award

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (At 1724 Vine Street)

See also

• Bogart-Bacall Syndrome

External links

• Idol Chatter: Lauren Bacall
• Lauren Bacall Bio at GTN Speakers Bureau
• Interview with Larry King on CNN
• Article about the "origin" of the "Rat Pack" taken mainly from her book "Lauren Bacall, By Myself", (New York: Knopf, 1978)

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