Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall (born 16 September 1924) is an American film and stage actress. She is also a former fashion model. Known for her comedic skills and husky voice, as well as her sultry looks, she became a fashion icon and role model for modern-day women early in her career. Also known for her marriage to, and movies with, husband Humphrey Bogart. She is also a cousin of Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel.

Life and career

Early stages

Born in New York City as Betty Joan Perske, the only child of Jewish immigrants, William Perske (born in Poland) and Natalie Weinstein-Bacal (born in Romania). Her parents got divorced when she was six years old, and she would not see her father. She would develop a very strong relationship with her mother. Her mother moved with her to California when she moved to film from Broadway.

Related Topics:
New York City - Jewish - Poland - Romania - California - Broadway

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Bacall first studied dance, something she did for thirteen years, and had a dream of dancing with Fred Astaire, something she never got to do. She then studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, with Kirk Douglas. She had a crush on Douglas, who was 24 and eight years older than her 16 at the time, and although he wanted to, "teach me everything he knew about 'sex'," she was scared and rejected his advances. During this time she became a theater usher to earn money, and watch the performances.

Related Topics:
Dance - Fred Astaire - American Academy of Dramatic Arts - Kirk Douglas - Theater - Usher

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She made her acting debut, as Betty Bacall, on Broadway in 1942, in Johnny Two by Four. Her stage surname is derived from her mother's Romanian maiden name (Bacal). Her idol was Bette Davis, she wanted to be the Bette Davis of theater.

Related Topics:
Broadway - 1942 - Romania - Bette Davis

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She started modeling part-time to pay the bills. While modeling in the garment center one day, the models started talking about religion, and when they asked her what she ?was?, and she told them that she was Jewish, she felt that they acted differently toward her. Later, when she first went to Hollywood, she noticed that director Howard Hawks would make off-color remarks about Jews. This made her nervous, and she did not let Hawks know at the time that she was Jewish, something that she says she has come to regret in the many years since.

Related Topics:
Jewish - Director - Howard Hawks

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A career on the stage was Bacall´s life's dream. However, Howard Hawks' wife, whom Hawks called Slim, was reading the magazine Harper's Bazaar that featured Bacall on the cover. Mrs. Hawks showed the photo to her husband and he 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 To Have and Have Not).

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The breakthrough

Hawks gave her several screen tests, taught her to speak in a lower tone, and not liking the name Betty, gave the first name of 'Lauren'. She was so scared in front of the camera that Hawks had her drop her head a little and pull her hair over one side of her face. This caused her to look with her eyes, something that would be called "The Look", and become a sensual trademark.

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She met Humphrey Bogart on the set of her first movie, To Have and Have Not (1944). After three or four weeks their feelings for each other started to change, the first time she knew that Bogart was interested in her was when he came into her dressing room at the end of the day?s shooting and said, ?goodnight?, she said, ?goodnight? back, he then lifted her chin and kissed her. This was something he had never done before, and it startled her. After that, despite a 25-year difference in age, she could not stop thinking about him, but he was married to Mayo Methot. Confused, she confided in her mother, who wanted her to stay away from him, but she started seeing him off the set. Bogart wanted a wife first, not an actress first, and she was willing to alter her career to spend time with him.

Related Topics:
Humphrey Bogart - To Have and Have Not - 1944 - Mayo Methot

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She insisted that Hal Wallis check out Kirk Douglas while he was in New York. Douglas had a small part in a Broadway play. Wallis liked what he saw and brought him to Hollywood, the result was that Dougals made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946; opposite Barbara Stanwyck).

Related Topics:
Hal Wallis - Hollywood - The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - 1946 - Barbara Stanwyck

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A 20-year old Bacall made worldwide headlines, and created a sensation, when on a visit to the National Press Club in Washington D.C. (10 February 1945) her press agent (Charlie Enfield, chief of publicity at Warner Brothers), had her sit on a piano, one that the Vice-President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, happened to be playing. The photos of the incident http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/photos/century0275.html caused somewhat of a scandal with the prim-and-proper, and even Truman?s wife, Bess, was upset about it. Bacall says that she still gets postcards photos of the event to this day.

Related Topics:
National Press Club - Washington D.C. - 10 February - 1945 - Warner Brothers - Piano - Vice-President of the United States - Harry S. Truman

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After To Have and Have Not, she also appeared with Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). If you watch the love scenes in ?To Have and Have Not? and ?The Big Sleep? you can really see the romance blossoming.

Related Topics:
To Have and Have Not - The Big Sleep - 1946 - Dark Passage - 1947 - Key Largo - 1948

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The Fifties to The Eighties

On May 21, 1945, Bacall married Humphrey Bogart, with their wedding and honeymoon in Mansfield, Ohio, at Malabar Farm (the country home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, who was a close friend of Bogart). At the time of their marriage, Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45. Bogart called Bacall "Baby". They remained married until Bogart's death from cancer in 1957. Katharine Hepburn and Bacall, as well as Spencer Tracy and Bogart, became great friends after the filming in 1951 of The African Queen (with Bogart and Hepburn). She became great friends with Arthur Schlesinger and Alistair Cooke in 1952, and gave campaign speeches for Adlai Stevenson. She also had a "school-girl" crush on Stevenson, something Bogart let her indulge in because of her age.

Related Topics:
May 21 - 1945 - Humphrey Bogart - Mansfield, Ohio - Malabar Farm - Pulitzer Prize - Louis Bromfield - 1957 - Katharine Hepburn - Spencer Tracy - 1951 - The African Queen - Arthur Schlesinger - Alistair Cooke - 1952 - Adlai Stevenson

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After Bogart's death, Bacall had an affair with singer and actor Frank Sinatra who "wanted to take care of her," but she knew that he was a womanizer and would never be faithful to her. She told Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in an interview, that because of this, she ended the romance, but in her book she writes that after Sinatra proposed, and later when the press released the story, he got mad at her and "dropped the curtain", cutting her off completely, and went to Las Vegas.

Related Topics:
Frank Sinatra - Turner Classic Movies - Las Vegas

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She was later married to the actor Jason Robards from 1961 until their divorce in 1969, because of his addiction to alcohol. She is the mother of two sons, news producer, documentary film maker, and author Stephen Bogart and actor Sam Robards, and one daughter, Leslie Bogart, who became a nurse and yoga therapist.

Related Topics:
Jason Robards - 1961 - 1969 - Documentary film - Stephen Bogart - Sam Robards - Leslie Bogart - Nurse - Yoga - Therapist

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Bacall was known to eagerly turn down scripts she didn´t find interesting. This was rarely heard of for a young female film star and got her a reputation among studio executives that she was difficult to deal with. She kept, however, getting favorable reviews for her leads in a string of future classics such as 1950´s Young Man with a Horn, co-starring Doris Day and Kirk Douglas, and 1953 How to Marry a Millionaire, in which she was teamed up with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, as well as Written on the Wind in 1956, a now legendary directed by Douglas Sirk.

Related Topics:
1950 - Young Man with a Horn - Doris Day - Kirk Douglas - 1953 - How to Marry a Millionaire - Marilyn Monroe - Betty Grable - Written on the Wind - 1956 - Douglas Sirk

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In 1955, she co-starred with John Wayne in Blood Alley. She would also co-star with Wayne in his last picture, The Shootist, in 1976. Like Bogart, Wayne was dying of cancer when he made his last film, and Bacall saw the signs and the parallels. In Blood Alley she was ?terrified of him?, but, now it was different. She found that she was very attracted to him, albeit platonically, even though she had a hard time understanding why. Wayne was about as far to the right, politically as staunchly conservative, as one could get, while she was over on the far left, a liberal. Although political polar opposites, still there was a common ground, and a common attraction. Wayne, like Bogart, also loved being out on his yacht, being on the sea, every chance he could get.

Related Topics:
1955 - John Wayne - Blood Alley - The Shootist - 1976

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In the Sixties, Bacall´s movie career somewhat waned and she was only seen in a handful of rather insignificant films. Her saving grace, however, was Broadway, which she took over in the latter part of the Fifties. She soon became a celebrated stage diva, the toast of New York City.

Related Topics:
Sixties - Broadway

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Her Broadway roles have included Goodbye, Charlie in 1959, Cactus Flower in 1965, Applause in 1970 and Woman of the Year in 1981, for which she won a Tony Award. She also won a Tony Award for her stage breakthrough, the portrayal of "Margo Channing" in the musical Applause (a musical version of the classic movie All About Eve).

Related Topics:
1959 - 1965 - 1970 - 1981 - Tony Award - All About Eve

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Later stages

In 1980 she was living in The Dakota, a building of townhouses in New York City. She was in her bedroom on the night of 8 December, with her dog (she always has a dog, now it is Sophie), and she heard what she thought was a car exhaust backfire. She looked out the window and saw nothing. A few minutes later when she turned on the 11:00 p.m. news she learned that her friend and neighbor John Lennon had been shot and killed.

Related Topics:
1980 - The Dakota - 8 December - John Lennon

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She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997. Since then, her movie career has seen a new renaissance and she has given strong performances in some important recent movie projects such as Dogville in 2003 and Birth in 2004.

Related Topics:
Best Supporting Actress - Academy Award - The Mirror Has Two Faces - 1996 - Kennedy Center Honors - 1997 - Renaissance - Dogville - 2003 - Birth - 2004

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Lauren Bacall has written two autobiographies, Lauren Bacall By Myself (1978) and Now (1994). In 2005, Bacall decided to revamp her books by updating and renaming the sole autobiography By Myself and Then Some.

Related Topics:
Autobiographies - Lauren Bacall By Myself - 1978 - Now - 1994 - 2005 - By Myself and Then Some

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Today, Bacall is considered as one of the few prestigious Hollywood legends. In 1999, she was voted one of the 25 most significant movie stars in history by the American Film Institute. She has said that "absolutely" two of her favorite films to make were Designing Woman with Gregory Peck and The Shootist.

Related Topics:
1999 - American Film Institute - Designing Woman - Gregory Peck - The Shootist

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In 2004, Bacall started appearing in advertisements for the Tuesday Morning discount store franchise.

Related Topics:
2004 - Tuesday Morning

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

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