Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.

Parents: only child of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, who later legally changed her surname to Bacall, and William Perske. Her parents were Jewish immigrants, their families having come from Poland, Romania and Germany.

Married:

1. to Humphrey DeForest Bogart (1899-1957) on 21 May 1945 in Malabar Farm, Lucas, Ohio. 2 children.
2. to Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. (1922-2000) in July 1961. They divorced on 10 September 1969. 1 child.

Whistling

At the funeral for her husband, Humphrey Bogart, she put a whistle in his coffin. It was a reference to the famous line she says to him in their first film together To Have and Have Not (1944): "You know how to whistle, don't you? You just put your lips together and blow."

Honors and awards include ..

In 1999, Bacall was ranked as one of the 25 actresses on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list by the American Film Institute. In 2009, she was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Academy Honorary Award at the inaugural Governors Awards. Bacall has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Images

• IMDb slideshow

Biography

Her parents were middle-class, with her father working as a salesman and her mother as a secretary. They divorced when she was five. When she was a school girl, Lauren originally wanted to be a dancer, but later, she became enthralled with acting, so she switched gears to head into that field. She had studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York after high school, which enabled her to get her feet wet in some off-Broadway productions.

Once out of school, Lauren entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944), a thriller opposite the great Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old. This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories (she married Bogart in 1945). It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.

After 1945's Confidential Agent (1945), Lauren received second billing in The Big Sleep (1946) with Bogart. The mystery, in the role of Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, was a resounding success. Although she was making one film a year, each production would be eagerly awaited by the public. In 1947, again with her husband, Lauren starred in the thriller Dark Passage (1947). The film kept movie patrons on the edge of their seats. The following year, she starred with Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lionel Barrymore in Key Largo (1948). The crime drama was even more of a nail biter than her previous film. In 1950, Lauren starred in Bright Leaf (1950), a drama set in 1894. It was a film of note because she appeared without her husband - her co-star was Gary Cooper. In 1953, Lauren appeared in her first comedy as Schatze Page in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). The film, with co-stars Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, was a smash hit all across the theaters of America.

After filming Designing Woman (1957), which was released in 1957, Humphrey Bogart died on January 14 from throat cancer. Devastated at being a widow, Lauren returned to the silver screen with The Gift of Love (1958) in 1958 opposite Robert Stack. The production turned out to be a big disappointment. Undaunted, Lauren moved back to New York City and appeared in several Broadway plays to huge critical acclaim. She was enjoying acting before live audiences and the audiences in turn enjoyed her fine performances.

Lauren was away from the big screen for five years, but she returned in 1964 to appear in Shock Treatment (1964) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964). The latter film was a comedy starring Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis. In 1966, Lauren starred in Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Julie Harris, which was one of former's signature films. Alternating her time between films and the stage, Lauren returned in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express (1974). The film, based on Agatha Christie's best-selling book was a huge hit. It also garnered Ingrid Bergman her third Oscar. Actually, the huge star-studded cast helped to ensure its success. Two years later, in 1976, Lauren co-starred with John Wayne in The Shootist (1976). The film was Wayne's last - he died from cancer in 1979.

In 1981, Lauren played an actress being stalked by a crazed admirer in The Fan (1981). The thriller was absolutely fascinating with Lauren in the lead role. After that production, Lauren was away from films again, this time for seven years. In the interim, she again appeared on the stages of Broadway. When she returned, it was for the filming of 1988's Mr. North (1988). After Misery (1990), in 1990, and several made for television films, Lauren appeared in 1996's My Fellow Americans (1996). It was a wonderful comedy romp with Jack Lemmon and James Garner as two ex-presidents and their escapades.

Despite her advanced age and deteriorating health, she made a small-scale comeback in the English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004) ("Howl's Moving Castle," based on the young-adult novel by Diana Wynne Jones) as the Witch of the Waste.

Filmography

• Filmography

Personal Quotes

• I never believed marriage was a lasting institution . . . I thought that to be married for five years was to be married forever.
• I was this flat-chested, big-footed, lanky thing.
• I don't think being the only child of a single parent helped. I was always a little unsteady in my self-belief. Then there was the Jewish thing. I love being Jewish, I have no problem with it at all. But it did become like a scar, with all these people saying you don't look it.
• I remember my oldest son, Steve, saying to me once, "I don't ever remember seeing you with an apron on". And I thought, "That's right, honey, you did not". That was his concept of what a mother should be.
• I would hate now [2005] to be married. It does occur to me on occasion that, if I fall and hit my head, there will be no one to make the phone call. But who wants to think about that disaster? I'd prefer not to.
• I am still working, I've never stopped and, while my health holds out, I won't stop.
• I put my career in second place throughout both my marriages and it suffered. I don't regret it. You make choices. If you want a good marriage, you must pay attention to that. If you want to be independent, go ahead. You can't have it all.
• Actors today go into TV, which I don't consider has a lot to do with acting. They only think of stardom. If you photograph well, that's enough. I have a terrible time distinguishing one from another. Girls wear their hair the same, and are much too anorexic-looking.
• We live in an age of mediocrity. Stars today are not the same stature as Bogie [Humphrey Bogart], James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart [James Stewart].
• A legend involves the past. I don't like categories. This one is great and that one is great. The word "great" stands for something. 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.
• I'm a total Democrat. I'm anti-Republican. And it's only fair that you know it . . . I'm liberal. The L word!
• [on Humphrey Bogart] Was he tough? In a word, no. Bogey was truly a gentle soul.
• [on John Huston] He was about something.
• I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.
• On imagination: Imagination is the highest kite that can fly.

Books

• By Myself (1978)
• Now (1994)
• By Myself and Then Some (2005)

Trivia

• Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#6). [1995]
• Ranked #20 in the AFI's top 25 Actress Legends.
• Ranked #11 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
• Mother of actor Sam Robards, Stephen Bogart and Leslie Bogart.
• Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. [1997]
• Bacall was staying in the same New York apartment building (The Dakota) as Beatle John Lennon when he was shot and later died on 8th December 1980. When interviewed on the subject in a recent UK TV program hosted by former model Twiggy, Bacall said she had heard the gunshot but assumed that it was a car tire bursting or a vehicle backfiring.
• Was crowned "Miss Greenwich Village" in 1942.
• Used her mother's maiden name of Bacal, but added an extra "L" when she entered the cinema.
• Shortly after Humphrey Bogart's death, she announced her engagement to Frank Sinatra to the press. Sinatra promptly backed out.
• Her screen personna was totally based and modeled after Howard Hawks's wife, Slim. She even uses her name in To Have and Have Not (1944).
• She and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres (as of 2007, the President of Israel) are cousins. Both have the same original last name -- Perske.
• Those close to her call her by her real first name, "Betty".
• Still undiscovered, Bacall volunteered as a hostess at the New York chapter of the Stage Door Canteen, working Monday nights when theaters were closed.
• Having lost her job as a showroom model and quit acting school for lack of funds, the teenage Bacall found work as a Broadway theater usher. George Jean Nathan voted her the prettiest usher of the 1942 season in the pages of "Esquire".
• An only child.
• One of the initial "Rat Pack" with Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Irving Paul Lazar (aka "Swifty" Lazar) and their close friends.
• Won a Tony for her role as Margo Channing in the Broadway production of "Applause", a musical based on the movie, All About Eve (1950). It was presented by Walter Matthau.
• With late husband Humphrey Bogart, has a kind of vocal disorder named after her. "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 "social pressure on professional women to compete with men in the business arena".
• Starred, with her husband Humphrey Bogart, on the syndicated radio program "Bold Venture" (1951-1952). Her character's name was Sailor Duval.
• Measurements: 34-26-34 (her 1940 modeling card) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
• Her autobiography, "By Myself", won a National Book Award in 1980
• 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."
• Her marriage to Humphrey Bogart occurred at the Pleasant Valley area of Richland County, Ohio home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Louis Bromfield, Malabar Farm (4 miles southeast of Lucas within Monroe Township). The home is now an Ohio State Park.
• Katharine Hepburn, her long-time friend, is the godmother of her son, Sam Robards.
• Has won two Tony Awards as Best Actress (Musical): in 1970, for her role as Margo Channing in "Applause", a musical based on the movie, All About Eve (1950); and in 1981, for "Woman of the Year," also based on a movie of the same name, Woman of the Year (1942). Her Tony for "Applause" was presented by Walter Matthau.
• As of 2009 she is the only surviving legend mentioned in a popular phrase from Madonna's 1990 #1 hit song "Vogue". Other legends mentioned: Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Grace Kelly, Jean Harlow, Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth and Bette Davis, who all died before the release of the song. Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn and Lana Turner all died in following years.
• Is mentioned along with late husband Humphrey Bogart in the 1980s song "Key Largo" ("We had it all, just like Bogie and Bacall").
• Is portrayed by Kathryn Harrold in Bogie (1980) (TV)
• Her appearance on a cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine at 18 years of age led to her first film role; she was spotted by the wife of director Howard Hawks, who gave her a screen test and cast her in To Have and Have Not (1944).
• Originally wanted to be a dancer.
• A well respected actress for the past sixty years, she has only been nominated once for an Academy Award. She was 73 when nominated for The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996).
• Is half Romanian
• Son Stephen Bogart was born on January 6, 1949. He was named after father Humphrey Bogart's character from To Have and Have Not (1944).
• Daughter Leslie Bogart was born on August 23, 1952. She was named after actor Leslie Howard, who helped Humphrey Bogart get his breakthrough role in the play, The Petrified Forest (1936).
• Son Sam Robards was born December 16, 1961 with second husband Jason Robards. Bacall's long-time friend Katharine Hepburn, was his godmother.
• Daughter Leslie Bogart is childhood friends with Lorna Luft.
• She made two movies with John Wayne, Blood Alley (1955) and The Shootist (1976). In the earlier film, during production, Bacall's husband at the time, Humphrey Bogart, was dying of throat cancer. When she made the latter film with Wayne, he had lost a lung to cancer twelve years earlier, which mirrored the fate of his character in the story.
• In Italy, she was dubbed by Clelia Bernacchi at the beginning of her career, then in most cases by Lidia Simoneschi. Franca Dominici, Renata Marini and Anna Miserocchi also lent their voice to Bacall at some point.
• She was 17 when she met and became a close friend of Gregory Peck. She was an usherette at the time. They remained close until his death.
• She was dismissed by Howard Hawks because she had a high nasal voice, but she spent two weeks developing her voice and, when she came back to visit Hawks two weeks later, she had a deep husky voice.
• According to her autobiography, "By Myself and Then Some," she was always very self-conscious about the size of her feet, which she describes as big even for a woman of her exceptional height.
• When Howard Hawks discovered her, he gave her the choice to work with either Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart. Bacall was very tempted to work with Grant, but Hawks ended up casting her with Bogart in To Have and Have Not (1944), and one of Hollywood's greatest romances was started.
• She was a close friend of Dirk Bogarde. Bacall had visited him at his home in London the day before he died in May 1999.
• At the funeral for her husband, Humphrey Bogart, she put a whistle in his coffin. It was a reference to the famous line she says to him in their first film together To Have and Have Not (1944): "You know how to whistle, don't you? You just put your lips together and blow."
• Campaigned for Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election.
• Quit smoking cigarettes in the mid-1980s.
• Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 1724 Vine Street.
• Humphrey Bogart campaigned for her to star alongside him as "Laurel Gray" in In a Lonely Place (1950), but the part was, instead, given to Gloria Grahame.
• One of the auditoriums in Tuckwood cineplex in Belgrade, Serbia bears her name.

Links

• Lauren Bacall
• IMDb Biography By: Denny Jackson