Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske in the Bronx, New York City, on September 16, 1924. Her father was a Jewish immigrant from Poland, her mother a Jewish immigrant from Romania. She was the only child of the couple, which divorced when she was six. Subsequently, she was raised by her mother, a corporate executive secretary.

After attending a boarding school for girls, studying ballet, attending a high school, she graduated at fifteen. For four years, one day per week, she took acting classes at the New York Scholl of Theatre. Subsequently, she enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for one year, where she met Kirk Douglas, with whom she went out.

Lauren Bacall had to work as a stage actress (minor roles) and a model when, at 19, she ended up on the cover of the March 1942 edition of Harper’s Bazaar, where she was “discovered” by Nancy, the wife of director Howard Hawks, who urged her husband to have her take a screen test. In 1943 Lauren Bacall was signed by Warner Bros. for a seven year contract.

In October 1944, the film To Have and Have Not by Howard Hawks, with Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) and Lauren Bacall in the leading roles, was released. Her first movie made Lauren Bacall a star. The trailer introduced her as “the only woman for his kind of man”. Howard Hawks famously said about her: “She was not an actress. She was a personality”.

Best remembered remain her early lines from To Have and Have Not: “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.” All accompanied by her insolent, facial expression.

Lauren Bacall said about the origins of her nickname and trademark “The Look”, coined by her studio: “During our first scene together, I realized that one way to hold my trembling head was to keep it down, chin low, almost to my chest and eyes up at Bogart. It worked.”

Still married to his third wife, actress Mayo Methot (1904-51), Humphrey Bogart began an affair with Lauren Bacall, a young actress not even half his age. He moved out of his house in October 1944. After his divorce, Bogart and Bacall got married in 1945 and remained together until his early death at 57 from esophageal cancer in 1957.

Lauren Bacall told Associated Press in 1999 about their relation: “All I thought of was being with him. He didn’t ask me not to be an actress. But he said he had been married to three actresses and their careers always came first. If I wanted a career that badly, OK, he would help me as much as he could, but he wouldn’t marry me.”

At the same time, one should not forget that Bogart’s third wife, Mayo Methot, gave up her career – which seemed to have been in decline – when she married him. The couple become known as “The Battling Bogarts”. She was already an alcoholic and died from alcoholism after their divorce.

Humphrey Bogart did not became a family man when married to Lauren Bacall. Their son son Stephan was born in 1949. Their daughter Leslie in 1952. He did not care about children, wrote his son Stephan Humphrey Bogart.

Bogart and Bacall became a winning duo on screen. After the successful To Have and Have Not (1944), they starred together in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948), another three must for any film fan.

Lauren Bacall had a brief affair with Frank Sinatra, about whom she famously said: “I wish Frank Sinatra would just shut up and sing.” Regarding the affair with Sinatra, she later said in interviews: “Being a widow is not a profession.”

While Humphrey Bogart was still alive, Lauren Bacall continued making movies: Young Man with a Horn with Kirk Douglas and Doris Day in 1950, Bright Leaf opposite Gary Cooper in 1950, her first comedy How to Marry a Millionaire with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable in 1953, Woman’s World in 1954, The Cobweb in 1955, Blood Alley with John Wayne in 1955, Patterns in 1956, Written on the Wind with Rock Hudson and Robert Stack in 1956 as well as Designing Woman opposite Gregory Peck in 1957, released a few months after Bogart’s death.

In 1961 Lauren Bacall married fellow actor Jason Robards. They had a son together: Sam Robards. Because of Jason’s alcohol problems, the couple divorced in 1969.

Among the many movies with Lauren Bacall released after Bogart’s death, let’s mention the unsuccessful The Gift of Love of 1958, starring opposite Robert Stack, the all-star film Murder on the Orient Express in 1974, the captivating The Fan of 1981, Misery in 1990, Robert Altman’s Health in 1980 and Prêt-à-Porter in 1994, Lars von Trier’s Dogville in 2003 and Manderlay in 2005, Birth in 2004, Paul Schrader’s The Walker in 2007, The Forger in 2012 and, as the voice of “The Grey One”, in the French-Belgian animated comedy-drama Ernest & Celestine in 2014. In addition, Lauren Bacall appeared on TV and on stage, winning two Tony Awards (1970 and 1981). Last but not least regarding her filmography, let’s not forget her Honorary Academy Award (Oscar) of 2009. She also wrote two books: Now and her autobiography Lauren Bacall: By Myself.

No obituary can end without mentioning that Lauren Bacall was politically active and campaigned for several Democratic candidates, including Harry Truman and Robert Kennedy. In response to the infamous investigation by the the House Un-American Activities Committee, she and Bogart joined in 1947 the Committee for the First Amendment, which fought against any investigation into the political beliefs of individuals.

Lauren Bacall died of a stroke in her Upper West Side apartment in New York City on August 12, 2014. She is survived by her three children: Stephen Humphrey Bogart, Leslie Bogart and Sam Robards.

Bogie & Bacall. The Signature Collection. Humphrey Bogart. Lauren Bacall. Includes the films To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, Key Largo. Order the DVD collection from Amazon.com, Amazon.de. In some countries, the collection with the same movies is available with a slightly different cover: Amazon.co.uk. More films by Lauren Bacall on DVD from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de.

If you read German, have a look at our German biography of Humphrey Bogart.

Article added on August 13, 2014 at 19:05 CEST; detail added on August 14, 2014 at 11:50 CEST.