Published on: Aug 20, 2014
Lauren Bacall Leaves the Stage
Lauren Bacall died on Tuesday 12th August 2014, aged 89, of natural causes, Lauren was one of the last great stars, but she has left many great years of entertainment at the Movies, in her Books and memories of her later in life Broadway performances.
Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924 and was an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.
She first emerged as a leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have and Have Not (1944) and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in Bogart movies The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948), as well as comedic roles in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe and Designing Woman (1957) with Gregory Peck. Bacall worked on Broadway in musicals, gaining Tony Awards for Applause in 1970 and Woman of the Year in 1981. Her performance in the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination.
In 1999, Bacall was ranked #20 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 “in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures.”
Lauren Bacall on the stage for the Tony Awards in 1970 in the musical “Applause” based on the movie “All About Eve”
Lauren on Broadway
| Waiting in the Wings [Play, Original]
|
Dec 16, 1999 – May 28, 2000 |
| Woman of the Year [Musical, Comedy, Original]
|
Mar 29, 1981 – Mar 13, 1983 |
| Applause [Musical, Original]
|
Mar 30, 1970 – Jul 27, 1972 |
| Cactus Flower [Play, Comedy, Original]
|
Dec 08, 1965 – Nov 23, 1968 |
| Goodbye, Charlie [Play, Comedy, Original]
|
Dec 16, 1959 – Mar 19, 1960 |
| Johnny 2 X 4 [Play, Melodrama, Original]
|
Mar 16, 1942 – May 09, 1942 |
Lauren in the Famous Gay Bar Scene from Applause
Career
Bacall took lessons at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts while working as a theatre usher and fashion model. As Betty Bacall, she made her acting debut on Broadway in 1942, at age 17, as a walk-on in Johnny 2 X 4. According to her autobiography, she and a girlfriend won an opportunity in 1940 to meet her idol Bette Davis at Davis’s hotel. Years later, Davis visited Bacall backstage to congratulate her on her performance in Applause, a musical based on the film All About Eve in which Davis had starred. According to Bacall’s autobiography, Davis told her “You know you’re the only one who can play this role.”
Bacall became a part-time fashion model. Howard Hawks’ wife Nancy spotted her “in a very small picture in Vogue” and urged Hawks to have her take a screen test for To Have and Have Not. Hawks had asked his secretary to find out more about her, but the secretary misunderstood and sent her a ticket to Hollywood for the audition.
Hawks signed her to a seven-year personal contract, brought her to Hollywood, gave her $100 salary a week, and began to manage her career. He changed her name to Lauren Bacall. Nancy Hawks took Bacall under her wing. She dressed the newcomer stylishly and guided her in matters of elegance, manners and taste. Bacall was trained to make her voice lower, more masculine and sexier, which resulted in one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood. In To Have and Have Not, Bacall’s character used Nancy Hawkes’ nickname “Slim” and Bogart used Howard Hawkes’ nickname “Steve”.
1950’s
Bacall turned down scripts she did not find interesting and thereby earned a reputation for being difficult. For her leads in a string of films, she received favorable reviews. In Young Man with a Horn (1950), co-starring Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, and Hoagy Carmichael, Bacall played a two-faced femme fatale. This movie is often considered the first big-budget jazz film.
During 1951–1952, Bacall co-starred with Bogart in the syndicated action-adventure radio series Bold Venture.
In 1953, Bacall starred in the CinemaScope comedy How to Marry a Millionaire, a runaway hit that saw her teaming up with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable. Billed third under Monroe and Grable, Bacall got positive notices for her turn as the witty gold-digger, Schatze Page. According to her autobiography, Bacall refused the coveted invitation from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to press her hand- and footprints in the theatre’s cemented forecourt at the Los Angeles premiere of the film.
1960s and 1970s
Bacall’s movie career waned in the 1960s, and she was seen in only a handful of films. On Broadway she starred in Goodbye, Charlie (1959), Cactus Flower (1965), Applause (1970) and Woman of the Year (1981). She won Tony Awards for her performances in the latter two. The few movies Bacall shot during this period were all-star vehicles such as Sex and the Single Girl (1964) with Henry Fonda, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, Harper (1966) with Paul Newman, Shelley Winters, Julie Harris, Robert Wagner and Janet Leigh, and Murder on the Orient Express (1974), with Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney and Sean Connery. In 1964, she appeared in two acclaimed episodes of Craig Stevens’s CBS drama, Mr. Broadway: first in “Take a Walk Through a Cemetery”, with then husband Jason Robards, Jr. and Jill St. John, and then as Barbara Lake in “Something to Sing About”, with Martin Balsam as Nate Bannerman.
For her work in the Chicago theatre, Bacall won the Sarah Siddons Award in 1972 and again in 1984. In 1976, she co-starred with John Wayne in his last picture, The Shootist. The two became friends, despite significant political differences between them. They 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 1990, she had a small role in Misery, which starred Kathy Bates and James Caan. In 1997, Bacall was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), her first nomination after a career span of more than fifty years. She had already won a Golden Globe and was widely expected to win the Oscar, but it went instead to Juliette Binoche for The English Patient.
Bacall 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. Her movie career saw something of a renaissance and she attracted respectful notices for her performances in high-profile projects such as Dogville (2003) and Birth (2004), both with Nicole Kidman. She was also one of the leading actors in Paul Schrader’s 2007 movie The Walker.
Her commercial ventures in the 2000s included being a spokesperson for the Tuesday Morning discount chain (commercials showed her in a limousine waiting for the store to open at the beginning of one of their sales events) and producing a jewelry line with the Weinman Brothers company. She previously was a celebrity spokesperson for High Point (coffee) and Fancy Feast cat food. In March 2006, Bacall was seen at the 78th Annual Academy Awards introducing a film montage dedicated to film noir. She made a cameo appearance as herself on The Sopranos, in the April 2006 episode, “Luxury Lounge”, during which she was punched and robbed by a masked hoodlum played by Michael Imperioli.
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 Centre.She gave an address at the memorial service of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. at the Reform Club in London in June 2007. She finished her role in The Forger in 2009.
Bacall was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Academy Award. The award was presented at the inaugural Governors Awards on November 14, 2009.
In July 2013, Bacall expressed interest in taking the starring role in the film Trouble Is My Business. In November, she joined the English dub voice cast for Studio Canal’s animated film Ernest & Celestine. She guest starred on the twelfth season of Family Guy in the episode “Mom’s the Word”.
Life and Loves
On May 21, 1945, Bacall married actor Humphrey Bogart. Their wedding and honeymoon took place at Malabar Farm, Lucas, Ohio. It was 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; thus, she was nicknamed “Baby”. They remained married until Bogart’s death from esophageal cancer in 1957.
Bacall was married to actor Jason Robards, Jr. from 1961 to 1969. According to Bacall’s autobiography, she divorced Robards mainly because of his alcoholism. In her autobiography Now, she recalls having a relationship with Len Cariou, her co-star in Applause.
Bacall had a son and daughter with Bogart and a son with Robards. Her children with Bogart are her son Stephen Humphrey Bogart (born January 6, 1949), a news producer, documentary film maker and author; and her daughter Leslie Bogart (born August 23, 1952), a yoga instructor. Sam Robards (born December 16, 1961), her son with Robards, is an actor. Bacall is the only Academy Award winner to have been married to two other winners (Bogart, Robards). She wrote two autobiographies, Lauren Bacall By Myself (1978) and Now (1994). In 2005, the first volume was updated with an extra chapter: “By Myself and Then Some”.
Awards and Nominations
- 1970 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical – Applause
- 1972 Sarah Siddons Award
- 1980 National Book Award in the one-year category Autobiography[45][a]
- 1981 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical – Woman of the Year
- 1984 Sarah Siddons Award
- 1990 George Eastman Award (given by George Eastman House)[46]
- 1992 Premio Donostia [Honorary Award]
- 1993 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award
- 1997 Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale Camera[47]
- 1997 Screen Actors Guild Award 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 San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress – The Mirror Has Two Faces
- 1997 Kennedy Center Honors
- 2000 Stockholm International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2007 Norwegian International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2008 Bette Davis Medal of Honor (from the Bette Davis Foundation)[48]
- 2009 Academy Honorary Award
In 1991, Bacall was honored with star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street. In 1997, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her. In 1998, Bacall was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame
Here’s the Movies
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | To Have and Have Not | Marie ‘Slim’ Browning | Debut as not only an actress but also a singer; though Andy Williams, as a teenager, had recorded the songs she sang in the film, his recordings were never used. |
| 1945 | Confidential Agent | Rose Cullen | With Charles Boyer and Peter Lorre |
| 1946 | Big Sleep, TheThe Big Sleep | Vivian Sternwood Rutledge | With Humphrey Bogart |
| 1946 | Two Guys from Milwaukee | Herself | uncredited cameo |
| 1947 | Dark Passage | Irene Jansen | With Humphrey Bogart |
| 1948 | Key Largo | Nora Temple | With Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and Lionel Barrymore |
| 1950 | Young Man with a Horn | Amy North | With Kirk Douglas, Doris Day and Hoagy Carmichael |
| 1950 | Bright Leaf | Sonia Kovac | With Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal |
| 1953 | How to Marry a Millionaire | Schatze Page | With Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable |
| 1954 | Woman’s World | Elizabeth Burns | With Clifton Webb, Van Heflin and Fred MacMurray |
| 1955 | Cobweb, TheThe Cobweb | Meg Faversen Rinehart | With Richard Widmark, Charles Boyer and Gloria Grahame |
| 1955 | Blood Alley | Cathy Grainger | With John Wayne |
| 1956 | Patterns | Lobby lady near elevators | uncredited |
| 1956 | Written on the Wind | Lucy Moore Hadley | With Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone |
| 1957 | Designing Woman | Marilla Brown Hagen | Golden Laurel Award for Top Female Comedy Performance (third place) |
| 1958 | The Gift of Love | Julie Beck | |
| 1959 | North West Frontier | Catherine Wyatt | |
| 1964 | Shock Treatment | Dr. Edwina Beighley | With Stuart Whitman |
| 1964 | Sex and the Single Girl | Sylvia Broderick | With Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood and Henry Fonda |
| 1966 | Harper | Elaine Sampson | With Paul Newman |
| 1973 | Applause | Margo Channing | Reprised the role in All About Eve that Bette Davis had originated in the original film. |
| 1974 | Murder on the Orient Express | Mrs. Harriet Belinda Hubbard | |
| 1976 | Shootist, TheThe Shootist | Bond Rogers | Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role |
| 1978 | Perfect Gentleman | Mrs. Lizzie Martin | |
| 1980 | Health | Esther Brill | With James Garner |
| 1981 | Fan, TheThe Fan | Sally Ross | With James Garner |
| 1988 | Appointment with Death | Lady Westholme | |
| 1988 | Mr. North | Mrs. Cranston | |
| 1989 | John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick | documentary | |
| 1989 | Tree of Hands, TheThe Tree of Hands | Marsha Archdale | |
| 1989 | Dinner at Eight | Carlotta Vance | |
| 1990 | Misery | Marcia Sindell | |
| 1991 | A Star for Two | ||
| 1991 | All I Want for Christmas | Lillian Brooks | |
| 1993 | The Portrait | Fanny Church | |
| 1993 | Parallax Garden, TheThe Parallax Garden | ||
| 1993 | Foreign Field, AA Foreign Field | Lisa | |
| 1994 | Prêt-à -Porter: Ready to Wear | Slim Chrysler | National Board of Review Award for Best Cast |
| 1995 | From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler | Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler | |
| 1996 | Mirror Has Two Faces, TheThe Mirror Has Two Faces | Hannah Morgan | Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
| 1996 | My Fellow Americans | Margaret Kramer | With Jack Lemmon and James Garner |
| 1997 | Day and Night | Sonia | |
| 1999 | Get Bruce | documentary | |
| 1999 | Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke | Doris Duke (elderly) | |
| 1999 | Madeline: Lost in Paris | Madame Lacroque | voice |
| 1999 | Venice Project, TheThe Venice Project | Countess Camilla Volta | |
| 1999 | Presence of Mind | Mado Remei | |
| 1999 | Diamonds | Sin-Dee | |
| 1999 | Conversation with Gregory Peck, AA Conversation with Gregory Peck | documentary | |
| 2003 | Limit, TheThe Limit (a.k.a. Gone Dark) | May Markham | |
| 2003 | Dogville | Ma Ginger | |
| 2004 | Howl’s Moving Castle | Witch of the Waste | voice |
| 2004 | Birth | Eleanor | |
| 2005 | Manderlay | Mam | |
| 2006 | These Foolish Things | Dame Lydia | |
| 2007 | Walker, TheThe Walker | Natalie Van Miter | |
| 2008 | Eve | Grandma | |
| 2008 | Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King | The Grand Witch | voice |
| 2010 | Wide Blue Yonder [60] | May | |
| 2010 | Firedog[61] | Posche | voice |
| 2012 | The Forger | Annemarie Sterling | |
| 2014 | Ernest & Celestine | The Grey One’s voice |
Lauren Bacall in “Women of the Year” 1981 Tony Awards I’m one of the boys
See full bio of Lauren Bacall at TheatreGold Database
Also see lauren at TheatreGold Memorabilia Here
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