Lauren Bacall has died

[HarryCarter]

The legendary Lauren Bacall has died at the age of 89. 

 

 

Lauren Bacall, the sultry blonde siren who became an overnight star via a memorable film debut at age 19 opposite Humphrey Bogart in Howard Hawks’ “To Have and Have Not,” died Tuesday at her home of a suspected stroke. She was 89.

The Bogart estate tweeted the news.

Much later in life, she was Oscar-nommed for supporting actress for her role as Barbra Streisand’s mother in 1997’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces.”

Born Betty Joan Perske, “a nice Jewish girl from the Bronx,” she stunned audiences in the forever-after-famous “you know how to whistle” scene in the 1944 romance “To Have and Have Not,” in which she was as flirtatious as possible within the parameters of the Hays Code.

Audiences were impressed; her co-star, the 44-year-old Bogart, even more so. They were soon married and remained devoted to one another for the next 12 years, until Bogart’s death in 1956.

It wasn’t until almost 20 years later that Bacall would emerge from the shadow of being Bogart’s wife/widow and hit her stride, this time onstage, where she scored successes in the comedy “Cactus Flower” and then won two Tonys in musicals “Applause” and, later, “Woman of the Year.”

Her gravel-voiced, sultry persona, however, immediately transformed her into a celebrity. The voice was said to have come from a year shouting into a canyon. Regardless, “the Look,” her slinky, pouty-lipped head-lowered stare, influenced a generation of actresses.

That had less to do with her acting assignments than with her social and political reputation — lying long-legged on President Truman’s piano, bravely protesting with her husband against the House Un-American Activities hearings as early as 1947, campaigning for Adlai Stevenson (twice), or hosting the Rat Pack in Holmby Hills with Bogie and later, in New York, with another famous husband, actor Jason Robards Jr. It has been suggested that her career — she was under contract at Warners for several years — was harmed by her political outspokenness. Bogart did some of his best work in those years, but then, he was Bogart.

Her fierce independence caused her to be suspended from Warners no fewer than seven times. Backed by Bogart, she justifiably complained about the poor material she was handed. That independence sometimes crossed over into diva territory and became more pronounced as time passed.

At AMPAS’ first Governors Awards ceremony in November 2009, Bacall was one of four honorees. Anjelica Huston saluted her by quoting Bacall as saying, “Stardom isn’t a career, it’s an accident,” though Huston said Bacall’s ascendance was not accidental.

Bacall expressed surprise at her own career, saying, “It’s quite amazing the people I worked with — some of the all-time all-time greats.” And she admitted that when Hawks told her he wanted to pair her with either Bogart or Cary Grant, she said she wasn’t impressed with the dese-dem-dose quality of Bogart and said of Grant, “Now you’re talking!”

Bacall’s fierce ambition to achieve stardom began at Julia Richman High School in Manhattan, from which she graduated at 15. By that time she was already doing department store modeling. She studied acting and dancing and enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she remained only one term. She quit modeling on Seventh Avenue to become a theater usher and got herself a walk-on in “Johnny 2 x 4” in 1942 and an ingenue role in George S. Kaufman’s out-of-town failure “Franklin Street.”

Harper’s Bazaar editor Niki de Gunzberg hired her to model for the magazine, and a 1943 cover photocame to the notice of Hawks, who screen-tested Bacall and put her under contract (which he later sold to Warners). The studio coached her for a year, and then she was slipped into “To Have and Have Not,” where Hawks found that “when she became insolent, she became rather attractive.”

Bogart’s marriage to Mayo Methot was on the skids, and Bacall soon became his fourth wife, bearing him two children over the next dozen years. They appeared together in movies three more times, most memorably in “The Big Sleep” and then in “Dark Passage” and “Key Largo.”

Otherwise, when she wasn’t turning down assignments, she was agreeing to appear in mediocre ones such as “Young Man With a Horn” and “Bright Leaf.” At Bogart’s urging, she bought herself out of her contract shortly before Warners shaved its roster in the wake of the TV boom of the early ’50s.

One of her better assignments, “How to Marry a Millionaire,” teamed her with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, and “Woman’s World” again utilized her glamorous, stylish persona to dress up the proceedings.

On television she co-starred with Bogart and Henry Fonda in a live production of “The Petrified Forest,” which Bogie had done on film in 1935 with Bette Davis and Leslie Howard. She also starred with Noel Coward and Claudette Colbert in the TV production of Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.”

When Bogart succumbed to throat cancer, Bacall threw herself into her work, again in A pictures, but with mixed results. There were impressive efforts like “Written on the Wind” and “Designing Women” and considerably less impressive ones like “Blood Alley” and “Flame Over India.”

After a serious affair with Frank Sinatra, she moved east and appeared onstage in the comedy “Goodbye, Charlie.” She met and married Robards, whose star was on the rise, and they had a son. His drinking problems contributed to their breakup and divorce in 1969.

In 1967, she was the toast of Broadway in Abe Burrows’ comedy “Cactus Flower” (a role she lost to Ingrid Bergman onscreen). She appeared in the comedy for two years, and then starred in a musical stage version of “All About Eve,” called “Applause,” in the Margo Channing role originated by Davis. For it she won a Tony Award, and she played the role in the London version too.

Later screen roles consisted of cameos and character parts in films including “Harper,” “Health” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” She appeared in John Wayne’s last film, 1976’s “The Shootist.” A rare starring opportunity, “The Fan,” was a dismal failure, and Bacall returned to Broadway in another musicalization of a classic Hollywood film, “Woman of the Year,” which had starred Katharine Hepburn.

Bacall’s 1978 autobiography “By Myself,” written without the aid of the usual ghostwriter, translated that gravel voice onto the written page and became a bestseller. She also penned “Now,” in which she wrote about her career, family and friends since ’78 but which she declined to call an autobiography. In the book, she wrote, “I’m called a legend by some, a title and category I am less than fond of.”

She continued to work on stage and screen and television, doing a TV remake of “Dinner at Eight” and taking a small role in “Misery.”

In 1997, she received the Kennedy Center Honors; in 1999, the American Film Institute voted her one of the 25 most significant female movie stars in history.

Bacall was among the stars of Lars Von Trier’s “Dogville” and “Manderlay,” made a cameo on “The Sopranos” as herself in April 2006 and appeared in the 2012 film “The Forger” with Josh Hutcherson and Hayden Panettiere.

But mostly she continued to be Lauren Bacall.

She is survived by her two children by Bogart, Stephen and Leslie and her son by Robards, actor Sam Robards.

 

 

[HarryCarter]

[Brock]

No!!!!!!!! :(

 

Fasten your seatbelt -- this has already been a bumpy week.

[Taylor]

Yes, they say deaths come in threes -- I just wonder who's next.  Zsa Zsa?  

 

Godspeed, Ms. Bacall.  Another legend gone.  

[FreddieMertz]

Loved her in Murder On The Orient Express. Another legend gone.

[C L A U D E]

Legend indeed and so much class too.  Can't believe we lost another GREAT so soon after Robin.

[HarryCarter]

 

 

 

[C L A U D E]

Have watched that APPLAUSE number many times in the past few years, one of my all time favorites, thanks for posting it.

[Mmadluv7]

oh no 

[FreddieMertz]

Never heard the Applause number before. Where is it from? In the video it sounds like they call her Margo Channing.

[HarryCarter]

Never heard the Applause number before. Where is it from? In the video it sounds like they call her Margo Channing.

Applause was the musical version of All About Eve. Lauren Bacall starred in the musical and became the toast of Broadway. Bacall won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical and the show won for Best Musical. Bacall took the show to London and Ann Baxter, the original film Eve, took Bacall's place in the New York company. A TV version of the musical was filmed in 1973 and Bacall was nominated for an Emmy. In 1981, Bacall returned to Broadway in the musical version of Woman of the Year and won a second Tony.

[Brock]

One of the many things I found interesting about Lauren Bacall is even in her later years she wasn't afraid to take on some very challenging roles in films that would have been well beyond the comfort zones of many actresses of her generation -- such as Birth and, in particular, Dogville -- with fantastic results. Plus, the fact that she was not conventionally beautiful but sexy as hell.

 

R.I.P.

 

These shoulders should have come with a rating:

 

[C L A U D E]

Wasn't it in Desi's autobiography that he told the story of their campaigning for Truman when nobody in Hollywood would.  He said that they only came up with a few couples so the Trumans had one couple, Lucy and Desi for one course and one, Bogie and Bacall for another.  I know Bogie and Bacall were very active in politics.  Fighting especially hard for the Hollywood ten.

[FreddieMertz]

Applause was the musical version of All About Eve. Lauren Bacall starred in the musical and became the toast of Broadway. Bacall won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical and the show won for Best Musical. Bacall took the show to London and Ann Baxter, the original film Eve, took Bacall's place in the New York company. A TV version of the musical was filmed in 1973 and Bacall was nominated for an Emmy. In 1981, Bacall returned to Broadway in the musical version of Woman of the Year and won a second Tony.

Interesting. Never knew they did one for AAE but it does seem like Lauren would be the PERFECT Margo Channing.

[HarryCarter]

One of the many things I found interesting about Lauren Bacall is even in her later years she wasn't afraid to take on some very challenging roles in films that would have been well beyond the comfort zones of many actresses of her generation -- such as Birth and, in particular, Dogville -- with fantastic results. Plus, the fact that she was not conventionally beautiful but sexy as hell.

 

R.I.P.

 

 

So true. I also think this is true of her Broadway work. Of all the movie stars with limited vocal ability who starred in a Broadway musical, Lauren Bacall had the most success. Everyone who saw her says she was mesmerizing. There's that procession of Broadway stars singing snippets of their big songs in the first Night of 100 Stars. Bacall does a bit of "Woman of the Year" and undoubtedly has the least professional voice, but she's the most outstanding. You cannot take your eyes of her her. She was a star.

[LucyImHome]

Speaking of Truman, there is a famous picture of then Vice-President Harry Truman playing the piano, while Lauren Bacall is sprawled out on top of it.  Harry's wife, Bess was none too happy about it. 

 

iconicphotos.com/2009/04/25/bacall-on-trumans-piano

[Neil]

So true. I also think this is true of her Broadway work. Of all the movie stars with limited vocal ability who starred in a Broadway musical, Lauren Bacall had the most success. Everyone who saw her says she was mesmerizing. There's that procession of Broadway stars singing snippets of their big songs in the first Night of 100 Stars. Bacall does a bit of "Woman of the Year" and undoubtedly has the least professional voice, but she's the most outstanding. You cannot take your eyes of her her. She was a star.

Lauren's Applause vocals were described as an "on-key foghorn" which is a compliment of sorts and pretty accurate. Agree that of the non-singer woman who tackled Broadway musicals in the 60s, Lauren was the best. Others that come to mind in the category are Lucy, Vivien Leigh, Julie Harris, Katharine Hepburn. (Feel like I'm leaving someone out.) Bette Davis had tackled (and in Bette's case, that's an apt verb) musical comedy in the 50s with "Two's Company" and the 70's with Miss Moffat which closed on the road. The best that can be said about her singing is that it's not as bad as you would expect. Vivien does OK, though her voice is a little thin. Whatever appeal her performance had to win her the Tony does not come through on the recording. I am one of the few people who enjoys Hepburn on the Coco CD. Am also fond of the score, another opinion where as MTM's Ted Baxter put it "The cheese stands alone". Julie Harris's singing is too tentative and weak. Considering her stellar acting talent, you'd think she'd score with theatricality over technique, but she does not. However she was saddled with what is, IMO, the worst score of the period: "Skyscaper" by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. The duo had originally been signed to write Wildcat and I'm glad they didn't. I've expounded ad nauseum about how great Lucy is on the Wildcat album. I hate to do it, but I have to put her as second to Bacall (a CLOSE second). As wonderful as she is, her voice lacks Lauren's strength. I've heard many people sing "Hey, Look Me Over" but no one puts it over like our Lucy.

Musical theater historians usually knock the "Applause" score. It's certainly not one of the great ones but I think it's pretty solid.

Lauren's Tony win for 1981's "Woman of the Year" had more to do with lack of competition than greatness. There a few good numbers but all in all, the score is not up to Kander and Ebb's standards, though "Grass Is Always Greener" usually gets cited as the highpoint, more for Marilyn Cooper than Bacall.

[Mister Hepburn]

I am devastated, to say the least.

[Mot Morenzi]

Such sad news. She was a true legend.

[Brock]

Always worth repeating:

 

[HarryCarter]

I really like this tribute by Adam Green, son of Adolph Green and Phyllis Newman.

 

http://m.vogue.com/culture/article/remembering-lauren-bacall-tribute/

[C L A U D E]

I thought of sending you a sympathy PM Mister Hepburn, I knew YOU would be devastated, such a loss.

[FreddieMertz]

Always worth repeating:

 

 

One of my all time favorites. "-and that I'm alive; and some of you are surprised by that."

Lol!

[Mister Hepburn]

I thought of sending you a sympathy PM Mister Hepburn, I knew YOU would be devastated, such a loss.

I appreciate the thought, Claude. :-)

 

I was amazed by the number of people who thought she had already passes, nearly everyone I knew.

[C L A U D E]

Yeah, me too.  You see, the thing is, when you haven't worked in a while and are that old, it's not BIG news like Robin Williams dying so young and a suicide yet.  But anybody who knew show biz stars well knew she was still around and there have been recent pics of her, she was still quite active in some circles.  And being a legend as she was, I wonder who made the cover of People, that must have been hard for the editors, a screen legend or a beloved actor who committed suicide.   I really wanted to send you an e mail or a PM, but my computer's been giving me FREE GAMES and was out of commission so . . .