Lauren Bacall was a screen legend and more than Humphrey Bogart’s widow
LAUREN Bacall will be remembered for being Laurel Bacall, a part she played to perfection on her own singular terms.
Celebrity Life
Don't miss out on the headlines from Celebrity Life. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AFTER bursting on to the Hollywood scene at the age of 19 with her sensational 1944 screen debut To Have and Have Not, Lauren Bacall defied all accurate description.
One writer of the era said Lauren Bacall’s sultry voice could make the most innocent string of words “sound like a jungle mating call.”
Another observed she was “as a fragile as a moose.”
Even Humphrey Bogart, the man who would soon become Bacall’s first husband — and whose name will remain forever entwined with her own — could only offer that she was “steel with curves.”
Rest with the angels, Lauren Bacall...
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) August 12, 2014
Such was the impact of Bacall’s unprecedented arrival as a fully-fledged and formidable screen presence.
And yet, according to the young femme fatale who just years before was a shy New York teenager named Betty Joan Perske, “I was one of the last to get to know Lauren Bacall. I played her like a part in a movie. Everything just happened to me so fast.”
When I told my pal #LaurenBacall I had boyfriend troubles she said "Men, f**k 'em!" Give 'em hell in heaven Betty RIP pic.twitter.com/UaY4X2dmzZ
— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) August 13, 2014SCREEN SIREN: Lauren Bacall has died
LAUREN BACALL: Her 10 film masterpieces
Having starred in three bona fide classics from just her first five acting assignments — To Have and Have Not was followed by 1946’s The Big Sleep and 1948’s Key Largo — Bacall can be forgiven for losing track of the time.
And also, as fate came to dictate, for peaking very early in what still became a long and distinguished career.
LAUREN BACALL: A SCREEN LEGEND
The first, red-hot phase of Bacall’s screen odyssey cooled quickly after the single-mindedness which was a key element of her personality was revealed to her original employers at Warner Bros.
The studio ended up suspending their siren-under-contact on 12 separate occasions. Usually for giving the thumbs down to the sub-par scripts they were shoving her way.
Bacall eventually paid her way off the Warners’ books, and began rebuilding a career on her own terms.
“I would never reach the To Have and Have Not heights again,” Bacall later wrote, “and it would take much clawing and scratching to pull myself even halfway back up that damn ladder.”
Nevertheless, Bacall kept at it, discovering a surprising flair for light comedy alongside Marilyn Monroe in the brilliant 1953 trifle How to Marry a Millionaire.
Bacall credits her learning experience on that lively movie as “igniting the spark” that drew her towards the world of the theatre.
Throughout many extended absences from the big screen, Bacall kept refining and expanding her gift on Broadway and several of the world’s best stages.
RIP star struckRT @NathAt: Lauren Bacall. She of supreme "Come hither...if you dare" glance. Dame-est of the dames. pic.twitter.com/hAjGbgtc9D
— John Cusack (@johncusack) August 13, 2014After the 1957 death of her beloved Bogart and a second, less successful marriage to another actor, Jason Robards Jr., Bacall struggled for almost 20 years to attract any decent film roles.
Nevertheless, when seen in the right part with the right collaborators, the unique and indomitable Bacall charisma remained as vivid as ever.
A sole Oscar nomination, for playing Barbra Streisand’s monstrous mother in the 1996 drama The Mirror Has Two Faces, does not reflect the fine calibre of work Bacall could still generate in the latter stages of her career.
When all is said done, Lauren Bacall lived a remarkable life, both on and off the screen.
Though she was often heard to fret “I will only be remembered as Humphrey Bogart’s widow,” this will stand as a rare occurrence where she completely misread the script.
Lauren Bacall will be remembered for being Laurel Bacall, a part she played to perfection on her own singular terms.
Originally published as Lauren Bacall was a screen legend and more than Humphrey Bogart’s widow
All smiles for AACTA awards red carpet
Aussie screen stars walked the red carpet for the industry’s biggest night of the year at the AACTA Award Ceremony on the Gold Coast.
Karl: ‘I’m surprised I haven’t been cancelled’
Karl Stefanovic reflects on his 20 years on The Today Show, who has made him a ‘much better person’ – and opens up about the distressing moment his daughter went missing.