Who was Lauren Bacall?

Lauren Bacall was an Ameritcan actress. Rose to stardom in Hollywood’s golden-age of Hollywood and wife of famous of actor Humphrey. Known for her sultry, low and flat voiced, electric, lingering, and cat-like walk. Often played the role of femme fatale called as icon of ” Film Noir”. She was often called as a legend for her contribution in the Hollywood Cinema.She had acted more than 50 films in her long career.

The American Film Institute ranked her as the 20^th greatest female star of Hollywood in 2009. Her memorable films include “To Have or Have Not”, “The Big Sleep”, “Key Largo” paired with her on and off-screen actor Humphrey Bogart. Her other successful films include “How to Marry a Millionaire”, “Designing Woman”, “Murder on the Orient Express”.

Birthday-Childhood and Education of Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall was born on September 16,1924 as Betty Joan Perske in Bronx, New York city. She was the only child of William Perske and Natalie who later changed her surname to Bacall. Both of her parents were Jemish immigrants. Her father originated from New Jersey and her mother from Romania.

Her parents divorced when she was very young (6 years old) and her father left her family. So she was very close to her mother. After her parents divorced, her mother also remarried to Lee Goldberg. Later her family shifted to California when she became a star. She was also related to Shimon Peres ( 8^th Prime Minister and 9^th President of Israel) through her father’s side.

How Lauren’s Bacall name was changed?

After she became a star she changed her first name to Lauren and her surname Bacal was taken from her maternal grandmother’s last name (Romania). As she was very close to her mother she took the last name Bacal. Later she added additional ‘l’ to pronounce easier.

Schooling 

Schooling at a private boarding school in Highland Manor Boarding schools for Girls at Tarrytown, New York, also took lessons from Julia Richman High School in Manhattan. In the field of acting, she attended the Manhattan American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. There she met the famous Hollywood star Kirk Douglas as a classmate.

Physical Appearance-Height-Weight & Zodiac sign

What was the Height of Lauren Bacall?

Lauren Bacall was  slim and 5 feet 8.5 inches tall. Her stunning performance with light-brown eye and bright blue-green eye colour make a heroine of one of the greatest female actress of Classic Hollywood Cinema. Her great height make her disctinctive among her contemporary actress as other actress was shorter than her.

Photos of Lauren Bacall

Acting Career of Lauren Bacall

It was Lauren’s dream from her childhood to became an actress. She imitated the famous Bette Divas (one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history) and worshipped her.

Before her acting debut she also worked as a fashion model in departmental store, and as a usher at the St. James theatre for a shot period. Won the tiltle of  Miss Greenwich Village in 1942. While she was studying at the theatre, she relentlessly tried to pusue a theatrical break; ofen begging for a theatrical role to Max Gordon, Broadway producer. 

Her stage debut play was “Franklin Street” a George S.Kaufman play. She was also modelled as a cover photo of Haper’s Bazaar, a popular fashion magazine of that time. That cover photo changed the life of Bacall. It was attention by Nancy “Slim'” Hawks, wife of Howard Hawks, a famous director. Bacall  auditioned for “To Have or Have Not” and signed for it. 

Lauren’s first appearance in her debut film “To Have or Have Not” became a  trade mark for her. The look of “She pressed her chin ahainst her chest and tilted her sparkling eyes upward” became a trade mark. An interesting thing in this film was  that she was nicknamed as “Slim”  and Bogart as “Steve” which were actually the nicknames of Slim Hawk’s nickname and Howard Hawak’s nickname respectively. The film audience loved the on-set chemistry between Lauren and  Humphrey Bogart. and became a star overnight. At that Bogart was already a famous and oscar nominated star. In 1945 came “Confidential Agent”.

“The Big Sleep” came in 1946 paired with Humphrey Bogart made her a star of American film noir. She became a typecast of independent and sultry femme fatale.

Other other films with Bogart were “Dark Passage” (1947), ” Key Largo” (1948). Sh was casted with Bogart in altogether four film and a radio series “Bold Venture” from 1961-1952. The two were paired again in “Petrified Forest” (1955).

She was casted with great actors of her time like Kirk Douglas in ” Young Man with a Horn” (1950), with Gary Cooper in “bright Leaf” (1950) and etc. She can took complete control of every scene given to her.She can do comedy very well. She perform very well in comedy film “How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953) with Marilyn Monroe.  The film was box-office hit. In 1955 came two feature films “The Cobweb” and “Bloody Alley”.

After her husband Bogart’s death, her acting was on and off. 1958 came “The Gift of Love” and 1959 came “North-West Frontier”.  Her later films include “Sex and the Single Girl” (1964), “Harper” (1966), “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974), and with John Wayne in the “Shootist” (1976).  In 1990s she was very active in TVs. she did many supporting roles in her late carrer- Misery (1990), Dogville (2003). 

She was voiced for numerous animated films which include “Lost in Paris”, “Scooby-Doo”, “Ernest and Celestine”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “the Goblin King”. Her last voice appearance was ib the “Family Guy” (2014). She was one of the few actresses to have a Warner Bros. Cartoon named after her. It was “Bacall To Arms” (1946), a Warner Bros-Melodies. Her last film “The Forger” came in 2011. 

She had a long career in acting both in films and theatres but she was best known for her roles she played with Bogart, her husband.

Lauren Bacall Spouse and relations

How many times Lauren Bacall married?

Lauren Bacall married two times- first to the Humphrey Bogart and to the Jason Robards.

Lauren met Bogart during the shooting of “To Have or Have Not”(1944) which was the first film of Lauren. From that time the pair involved romantically and began dating. She was only 19 yearls old at that time and Bogart was already a married man. Bogart was 25 years senior to her. Audeince love the on and off-set chemistry of the pair. 

They married on May 21,1945 at Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio at the home of Louis Bromfiled, a friend of Bogart. It was the third marriage of Bogart. They were the hottest couple of Hollywood. The couple had two loving Children- a son (Stephen Bogart) and a daughter (Leslie Bogart). They were together for 12 years, until the death of Bogart in 1957.

After Bogart’s death she was not happy and did not find any greater lover than Bogart. In her biography, Lauren said, “It was the happiest moment of her life”. 

Lauren Bacall Second husband-Jason Robards

Bacall married with Jason Robards, an American actor, on July4, 1961 in Mexico. Actually they had planned to wed on June 16, 1961 in Vienna, Austria but had to cancel as Bacall was unable to produce death certificate of Bogart and Robards unable to produce divorce certificate from his second wife. The couple together had a son- Sam Robards.

They divorced in 1969, the reason being was alcoholism of Jason Robards.

Lauren Bacall children

Lauren had altogether 3 children- two with her first husband- Stephen Bogart and Leslie Bogart; and one with her second husband- Sam Robards. She became window when she was only 32 years old after Bogart’s death and her second husband was divorced in 1969. She was a strong woman. She raised the three children alone. Stephen Bogart is an American writer, producer, and businessman, Leslie Bogart became a nurse. Leslie was named after Leslie Howard (an English actor, director, producer and writer), who was a close friend of her father, Bogart. Only Sam Robards follow the steps of his parents as an actor.

Other relations– Lauren dated Burgess Meredith, an American actor and filmmaker (much senior to her) while she was trainning at the Dramatic Arts in New York. Bogart believed that Lauren’s virginity was taken by Burgess but Lauren did not accept it. 

Lauren also had a brief relation withFrank Sinatra after Bogart’s death. But it was ended due to misunderstanding. It is said Sinatra’s marriage proposal had been leaked to the press. Sinatra believe it was leaked by Lauren.

Awards and Honours received by Lauren Bacall

• Tony Award for Best actress-Applause (1970) for her role as Margo Channing a musical. It was an adpatation of “All about Eve” which starred Bette Davis. 
• Won Sarah Siddons Award ( an award presented to an actor or actress for an outstanding performance in Chicago Theatrical production)
• Won Musical Woman of the Year in 1981
• Nominated oscar award for her film “The Mirror Has Two Faces”
• Won Golden Globe award for Best supporting actress
• Won Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance for supporting role
• BAFTA award for Best actress in a supporting role.

She wrote two autobiographies- “Lauren Bacall:Be Myself” and “Now”. In 1980 she won a National Book award for her first autobiography.

Lauren Bacall’s Networth

At the time of her death, Lauren had a networth of $26.6 million estate including her luxury items, jewellery,apartment. She was among the famous actress of her time, which made her earned a whooping amount. She was also a business woman. She had shares in stock market also. Such huge amount raised her three children without any support. 

She divided her property equally among her children. An additional amount of $250,000 was left for her grandsons.

Laurel Bacall’s death 

Lauren left the world on August 12, 2014 at the age of 89 after she suffered a stroke at her apartment in Dakota, Manhattan.

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Reference-

• https://www.nytimes.com