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Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall has been a star of international acclaim since her screen debut in Howard Hawks' TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, opposite Humphrey Bogart.

Having begun her pursuit of acting while in high school, she attended Saturday classes at the N.Y. School of Theater and the Dramatic Arts. Following graduation, at the age of 17, she appeared on Broadway and worked as a model in the garment center, where she was spotted by Diana Vreeland and subsequently photographed for Harper's Bazaar. That in turn led to her being brought to Hollywood for a screen test to be directed by Howard Hawks. Hawks himself cast her in her first screen role in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, opposite Humphrey Bogart. Bacall and Bogart were married in 1945 and continued to work together in Howard Hawks' THE BIG SLEEP, as well as DARK PASSAGE, directed by Delmer Daves, and KEY LARGO, directed by John Huston.

Lauren Bacall's career includes over thirty films, including HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE with Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe; YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN with Kirk Douglas; BRIGHT LEAF with Gary Cooper; DESIGNING WOMEN with Gregory Peck; SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL with Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda; HARPER with Paul Newman; MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS with Albert Finney; BLOOD ALLEY and THE SHOOTIST with John Wayne; APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH with Peter Ustinov; THE FAN with James Garner; MR. NORTH with Robert Mitchum and directed by Danny Huston; MISERY with Kathy Bates; Robert Altman's READY TO WEAR and HEALTH with Glenda Jackson and Carol Burnett; and MY FELLOW AMERICANS with James Garner and Jack Lemmon.

More recently, Bacall appeared Lars von Trier's DOGVILLE with Nicole Kidman; THE LIMIT with Claire Forlani; THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES, for which she received an Academy Award nomination, the Golden Globe Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance; and DIAMONDS with Kirk Douglas. Upcoming for Bacall is von Trier's MANDERLAY, the prequel to DOGVILLE.

Bacall has been honored with many achievement awards for her film work, including the Career Achievement Award from the National Board of Review, and was named one of the American Film Institute's Top 25 Film Legends of the Century. She is a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, and most recently received the DIVA Award for her contributions to world cinema. She has also received the French Cesar for Lifetime Achievement and was named a Commander of the Arts and Letters by France.

Bacall finally realized her childhood ambition to be on stage when she received rave reviews for her starring role in Broadway's Cactus Flower, in which she played for two years. She received her first Tony Award in her first musical Applause, an adaptation of ALL ABOUT EVE. After a year and a half on Broadway, which was followed by a year in London at Her Majesty's

Theater, she appeared in the national tour and the television adaptation, for which she received an Emmy nomination, and won the London Evening Standard Award. Bacall received her second Tony for her role in the Kander and Ebb musical Woman of the Year. Several years later, she appeared in a very successful production of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, directed by Harold Pinter.

On television, Bacall stared in THE PETRIFIED FOREST with her husband Humphrey Bogart and Henry Fonda, followed by Noel Coward's BLITH SPIRIT in which she appeared with the play­wright and Claudette Colbert. Other major television productions include DINNER AT EIGHT; A FOREIGN FIELD; FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER; and TOO RICH: THE SECRET OF DORIS DUKE.

In 1980, Bacall received the National Book Award for her autobiography By Myself. Her second book Now, published in 1994, was also a bestseller.

Lauren Bacall is the proud mother of Stephen and Leslie Bogart, and Sam Robards.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2004.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Lauren Bacall Facts

Birth NameBetty Joan Perske
OccupationActress
BirthdaySeptember 16, 1924 (99)
SignVirgo
BirthplaceNew York, New York, USA
Height5' 8½" (1m74)  How tall is Lauren Bacall compared to you?
Awards1997 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture (for The Mirror Has Two Faces)
1997 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role (for The Mirror Has Two Faces)
1993 Golden Globe Awards: Cecil B. DeMille Award

Selected Filmography

Howl's Moving Castle
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
The Big Sleep
Misery
My Fellow Americans
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Murder Mysteries
To Have and Have Not
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Key Largo
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