Lauren Bacall - Biography

Last Editor: stop_smoking_punk				Lauren Bacall Biography -   Name : Lauren Bacall Profession : Model/Actress Birth Details : born in Poland, in an area which is now part of Belarus Birth name : Betty Joan Perske Height : 5' 8˝" (1.74 m) Nickname : Baby The Look Personal quotes : "She's a real Joe. You'll fall in love with her like everybody else." - Humphrey Bogart "I never believed marriage was a lasting instit Salary : Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946) $5,000 To Have and Have Not (1944) $125/week Spouse : Jason Robards (4 July 1961 - 10 September 1969) (divorced) 1 child Humphrey Bogart (21 May 1945 - 14 January 1957) (his death) 2 children Trade mark : Her deep, sexy voice

Lauren Bacall Trivia -

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#6). [1995] Ranked #20 in the AFI's top 25 Actress Legends. She has a daughter and a son from her marriage to Humphrey Bogart: Leslie and Stephen H. Bogart. Ranked #11 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Mother of actor Sam Robards. Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. [1997] Bacall was staying in the same New York apartment building as Beatle John Lennon when he was shot (and later died on 8th December in the Roosevelt Hospital) in 1980. When interviewed on the subject in a recent UK TV programme hosted by former model Twiggy, Bacall said she had heard the gunshot but assumed that it was a car tire bursting or a vehicle backfiring. Was crowned "Miss Greenwich Village" in 1942. Used her mother's maiden name of Bacal, but added an extra "L" when she entered the cinema. Shortly after Humphrey Bogart's death, she announced her engagement to Frank Sinatra to the press. Mr. Sinatra promptly backed out. Her screen personna was totally based and modeled after Howard Hawks's wife, Slim. She even uses her name in To Have and Have Not (1944). She and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres (currently the foreign minister) are cousins. Both have the same original last name -- Perske. Those close to her call her by her real first name, "Betty". Still undiscovered, Bacall volunteered as a hostess at the New York chapter of the Stage Door Canteen, working Monday nights when theaters were closed. Having lost her job as a showroom model and quit acting school for lack of funds, the teenage Bacall found work as a Broadway theater usher. George Jean Nathan voted her the prettiest usher of the 1942 season in the pages of "Esquire". An only child. One of the initial "Rat Pack" with Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Irving Paul Lazar (aka "Swifty" Lazar) and their close friends. Won a Tony for her role as Margo Channing in the Broadway production of "Applause", a musical based on the movie, All About Eve (1950). It was presented by Walter Matthau. With former husband Humphrey Bogart, has a kind of vocal disorder named after her. "Bogart-Bacall syndrome"' (or BBS) is a form of muscle tension dysphonia most common in professional voice users (actors, singers, TV/radio presenters, etc) who habitually use a very low speaking pitch. BBS is more common among women than men and has been blamed on "social pressure on professional women to compete with men in the business arena". Starred, with her husband Humphrey Bogart, on the syndicated radio program "Bold Venture" (1951-1952). Her character's name was Sailor Duval. Measurements: 34-26-34 (her 1940 modeling card) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Her autobiography, "By Myself", won a National Book Award in 1980 Actress Kathleen Turner has often been compared to Bacall. When Turner and Bacall met, Turner reportedly introduced herself to Bacall by saying "Hi, I'm the young you." Her marriage to Humphrey Bogart occured at the Pleasant Valley area of Richland County, Ohio home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Louis Bromfield, Malabar Farm (now within the township of Lucas, Ohio). The home is now an Ohio State Park. Katharine Hepburn, her long-time friend, is the godmother of her son, Sam Robards. Has won two Tony Awrds as Best Actress (Musical): in 1970, for her role as Margo Channing in "Applause", based on the movie, All About Eve (1950); and in 1981, for "Woman of the Year," also based on a movie of the same name, Woman of the Year (1942). As of 2005 she is the only surviving legend mentioned in a popular phrase from Madonna's 1990 #1 hit song "Vogue". Other legends mentioned: Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Grace Kelly, Jean Harlow, Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth and Bette Davis, who all died before the release of the song. Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn and Lana Turner all died in following years. Is mentioned along with former husband Humphrey Bogart in the 1980s song "Key Largo" ("We had it all, just like Bogart and Bacall"). Is portrayed by Kathryn Harrold in Bogie (1980) (TV) Her appearance on a cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine at 18 years of age, led to her first film role; she was spotted by the wife of director Howard Hawks, who gave her a screen test and cast her in To Have and Have Not (1944). Originally wanted to be a dancer. A well respected actress for the past sixty years, she has only been nominated once for an Academy Award. She was 73 when nominated for The Mirror Has Two Faces. Is half Romanian

Lauren Bacall Detailed Biography -

Lauren Bacall (born 16 September 1924) is an American film and stage actress and a former model. Known for her husky voice and sultry looks, Bacall became a fashion icon and role model for modern-day women early in her career. She was married to and appeared in movies with Humphrey Bogart. Today, she is considered a legendary actress, partly due to the longevity of her career. Armed Forces Radio Services broadcaster Jack Brown interviews Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall for broadcast to troops overseas during World War II. Early Stages Born in New York City as Betty Joan Perske, she was the only child of Jewish immigrants, William Perske (born in Poland, in an area which is now part of Belarus) and Natalie Weinstein-Bacal (born in Romania). Her father was a salesman and her mother was a secretary. Her parents were divorced when she was six years old. As a result, she no longer saw her father, and she formed a strong bond with her mother whom she took with her to California once she had become a movie star. Bacall first studied dancing for 13 years. She then studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During this time she became a theater usher. As Betty Bacall, she made her acting debut on Broadway in 1942, in Johnny Two by Four (her stage name is derived from her mother's Romanian maiden name (Bacal)). At that time her idol was the actress Bette Davis. Later on, she recalled that she had wanted to be "the Bette Davis of the theater". Bacall, then a young Betty, got the chance to meet Davis at her hotel. Years later, Davis would visit Bacall backstage to congratulate her on her triumphant performance of Margo Channing in Applause, a musical based on Davis's successful turn in All About Eve. Bacall began to model part-time. This was when she experienced anti-semitism for the first time. Later, when she first went to Hollywood, she noticed that director Howard Hawks would make anti-semitic remarks. This made her nervous of revealing her identity and she did not let Hawks know at the time that she was Jewish, a decision she now regrets. A career on the stage was what Bacall had envisaged for herself, but she entered the world of movies almost by chance. After Howard Hawks' wife (nicknamed "Slim") spotted Bacall on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, she showed the photo to her husband, and he then made a phone call to New York to bring her to Hollywood for a screen test. Hawks would use the nickname "Slim" for Bacall's character in her first movie To Have and Have Not. The Breakthrough Hawks gave her several screen tests, teaching her to speak in a lower tone. Not liking the name Betty, he gave her the first name Lauren. She was nervous in front of the camera, so Hawks suggested that she tilt her head a little and pull her hair over one side of her face. This became known as The Look, Bacall's sensual trademark. She met Humphrey Bogart on the set of her first film, To Have and Have Not (1944). Bogart (who was married to Mayo Methot) initiated a relationship with Bacall some weeks into shooting and they began to see each other off set. Bacall contacted Hal Wallis to ask him to go and see Kirk Douglas who then had a small part in a Broadway play. Wallis then brought Douglas to Hollywood. As a result, Douglas made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946, opposite Barbara Stanwyck). The 20-year old Bacall made worldwide headlines, and created a sensation, on a visit to the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on (10 February 1945). Her press agent (Charlie Enfield, chief of publicity at Warner Bros.) asked her to sit on the piano which was being played by the Vice-President of the United States Harry S. Truman as a publicity stunt. The photos of the incident caused somewhat of a scandal, and even Truman’s wife Bess was upset about it. Bacall has said that she still gets sent picture postcards of this event to this day. After To Have and Have Not, she appeared with Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). Their off-screen romance is obvious in love scenes in To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. The 1950s to the 1980s On May 21, 1945, Bacall married Humphrey Bogart. Their wedding and honeymoon took place at Malabar Farm, Mansfield, Ohio (the country home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, a close friend of Bogart). At the time of their marriage, Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45. They remained married until Bogart's death from cancer in 1957. Bogart usually called Bacall "Baby", even when referring to her in conversations with other people. After the filming of The African Queen in 1951, Bacall and Bogart became great friends of Bogart's co-star Katharine Hepburn and her partner Spencer Tracy. Bacall also began to mix in non-acting circles, becoming friends with the historian Arthur Schlesinger and the journalist Alistair Cooke. In 1952, she gave campaign speeches for Democratic Presidential contender Adlai Stevenson (on whom she allegedly had a "school-girl" crush). Around the time of Bogart's death in 1957, Bacall had an affair with singer and actor Frank Sinatra. Bacall states that the affair began after Bogart's death; many at the time who were close to the situation believed the affair began as Bogart lay dying. Knowing of Sinatra's reputation as a womanizer, Bacall knew that he was unlikely to be a faithful husband. She told Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in an interview that she had ended the romance. However, in her autobiography, she wrote that Sinatra abruptly ended the relationship, having become angry that the story of his proposal to Bacall had reached the press (Bacall and her friend Swifty Lazar had run into the gossip columnist Louella Parsons, to whom Lazar had spilled the beans). Sinatra then "dropped the curtain," cutting Bacall off completely and going to Las Vegas. She was later married to the actor Jason Robards from 1961 until their divorce in 1969, due to Robards' alcoholism. She is the mother of two sons, news producer, documentary film maker, and author Stephen Bogart and actor Sam Robards as well as one daughter, Leslie Bogart, who became a nurse and yoga therapist. Bacall was known to frequently turn down scripts she didn´t find interesting. This was rarely heard of for a young female film star and got her a reputation among studio executives that she was difficult to deal with. Despite or because of her hesistance to appear in subpar projects, she continued to get favorable reviews for her leads in a string of significant films. 1950´s Young Man with a Horn, co-starring Doris Day and Kirk Douglas, is often considered the first big-budget jazz film. Bacall played a two-faced femme fatale, the type of character she was known to excel in. 1953's colorful comedy How to Marry a Millionaire was a runaway hit that saw Bacall teaming up with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable. Written on the Wind, directed by Douglas Sirk in 1956, is now considered a classic tear-jerker. In the 1960s, Bacall´s movie career waned, and she was only seen in a handful of films. Her saving grace, however, was on Broadway. Her Broadway roles include Goodbye, Charlie in 1959, Cactus Flower in 1965, Applause in 1970 and Woman of the Year in 1981. She won a Tony Award for her performances in the musicals Applause and Woman of the Year. For her work in the Chicago theatre, she won the Sarah Siddons Award in 1972 and again in 1984. In 1976, Bacall co-starred with John Wayne in his last picture, The Shootist. Like Bogart twenty years before, Wayne was dying of cancer, and Bacall saw the signs and the parallels. During the filming of Bacall and Wayne's previous collaboration Blood Alley (1955), Bacall had been terrified of Wayne, as she later reported in her autobiography. However, 20 years later, during the filming of The Shootist, Bacall became attracted to Wayne, albeit platonically, even though Wayne was far to the right, a staunch conservative, and Bacall was on the far left, a liberal. Although political polar opposites, there was common ground between them and a common attraction (Wayne, like Bogart, loved being out on his yacht, and had a love of the sea). Later Stages Bacall was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), for which she had already won a Golden Globe. She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997. Since then, her movie career has seen a new renaissance and she has given strong performances in some important recent movie projects such as Dogville in 2003 with Nicole Kidman, Gone Dark in 2003 with Claire Forlani, and Birth in 2004, again with Kidman. Lauren Bacall has written two autobiographies, Lauren Bacall By Myself (1978) and Now (1994). In 2005, Bacall updated and renamed her autobiography By Myself and Then Some. In 1980 Kathryn Harrold played Bacall in the TV movie Bogie that was directed by Vincent Sherman and was based on the novel by Joe Hymans. Kevin O'Connor played Bogart, and the movie focused primarily upon the disintegration of Bogart's first marriage to Mayo Methot, played by Ann Wedgeworth, when Bogart met Bacall and began an affair with her. In 1999, she was voted one of the 25 most significant movie stars in history by the American Film Institute. She has said that "absolutely" two of her favorite films to make were Designing Woman with Gregory Peck and The Shootist with John Wayne. In 2004, Bacall started appearing in advertisements for the Tuesday Morning discount store franchise. Years prior to that, she provided her voice to plugging Fancy Feast cat food, among other products. She also continues to appear in film, and is one of the few major stars of her generation still active in the industry. Actress Kathleen Turner has often been compared to Bacall. When Turner and Bacall met, Turner reportedly introduced herself to Bacall by saying "Hi, I'm the young you." With her former husband Humphrey Bogart, Bacall has a type of vocal disorder named after her. Bogart-Bacall Syndrome (or BBS) is a form of muscle tension dysphonia most common in professional voice users (actors, singers, TV/radio presenters, etc) who habitually use a very low speaking pitch. BBS is more common among women than men and has been blamed on the social pressure that professional women feel to compete with men in the business and professional arenas. Bacall is a cousin of Shimon Peres, the former Prime Minister of Israel. See also: the Bogart and Bacall section in the Humphrey Bogart article. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lauren Bacall Famous Movie Quotes From To Have and Have Not (1949): "You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow." Bacall is known for speaking her mind, like her friend Katharine Hepburn, she says what she thinks. On Harry S. Truman's Piano-Playing From an interview with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne: "...badly, playing the Missouri Waltz, or something." On Howard Hawks Of Mr. Hawks, Bacall told Larry King on CNN: "He was a svengali. He wanted to mold me. He wanted to control me. And he did until Mr. Bogart got involved." On Frank Sinatra She told Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne: "He was a womanizer, he wanted to be in the sack with everybody." She said of Sinatra to Larry King: "Well, his attention span was not long, shall we say." On Being a Democrat From the Larry King interview: BACALL: "I'm a total Democrat. I'm anti-Republican. And it's only fair that you know it. Even though..." KING: "Wait a minute. Are you a liberal?" BACALL: "I'm a liberal. The L word!" KING: "Egads!" On Nicole Kidman From the Associated Press on Nicole Kidman: "She's not a legend," Bacall said. "She can't be a legend at whatever age she is...you have to be older." From the Larry King interview: KING: "I'm told the media tried to stir up a fuss when you took issue with a reporter describing Nicole Kidman as a legend. You worked together in "Dogville" and the film "Birth," and the legend label was used by a British morning show hostess. And you said she's not a legend, she's a beginner." BACALL: "God, if the press ever quoted anyone correctly, it would be brilliant." KING: "Straighten it out." BACALL: "I love Nicole. Nicole and I happen to be very great friends. Besides that, the press never get it straight. They do not print what you say." KING: "You can't get it wrong here. What did you mean?" BACALL: "Well, number one, this is what happened. We were in Venice for "Birth" at the Venice Film Festival. And you know when you have a day when you go from one room to another with the roundtables with about five journalists sitting around at each table throwing questions at you all the time. So in one of these rooms, I'm sitting there. And one of the journalists said "you're an icon, and Nicole Kidman's an icon, and what do you think about that?". And I said: "Why do you have to burden her with the category? She's a young woman. She's got her whole career ahead of her. Why does she have to be pegged as an icon or as anything? Let her enjoy her time. Don't, you know, suddenly put her in a slot". And that was all I said. The word "legend" never came up. It was "icon" to begin with. And, of course, Nicole was there. And she says, you know the press. Because my only interest was that she was not hurt or that she did not misunderstand." On Tom Cruise She slammed Tom Cruise in the 8 August 2005 issue of Time Magazine: "When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It's inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but, I think it's kind of a sickness."