Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Hollywood Royalty Lauren Bacall Died


I'm sure you heard the news.

Legendary actress Lauren Bacall died yesterday. She was 89 years old.

Here's more about her from CBS

Bacall, born Betty Joan Perske, first pursued modeling, and it was a photo on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar that caught the attention of director Howard Hawks and led to her first movie role, 1944 romantic adventure “To Have and Have Not.”
She co-starred opposite Bogart in the film, and became best-known for her roles opposite the actor, her husband from 1945 until his death in 1957.

They starred together again in “The Big Sleep” and “Key Largo.”
After a period of mourning, Bacall became romantically involved with Frank Sinatra. When an “engagement” was mistakenly leaked by press agent “Swifty” Lazar,” the singer blamed her, and he terminated the romance.
“Actually, Frank did me a great favor — he saved me from the disaster our marriage would have been,” Bacall wrote in her memoir “By Myself.”

Still mourning for Bogart, Bacall left Hollywood in October 1958. She made a film in England, and did a critically panned play that was significant because she would meet her second husband during her time on Broadway: Jason Robards Jr. He was similar to Bogart in that he was an accomplished actor, hard drinker — and married. After Robards was divorced from his second wife, he and Bacall married in 1961 but Robards’ drinking and extramarital affairs resulted in divorce in 1969.

“Applause” in 1970 and “Woman of the Year” in 1981 brought Bacall Tony awards.
In 1997, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in The Mirror Has Two Faces, directed by Barbra Streisand. The Academy recognized her again in 2010 for her “central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures.”

I remember her from the film, The Fan. My grandmama told she at the time, Lauren was a big star, bigger than Diana Ross. Back then, I didn't think anyone could be bigger than Diana Ross. But watching her in that film, I realized she was an amazing force in the industry.

She lived a great life.

2 comments:

  1. Lauren was an amazing person. I not only remember her from her films, but if I'm not mistaken I think she even appeared on The Howard Stern Show!

    ReplyDelete