Bacall, Lauren

(1924- )

   Born Betty Joan Perske in New York city, Lauren Bacall trained as an actor at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and had a number of acting and modeling roles before she appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in March 1943 and was cast by the film producer Howard Hawks in To Have and Have Not with Humphrey Bogart in 1944. The film was a great success, and Bacall went on to star in several more thrillers alongside Bogart, who she married in 1945, including The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948), also starring Edward G. Robinson. Bacall also played lighter roles in Bright Leaf (1950) with Gary Cooper and in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable. After Bogart’s death in 1957, her film career declined, and she turned to Broadway, where she won Tony Awards for her roles in Applause (1970) and Woman of the Year (1981). She appeared in films in the 1960s and 1970s and achieved some success in Shock Treatment (1964) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

   See also Cinema.