Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall, the husky-voiced and rapier-tongued actress who teamed with her husband Humphrey Bogart to form one of cinema’s most iconic pairings, died Tuesday, reportedly of a stroke, at her home in New York City. She was 89.
Born in New York in 1924, Lauren Bacall got her start on Broadway and worked as a model before landing a role in To Have and Have Not (1944). Her co-star Humphrey Bogart was married at the time, but the two began a relationship shortly after meeting and were married in 1945. Bogie and Bacall toplined three subsequent pictures: Howard Hawks’ monumental film noir The Big Sleep (1946); the atmospheric thriller Dark Passage (1947); and John Huston’s claustrophobic Key Largo (1948). In each film, Bogart and Bacall played tough, witty, world-weary characters who exuded glamour and danger in nearly equal measure.
Bogart died in 1957, and Bacall, who had previously turned down a number of juicy roles, would work until the end of her life. She won praise for her performances in Douglas Sirk’s sly melodrama Written on the Wind and Vincente Minnelli’s comedy Designing Women (both 1957), and co-starred with John Wayne in his final film, The Shootist (1976). She received her first and only Oscar nomination for her supporting role in Barbra Streisand’s The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), and was given the Academy Honorary Award in 2009. More recently, Bacall appeared alongside Nicole Kidman in Lars Von Trier’s Dogville (2003) and with Woody Harrelson in Paul Schrader’s Walker (2007). She also provided vocal performances in the English-language versions of Howl’s Moving Castle (2005) and Ernest and Celestine, which was released earlier this year.
Bacall is survived by two children with Bogart and another with the late actor Jason Robards.
Written by Tim Ryan
Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall, the husky-voiced and rapier-tongued actress who teamed with her husband Humphrey Bogart to form one of cinema’s most iconic pairings, died Tuesday, reportedly of a stroke, at her home in New York City. She was 89.
Born in New York in 1924, Lauren Bacall got her start on Broadway and worked as a model before landing a role in To Have and Have Not (1944). Her co-star Humphrey Bogart was married at the time, but the two began a relationship shortly after meeting and were married in 1945. Bogie and Bacall toplined three subsequent pictures: Howard Hawks’ monumental film noir The Big Sleep (1946); the atmospheric thriller Dark Passage (1947); and John Huston’s claustrophobic Key Largo (1948). In each film, Bogart and Bacall played tough, witty, world-weary characters who exuded glamour and danger in nearly equal measure.
Bogart died in 1957, and Bacall, who had previously turned down a number of juicy roles, would work until the end of her life. She won praise for her performances in Douglas Sirk’s sly melodrama Written on the Wind and Vincente Minnelli’s comedy Designing Women (both 1957), and co-starred with John Wayne in his final film, The Shootist (1976). She received her first and only Oscar nomination for her supporting role in Barbra Streisand’s The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), and was given the Academy Honorary Award in 2009. More recently, Bacall appeared alongside Nicole Kidman in Lars Von Trier’s Dogville (2003) and with Woody Harrelson in Paul Schrader’s Walker (2007). She also provided vocal performances in the English-language versions of Howl’s Moving Castle (2005) and Ernest and Celestine, which was released earlier this year.
Bacall is survived by two children with Bogart and another with the late actor Jason Robards.
