Lauren Bacall - (1924 - 2014)

The Look

Lauren Bacall, born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014, was an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks. Bacall was born in the Bronx, New York, the only child of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a secretary who later legally changed her surname to Bacall, and William Perske, who worked in sales; both of her parents were Jewish. Her mother emigrated from Romania through Ellis Island, and her father was born in New Jersey, to Polish-born parents.


During screen tests for To Have and Have Not (1944), Bacall was nervous. To minimize her quivering, she pressed her chin against her chest and to face the camera, tilted her eyes upward. This effect became known as "The Look", Bacall's trademark.

Lauren and Bogart

Stephen, Lauren and Leslie 

Lauren, Sam and Jason Robards

On the set, Humphrey Bogart, who was married to Mayo Methot, initiated a relationship with Bacall several weeks into shooting and they began seeing each other. On May 21, 1945, Bacall married actor Humphrey Bogart. She had a son, Stephen Humphrey Bogart, born January 6, 1949, and a daughter, Leslie Bogart, born August 23, 1952, with Bogart before his death in 1957.

Bacall was married to actor Jason Robards, Jr. from 1961 to 1969. They had one son together, Sam Robards, born December 16, 1961.  

Bacall was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Academy Award. The award was presented at the inaugural Governors Awards on November 14, 2009. She is the only Academy Award winner to have been married to two other winners (Bogart, Robards). She wrote two autobiographies, Lauren Bacall By Myself (1978) and Now (1994). In 2005, the first volume was updated with an extra chapter: "By Myself and Then Some".