BACALL, LAUREN

born Sept. 16, 1924, New York, N.Y., U.S. original name Betty Joan Perske American motion-picture and Broadway stage actress. Supplementing her income as an actress by modeling, Bacall was spotted on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in 1943 by the wife of motion-picture director Howard Hawks. Cast in Hawks's To Have and Have Not (1944) as the leggy, sardonic beauty who gives Humphrey Bogart a famous lesson in whistling, the 19-year-old Bacall made a vivid impression and was vigorously touted in a promotional campaign as The Look. Bacall, at one time an aspiring dancer, was tall and graceful, with slanted eyes and a husky voice. Among her best early roles were the romantic leads in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). Reviewers also praised her witty, mordant performance in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). Her marriage to Bogart in 1945 ended with his death in 1957. Bacall returned to Broadway in the successful Goodbye, Charlie (1959) and made several films, including Harper (1966), before her acclaimed performance in the Broadway show Cactus Flower (196567). In 1970 she received the Tony Award for her performance in the musical Applause, and in 1981 she won another Tony Award for her starring role in the musical Woman of the Year. Other films include Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Shootist (1976), The Fan (1980), and Appointment with Death (1988). Her autobiography, Lauren Bacall by Myself, was published in 1978.