Lauren Bacall Named for Honorary Oscar
The Hollywood actress Lauren Bacall famous for her sultry looks and film noir roles will be awarded an honorary Oscar for her contribution to cinema. Here are some interesting highlights from her autobiography ‘By Myself’.
“The Tony nominations were announced-… I was so excited! I couldn’t believe it. At last my first nomination for anything, anywhere… And I heard it-Lauren Bacall for Applause.” I screamed again and jumped out of my seat toward the stage… I’ve never won anything before-.It was an unforgettable night for me.”
This is Lauren Bacall in 1970 recounting her first award in her book, ‘By Myself’ (1979) The book unfolds like a cinema verite sneaking into her private life, failures and successes .
She was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924 in New York City. Her mother Natalie took her to dance classes, drama schools and later to model for a clothes designer- all unusual for orthodox Jewish families. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts had a policy of not awarding scholarships to women and so Bacall could not continue her training after the first year. She worked as usher, Stage Door Canteen hostess for cadets and sold newspapers to support herself. She was spotted by Howard Hawks’s wife Nancy on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar magazine and invited to audition for To Have and Have Not. Hawks signed her for a seven year contract and invited her to California. He changed her name to Lauren Bacall. She was eighteen.
Bacall had thought Humphrey Bogart was good in Casablanca but ‘was not mad about him’! On the sets of her first ever film ‘To Have and Have Not’ she met Bogart. Her nerves showed up during the first take , her body trembled and her head shook. To control herself she put her head down, chin to chest and her eyes looked up at Bogart. It was this mannerism that earned her the sobriquet ‘The Look’. With her husky voice, sultry looks and ‘The Look’ Lauren Bacall carved a special and unique niche in a world of wide-eyed blonde starlets. The film was a success, and Lauren Bacall was declared a combination of Garbo, Dietrich, Mae West, and Katherine Hepburn.
Bogart and Bacall sparkled and the excellent chemistry showed onscreen as well. When they met she was a virgin nineteen and he was a thrice-married man with a drinking problem stuck in a horrible marriage. Bacall was Bogart’s co-star in the films The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948). Her marriage to Bogart became the focus of her life and she bore him a son and daughter. He always referred to her as ‘Baby’. Their marriage lasted eleven years until Bogart died of cancer of the esophagus in 1957. She was thirty- three. She accepted a role in Designing Woman (1957) with Gregory Peck even as Bogart was convalescing after surgery. This opened to rave reviews just after Bogart died. Another film opposite Peck was Bright Leaf (1950) an epic melodrama which crashed at the box-office.
Bacall continued her career and tried her hand at comedy. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable was a roaring success. She will be remembered for her unforgettable role in The Mirror has Two Faces (1996) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.
Throughout her career Bacall was wary of accepting roles and always waited for the right script to surface. She did not hesitate to play a scheming, lesbian femme fatale in The Young Man with a Horn (1950) with Doris Day and Kirk Douglas. Written on the Wind (1956) with Rock Hudson is a classic in which Bacall played a determined woman very like her real self .In 1951 Bogart starred with Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen. Bacall accompanied her husband on location inside the African jungles. She bonded with Hepburn and Spencer Tracy leading to a lifelong friendship.
Bacall’s real calling was theatre although she still had bouts of nerves when on stage. She appeared in Broadway plays Goodbye Charlie (1959) and Cactus Flower (1965). Her 1970 Tony was followed by yet another in 1981 for Woman of the Year.
In 1964 she was seen in a multi-star film Sex and the Single Girl with Henry Fonda, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. She agreed to act in Harper (1966) because Paul Newman was there in the cast. Another multi-star cast film Murder on the Orient Express (1974) with Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney and Sean Connery was a great success. In 1976 John Wayne acted in his last film The Shootist and his second with Bacall. They earlier starred together in Blood Alley (1955).
Television was making inroads into the entertainment field. Noel Coward invited her to play Elvira, the ghost, in Blithe Spirit, a live television show performed before a distinguished audience. It was received very well. Later she appeared in a couple of episodes of Mr. Broadway, a CBS drama series.
To be a Jew in America’s public life was a sensitive matter then and she says she was always afraid her religion would affect her career. Born in a close-knit Jewish immigrant family she enjoyed wonderful support from her mother and uncles throughout her life. At the peak of her career she had three tracks in real life playing simultaneously on a split screen – a mother, wife and star. Bacall speaks candidly of her awkward height, large feet and underdeveloped figure which she thought was so ungainly for an actress. Laurel Bacall hit the headlines some times for the wrong reasons. When she was still an unknown face, her Warner Bros publicist Charles Enfield prodded her to sit on the piano while Harry Truman, (then Vice President USA) played. The photograph was splashed on the front page worldwide and created a controversy. She made news for her affair with long time friend Frank Sinatra soon after Bogart died. She later married another alcoholic, budding actor Jason Robards. Their marriage lasted eight years and they have a son Sam Robards, an actor today.
Lauren Bacall was politically aware and active on that front. She admired Adlai Stevenson and Robert Kennedy and campaigned for them. Bogart-Bacall and a great many Hollywood stars formed a committee to fight for ‘Preservation of Civil Liberties’ when some celebrities were accused of having Communist leanings.
Lauren Bacall was declared one of the 25 most significant actresses of all time by the American Film Institute. In recent times Bacall appeared in two films with Nicole Kidman Dogville (2003) and Birth (2004). She was invited to present a film montage on film noir, the genre which she favoured, at the 78th Oscar Awards night. At 84, she continues to be actively involved in promotional commercials.
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gr8..one of the most mesmerizing faces I’ve even seen on the screen…