Lauren Bacall, Star of Hollywood and Broadway, Dies at 89

ByDEAN SCHABNER ABCNews logo
Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Lauren Bacall, the sultry actress who burst into stardom with her taunt to Humphrey Bogart, "You know how to whistle don't you? You just put your lips together and blow," has died, sources told ABC News. She was 89.

The 1944 film in which she uttered those lines, "To Have and Have Not," not only made her a star at 19, but the onscreen romance turned out to be so convincing because it mirrored the real-life romance between the two stars.

Bacall and Bogart married the next year and continued to work together, making such powerful films such as "The Big Sleep," "Dark Passage" and "Key Largo," which was just the start of a 50-year career for Bacall in Hollywood, on Broadway and TV.

Stephen Humphrey Bogart, her son with Bogart, posted his gratitude for everyone's good wishes on Facebook.

Bacall was born Sept. 16, 1924, in the Bronx, in New York City, the daughter of a Romanian Jewish immigrant mother and a first-generation Polish Jewish father.

As a child she wanted to be a dancer, but became interested in acting. But she first got notice for her beauty, becoming a model and appearing on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.

From that first role, she proved she was much more than a pretty face. And while the on-screen energy between her and Bogart helped make those films electric, her career did not wane after her husband's death in 1957.

She starred in "Shock Treatment," a psychological drama with Roddy McDowell, and "Sex and the Single Girl," a comedy with Henry Fonda and Tony Curtis, both in 1964. In 1966, she starred opposite Paul Newman in "Harper."

Among her other films were "Murder on the Orient Express" in 1974; "The Shootist," in 1976, John Wayne's last movie; and "The Fan" in 1981.

She received only one Academy Award nomination, for "The Mirror Has Two Faces" in 1996, when she was 73. She received an Honorary Oscar in 2010 in recognition of her central place in Hollywood's Golden Age.

Though she never won an Oscar, she won two Tony awards. The first was in 1970 for her role as Margo Channing in the Broadway production of "Applause," which was based on the movie "All About Eve," and the second was for "Woman of the Year," in 1981.

She was married to the actor Jason Robards from 1961 to 1969. She had two children with Bogart -- Leslie Howard Bogart and Stephen Humphrey Bogart; and one with Robards, Sam Robards.

Related Topics