This One Is For The Men-Lauren Bacall

 

Lauren Bacall-Political views

 

 

Bacall is a liberal Democrat. She has proclaimed her political views on numerous occasions.

 

In October 1947, Bacall and Bogart traveled to Washington, D.C., along with other Hollywood stars, in a group that called itself the Committee for the First Amendment (CFA). She appeared alongside Humphrey Bogart in a photograph printed at the end of an article he wrote, titled "I'm No Communist", in the May 1948 edition of Photoplay magazine. Bogart written to counteract negative publicity resulting from his appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Bogart and Bacall specifically distanced themselves from the Hollywood Ten and were quoted as saying: "We're about as much in favor of Communism as J. Edgar Hoover."

 

She campaigned for Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 Presidential election and for Robert Kennedy in his 1964 run for Senate.

 

In a 2005 interview with Larry King, Bacall described herself as "anti-Republican... A liberal. The L-word." She went on to say that "being a liberal is the best thing on earth you can be. You are welcoming to everyone when you're a liberal. You do not have a small mind."

Lauren Bacall-Career

 

 

Bacall took lessons at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During this time, she became a theatre usher and worked as a fashion model on the side. As Betty Bacall, she made her acting debut, at age 17, on Broadway as a walk-on in Johnny 2 X 4. According to her autobiography, she met her idol Bette Davis at Davis' hotel. Years later, Davis visited Bacall backstage to congratulate her on her performance in Applause, a musical based on Davis' turn in “All About Eve”.

 

Bacall became a part-time fashion model. Howard Hawks' wife Nancy spotted her on the March 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar. Nancy urged Hawks to have Bacall take a screen test for “To Have and Have Not”. Hawks invited her to Hollywood for the audition. He signed Bacall up to a seven-year personal contract, brought her to Hollywood, gave her $100 a week, and began to manage her career. Hawks changed her name to Lauren Bacall.

 

Nancy Hawks took Bacall under her wing. She dressed Bacall stylishly, and guided her in matters of elegance, manners and taste. Bacall's voice was trained to be lower, more masculine and sexier.  In the movie, Bacall takes on Nancy's nickname “Slim."

 

During screen tests for “To Have and Have Not”, 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.

 

Bacall and Bogart met on the set “Dark Passage” . It was Humphrey Bogart, who was married to Mayo Methot, initiated a relationship with Bacall some weeks into shooting and they began seeing each other.

 

On a visit to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Bacall's press agent Charlie Enfield, asked the 20-year-old Bacall to sit on the piano which was being played by Vice-President of the United States Harry S. Truman. The photos caused controversy and made worldwide headlines.

 

After “To Have and Have Not”, Bacall was seen opposite Charles Boyer in the critically panned “Confidential Agent”. Bacall would state in her autobiography that her career never fully recovered from this film, and that studio boss Jack Warner did not care about quality.

 

She then appeared with Bogart in the films noir “The Big Sleep” and “Dark Passage”. Bacall played John Huston's melodramatic suspense film “Key Largo”  with Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. She was cast with Gary Cooper in the period drama “Bright Leaf”.

Lauren Bacall-Films

 

1944-To Have and Have Not

1945-Confidential Agent

1946-Big Sleep

1946-Two Guys from Milwaukee

1947-Dark Passage

1948-Key Largo

1950-Young Man with a Horn

1950-Bright Leaf

1953-How to Marry a Millionaire

1954-Woman's World

1955-Cobweb,

1955-Blood Alley

1956-Patterns

1956-Written on the Wind

1957-Designing Woman

1958-Gift of Love,

1959-North West Frontier

1964-Shock Treatment

1964-Sex and the Single Girl

1966-Harper

1973-Applause

1974-Murder on the Orient Express

1976-Shootist

1978-Perfect Gentleman

1980-Health

1981-Fan

1988-Appointment with Death

1988-Mr. North

1989-John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick documentary

1989-Tree of Hands

1989-Dinner at Eight

1990-Misery

1991-A Star for Two

1991-All I Want for Christmas

1993-Portrait,

1993-Parallax Garden

1993-Foreign Field

1994-Prêt-à-Porter: Ready to Wear

1995-From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

1996-Mirror Has Two Faces,

1996-My Fellow Americans

1997-Day and Night

1999-Get Bruce, documentary

1999-Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke

1999-Madeline: Lost in Paris, voice

1999-Venice Project,

1999-Presence of Mind

1999-Diamonds

1999-Conversation with Gregory Peck, documentary

2003-Limit,

2003-Dogville

2004-Howl's Moving Castle, voice

2004-Birth

2005-Manderlay

2006-These Foolish Things

2007-Walker

2008-Eve

2008-Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King

The Grand Witch, voice

2009-Wide Blue Yonder

2010-Firedog, Posche, voice

2010-Carmel

Lauren Bacall-Personal life

 

 

On May 21, 1945, Bacall married Humphrey Bogart. Their wedding and honeymoon took place at Malabar Farm, Lucas, Ohio. It was the country home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield, who was a close friend of Bogart. The wedding was held in the Big House. Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45. They remained married until Bogart's death from esophageal cancer in 1957. Bogart usually called Bacall "Baby," even when referring to her in conversations with other people.

 

During the filming of “The African Queen”, Bacall and Bogart became friends with Katharine Hepburn and her partner Spencer Tracy. Bacall also began to mix in non-acting circles, becoming friends with the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and the journalist Alistair Cooke.

 

In 1952, she gave campaign speeches for Democratic Presidential contender Adlai Stevenson. Along with other Hollywood figures, Bacall was a staunch opponent of McCarthyism.

 

Shortly after Bogart's death in 1957, Bacall had a relationship with singer and actor Frank Sinatra. She told Robert Osborne in an interview that she had ended the romance. However, in her autobiography, she wrote that Sinatra abruptly ended the relationship, having become angry that the story of his proposal to Bacall had reached the press. Bacall and her friend Swifty Lazar had run into the gossip columnist Louella Parsons, to whom Lazar had spilled the beans. Sinatra then cut Bacall off and went to Las Vegas.

 

Bacall was married to actor Jason Robards, Jr. from 1961 to 1969.  According to Bacall's autobiography, she divorced Robards mainly because of his alcoholism. In her autobiography Now, she recalls having a relationship with Len Cariou, her co-star in Applause.

 

Bacall had a son and daughter with Bogart and a son with Robards. Her children with Bogart are her son Stephen Humphrey Bogart and  Leslie Bogart. Sam Robards, her son with Robards, is an actor.

 

Bacall has written 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".

Lauren Bacall-Early life

 

Born Betty Joan Perske in New York City on September 16, 1924. Bacall was the only child of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal and William Perske. Her parents were Jewish immigrants.

 

She is first cousin to Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel. Her parents divorced when she was five, and she took her mother's last name, Bacall. Bacall no longer saw her father.  She formed a close bond with her mother whom she took with her to California when she became a movie star.

Humphrey Bogart-Death

  

Bogart's health was failing in the mid-1950s.  After signing a long-term deal with Warner Bros., Bogart predicted with glee that his teeth and hair would fall out before the contract ended. Bogart had formed a new production company.  He made plans for a new film “Melville Goodwin, U.S.A.”, in which he would play a general and Bacall a press magnate. His persistent cough and difficulty eating became too serious to ignore and he dropped the project. The film was re-named “Top Secret Affair” and made with Kirk Douglas and Susan Hayward.

 

Bogart, a heavy smoker and drinker, contracted cancer of the esophagus. He almost never spoke of his failing health and refused to see a doctor until January 1956. A diagnosis was made several weeks later and by then removal of his esophagus, two lymph nodes, and a rib on March 1, 1956 was too late to halt the disease. He underwent corrective surgery in November 1956 after the cancer had spread.

Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy came to see him.  Bogart was too weak to walk up and down stairs. He valiantly fought the pain and tried to joke about his immobility: "Put me in the dumbwaiter and I'll ride down to the first floor in style." Which is what happened; the dumbwaiter was altered to accommodate his wheelchair. Hepburn described the last time she and Spencer Tracy saw Bogart (the night before he died):

Spence patted him on the shoulder and said, "Goodnight, Bogie." Bogie turned his eyes to Spence very quietly and with a sweet smile covered Spence's hand with his own and said, "Goodbye, Spence." Spence's heart stood still. He understood.

Bogart had just turned 57 and weighed 80 pounds when he died on January 14, 1957 after falling into a coma. He died at 2:25 am at his home at 232 S Mapleton Drive in Holmby Hills, California. His simple funeral was held at All Saints Episcopal Church with musical selections played from Bogart's favorite composers, Johann Sebastian Bach and Claude Debussy. It was attended by some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, David Niven, Ronald Reagan, James Mason, Danny Kaye, Joan Fontaine, Marlene Dietrich, Errol Flynn, Gregory Peck and Gary Cooper, as well as Billy Wilder and Jack Warner. Bacall had asked Tracy to give the eulogy, but Tracy was too upset. John Huston gave the eulogy instead, and reminded the gathered mourners that while Bogart's life had ended far too soon, it had been a rich one.

Himself, he never took too seriously—his work most seriously. He regarded the somewhat gaudy figure of Bogart, the star, with an amused cynicism; Bogart, the actor, he held in deep respect...In each of the fountains at Versailles there is a pike which keeps all the carp active; otherwise they would grow over fat and die. Bogie took rare delight in performing a similar duty in the fountains of Hollywood. Yet his victims seldom bore him any malice, and when they did, not for long. His shafts were fashioned only to stick into the outer layer of complacency, and not to penetrate through to the regions of the spirit where real injuries are done...He is quite irreplaceable. There will never be another like him."

His cremated remains are interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California. Buried with him is a small gold whistle, which he had given to Lauren Bacall, before they married. In reference to their first movie together, it was inscribed: "If you want anything, just whistle."

Lauren Bacall-The Look

 

The song on the video is "The Look" by Roxette

This video was put up on You Tube by Nerweniel.