Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (, born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress known for her distinctive voice and sultry looks. She was named the 20th greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute, and received an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2009, "in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures". Bacall began her career as a model before making her film debut as a leading lady in "To Have and Have Not" (1944). She continued
Lauren Bacall in "Misery", which starred Kathy Bates and James Caan. In 1997, Bacall was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996), her first nomination after a career span of more than fifty years. Bacall had already won a Golden Globe and was widely expected to win the Oscar, but lost in an upset to Juliette Binoche for "The English Patient". Bacall received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997, and in 1999, she was voted one of the 25 most significant female movie stars in history by the American Film Institute.