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 Woman" to solid reviews. The musical comedy was her second feature with director Vincente Minnelli and was released in New York on May 16, 1957, four months after Bogart's death on January 14. Bacall appeared in two more films in the 1950s: the Jean Negulesco-directed melodrama "The Gift of Love" (1958), which co-starred Robert Stack; and the adventure film "North West Frontier" (1959), which was a box office hit. Bacall was seen in only a handful of films in the 1960s. She starred on Broadway in "Goodbye, Charlie" in 1959, and went on to have a successful on-stage career in