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 with a picture opening could be represented there, standards had been so lowered" and didn't feel she had yet achieved the status of a major star, and was thereby unworthy of the honor: "I want to feel I've earned my place with the best my business has produced." At the time, Bacall was still under contract to 20th Century Fox. Following "How to Marry a Millionaire", she appeared in yet another CinemaScope comedy directed by Jean Negulesco, "Woman's World" (1954), which failed to match its predecessor's success at the box office. In 1955 a television version of Bogart's breakthrough film,