Bogie’s “BABY” LAUREN BACALL takes "The BIG SLEEP" at 89.
The legendary silky voiced slinky beauty who was Humphrey Boart’s co-star on and off the screen has passed from a massive stoke at her family home in New York City.
She married Bogart in 1945 and were together until his death in 1957.
The New York born Betty Jane Persky was a former model was brought to Hollywood and put to work by iconic director Howard Hawks who first teamed the budding ingenue with Bogie in “To Have and Have Not” an adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novella. Hawks pretty much threw out Papa’s tale of one armed sailor with a vendetta concentrating instead on the budding romance between “Slim” and “Steve” — which happened right before the camera with Bogart and the then 19 year old Bacall.
“You know how to whistle – don’t you,” she cooed to Bogie. He did.
They promptly went cuckoo for one another and the box office grosses went through the roof.
Bogie and Bacall wed on May 21, 1945 and were inseparable until his death from lung cancer in 1957.
Warners Bros. and Hawks followed with an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep” which had extensive footage reshot to play up the sudden stardom of "Betty" Bacall. They duo were a smash.
Bacall’s long career included the Cinemascope smash “How to Marry a Millionaire” with Marilyn Monroe and Berry Grable, “Designing Women” with Gregory Peck “The Mirror Has Two Faces’ with Barbra Streisand and many more.
She teamed with Bogart two more times including the post-war gangsta thriller "Key Largo" in 1948 with Edward G, Robinson and Claire Trevor and “Dark Passage” (1947) with bad girl Agnes Moorehead.
Lauren won two Tony Awards as Best Actress –in 1970, for her role as Margo Channing in "Applause", a musical based on “All About Eve” and 1981 for "Woman of the Year".
Bacall is survived by 3 children including Stephen Bogart who is named for his dad's character in "To Have and Have Not".
“A woman isn't complete without a man. But where do you find a man – a real man – these days?” Bacall said in an interview.
Au revoir, “Slim”.
