Hollywood Screen Legend Lauren Bacall Dies at 89

Today, we lost a Hollywood great, Lauren Bacall, who died of a stroke, according to family members.  The legendary actress was born Betty Joan Perske in New York in 1924.  At 19, when she was an unknown fashion model she was cast opposite Academy Award-winning actor, Humprey Bogart in the film, “To Have and Have Not,” and her career skyrocketed from there, but not before she and Bogart began a love affair on-set.

The following year, Bacall and Bogart, 25 years her senior, got married and stayed married, until he died of cancer at the age of 57.  The couple had a son, Stephen (Steve) Humphrey Bogart, and a daughter, Leslie Howard Bogart.

Four years later, Bacall married another Oscar-winning actor, Jason Robards Jr. They had a tumultuous relationship and divorced in 1969. They had one son together, Sam Robards.

Bacall was trained to make her voice lower and sexier, which resulted in one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood.  She’s best known for her roles in “The Big Sleep,” “Designing Women” and “How to Marry a Millionaire.  The Tony Award-winning actress has starred on Broadway in such musicals as George Axelrod’s comedy “Goodbye, Charlie” (1959), and Abe Burrows’s “Cactus Flower” (1965).

This American icon had 89 years on this earth, and lived a rich life. Our prayers go out to Lauren Bacall’s family.