Lauren Bacall had one of the great careers of any actress of her era and she will be remembered as one of the most influential performers of her generation on film and stage, judging by her accolades and awards. Born Betty Joan Perske, she burst on the scene as a teenager, a 19-year-old when she as plucked from her modeling career to star opposite Hollywood heavyweight Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not" in 1944. Not only did she win the praise of Tinseltown with her performance, but the heart of Bogart off screen as they were later married.
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"It's one of these instances where it's quite possible that we are eyewitnesses to an actor or actress falling in love, and while good actors make us believe that all the time, there has to be some extra kick when it’s real," said film historian Leonard Maltin on the Bacall-Bogart affair on "The Have and Have Not,"
according to Vanity Fair.
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Whether starring alongside Bogart in films like "The Big Sleep" and "Key Largo," or beside other big stars like in "How to Marry a Millionaire" with Marilyn Monroe and "The Mirror Has Two Faces" with Barbra Streisand, Bacall always found a way to stand out throughout her career.
In 1999,
the American Film Institute named Bacall one of the top 25 American screen legends of all time, voted on by more than 1,800 leaders from across the film community. Bacall received an honorary Academy Award in 2010 for her career that covered some 70 years.
Her only Oscar nomination came in 1997 for best supporting actress in "The Mirror Has Two Faces." Even though Bacall won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award that year for her performance, the Oscar that year was given to Juliette Binoche for "The English Patient."
Although she was best known for her iconic film roles, she had better awards success on stage, where she won two best actress in a musical Tony Awards, one for her performance in 1970's "Applause" and the second for 1981's "Woman of the Year."
While Bacall work in television was limited, she managed to receive three Emmy Award nominations, one for the 1973 television version of "Applause," an outstanding lead nomination for an episode on "The Rockford Files" in 1980 and for the episode "Bacall on Bogart" on the PBS program "Great Performances."
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