Actress Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske,
Supposedly a cousin of former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres) was probably best-known as the wife of actor Humphrey Bogart - their relationship was "immortalized" in the insipid Key Largo song by Bertie Higgins, which was a huge hit in the early 80's ("We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall / Starring in our own late, late show / Sailing away to Key Largo").
A true beauty, Bacall first found fame as a fashion model, where she earned the nickname "The Look". She became acquainted with Bogart in 1944 on the set of
To Have an Have Not, their first of four films together (the others were
The Big Sleep (1946),
Dark Passage (1947), and
Key Largo (1948)). Shortly after completing T
o Have and Have Not, Bogart divorced his third wife (Mayo Methot) and just eleven days later he married Bacall at Malabar Farm near Mansfield, Ohio. The couple remained together until Bogie's death from cancer in 1957.
Bacall was one of the last links to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Her best films were probably
The Big Sleep and
Key Largo, both of which are classics.
Bogie and Bacall from
The Big Sleep:
