Silver screen siren Lauren Bacall, who sizzled in classic films like “The Big Sleep” and “How to Marry a Millionaire,” died on Tuesday at the age of 89.
“With deep sorrow, yet with great gratitude for her amazing life, we confirm the passing of Lauren Bacall,” the estate of the Bogart family said on Twitter.
The actress had a fatal stroke Tuesday morning in her home, TMZ reported.
Born Betty Joan Perske in 1924, Bacall was raised in New York City by immigrant parents. At only 19, the husky-voiced actress caught the eye of film director Howard Hawks’ wife after appearing on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar magazine in 1943.
Bacall was on her way to becoming one of the great stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age after Hawks cast her in “To Have and Have Not” alongside her future husband, Humphrey Bogart, in 1944.
It was in that film that she uttered the unforgettable line: “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and … blow.”
A year later, the sultry starlet married Bogart, who was 25 years her senior, after he divorced his third wife, actress Mayo Methot. The couple went on to co-star in three film-noir classics: “The Big Sleep,” “Dark Passage” and “Key Largo.”
Bacall and Bogart had two children together and remained a close couple until the actor’s tragic death of esophageal cancer in 1957.
Throughout her long and legendary career, Bacall appeared in over 30 movies, including “Murder on the Orient Express” and John Wayne’s last film, “The Shootist.”
Known for her glamorous beauty and sharp wit, she became famous for her sexy upward glance, dubbed “The Look.”
“I used to tremble from nerves so badly that the only way I could hold my head steady was to lower my chin practically to my chest and look up at Bogie,” she said of the signature move. “That was the beginning of ‘The Look.'”
The movie legend returned to her native New York in the ‘50s and embarked on a successful Broadway career, earning Tony Awards for her roles in the musicals “Applause” and “Woman of the Year.”
After a brief but rocky fling with Frank Sinatra, Bacall wed Oscar-winning actor Jason Robards. They had a son together and divorced in 1969.
In 2009, she received an Honorary Academy Award after being nominated once in 1997 for her work in “The Mirror Has Two Faces.”
