Goodnight, Slim.
August 12, 2014 5:01 PM Subscribe
Lauren Bacall, the film and stage actress and model who was known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks, died Tuesday at the age of 89.
IMDB,
Wikipedia,
An interview from 1994.
You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?
Previously
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I am ready to turn off the bad news flood now. :(
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:02 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
I am ready to turn off the bad news flood now. :(
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:02 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
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posted by Smart Dalek at 5:08 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:08 PM on August 12, 2014
Big Sleep it is for tonight's viewing. That simplifies things.
She will be greatly missed.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:08 PM on August 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
She will be greatly missed.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:08 PM on August 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
89's a good run. She was one of the all time greats--someone who could just project their personality so compellingly that they only needed to stand in the frame to have every eye riveted on them.
posted by yoink at 5:12 PM on August 12, 2014 [10 favorites]
posted by yoink at 5:12 PM on August 12, 2014 [10 favorites]
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posted by Elly Vortex at 5:13 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by Elly Vortex at 5:13 PM on August 12, 2014
I can't help but think forward to next year's Oscars -- the In Memoriam segment is already going to be just heartbreaking. :'(
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:14 PM on August 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by Celsius1414 at 5:14 PM on August 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
I cannot fucking take this week.
posted by scody at 5:14 PM on August 12, 2014 [16 favorites]
posted by scody at 5:14 PM on August 12, 2014 [16 favorites]
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I've always loved this photo of her and Harry Truman.
posted by emd3737 at 5:15 PM on August 12, 2014 [12 favorites]
I've always loved this photo of her and Harry Truman.
posted by emd3737 at 5:15 PM on August 12, 2014 [12 favorites]
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posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 5:18 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 5:18 PM on August 12, 2014
Son of a
posted by Palindromedary at 5:19 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by Palindromedary at 5:19 PM on August 12, 2014
My favorite turn of hers was in How To Marry A Millionaire with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable.
When most people go about it, they use more brains picking a horse in the third at Belmont than they do picking a husband.
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posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:21 PM on August 12, 2014 [9 favorites]
When most people go about it, they use more brains picking a horse in the third at Belmont than they do picking a husband.
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posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:21 PM on August 12, 2014 [9 favorites]
"You know how to whistle, don't you?"
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posted by Anitanola at 5:23 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by Anitanola at 5:23 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
"A lot depends on who's in the saddle"
She could pull off those Hays Code approved lines better than anyone, never leaving any doubt about what she was actually saying.
posted by octothorpe at 5:24 PM on August 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
She could pull off those Hays Code approved lines better than anyone, never leaving any doubt about what she was actually saying.
posted by octothorpe at 5:24 PM on August 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
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posted by disclaimer at 5:25 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by disclaimer at 5:25 PM on August 12, 2014
From The Guardian: "In old age, she raged against what she saw as the mediocrity of contemporary Hollywood, as represented by everything from the career of Tom Cruise to the Twilight movies that her granddaughter dragged her to see. "She said it was the greatest vampire film ever made," Bacall recalled. "After the film was over, I wanted to smack her across the head with my shoe."
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posted by argonauta at 5:26 PM on August 12, 2014 [89 favorites]
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posted by argonauta at 5:26 PM on August 12, 2014 [89 favorites]
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posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 5:31 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 5:31 PM on August 12, 2014
Lauren Bacall was my husband's favorite actress ever.
posted by The Whelk at 5:33 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by The Whelk at 5:33 PM on August 12, 2014
The Guardian quote comes from a 2011 Vanity Fair interview.I'm a couple of paras in and it's excellent.
She'll be missed.
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posted by wuwei at 5:34 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
She'll be missed.
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posted by wuwei at 5:34 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Ah...damn.
She was only 19 when they shot To Have and Have Not. Damned impressive debut.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:36 PM on August 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
She was only 19 when they shot To Have and Have Not. Damned impressive debut.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:36 PM on August 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
This week is stupid. I'm going back to bed.
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posted by rtha at 5:36 PM on August 12, 2014 [7 favorites]
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posted by rtha at 5:36 PM on August 12, 2014 [7 favorites]
Oh, no. Her autobiography, By Myself, was one of the books I read so much it fell apart when I was a teenager.
posted by misfish at 5:39 PM on August 12, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by misfish at 5:39 PM on August 12, 2014 [6 favorites]
I'll just pile on here. This week is some bullshit.
The Big Sleep is one of my favorite movies of all time, and she is amazing in it. I've had a crush on her since high school. *sigh*
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posted by brundlefly at 5:43 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
The Big Sleep is one of my favorite movies of all time, and she is amazing in it. I've had a crush on her since high school. *sigh*
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posted by brundlefly at 5:43 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
One Academy Award nomination. One. What in the actual fuck, Hollywood.
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posted by Etrigan at 5:46 PM on August 12, 2014 [16 favorites]
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posted by Etrigan at 5:46 PM on August 12, 2014 [16 favorites]
One of the all-time greats. Godspeed, and thank you, Ms. Bacall.
Bogart and Bacall together again. Together forever.
posted by Capt. Renault at 5:50 PM on August 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
Bogart and Bacall together again. Together forever.
posted by Capt. Renault at 5:50 PM on August 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
"After the film was over, I wanted to smack her across the head with my shoe."
Reading this right here is the moment I fell in love with her, just now.
One of my favorite shows that I worked on also contained one of the best exit lines I've seen, and it was a tribute to a Bacall line. The show took place in the 1950's, and there was a plot with a pair of men who had fallen in love and were figuring out how to sneak off together. A woman who was friends with one of the men helped them cover their tracks; she was one of those classic stereotypical 50's broads-with-a-heart-of-gold.
So anyway, in the play they get to the point where the guys have both met up and are all set to go, and she's taking their leave of them. And after wishing them well, she poses in the door like Lauren Bacall and says "if you need anything, just whistle...you know how to whistle, don't you? You put your lips together and...." and here she stops, looks at the two men staring at her bemusedly, then sighs and says, "ah, forget it," and walks out.
I'll just pile on here. This week is some bullshit.
I just told my roommate that all the news the rest of this week better be good - "like, 'they've discovered a cure for cancer that also causes puppies to spontaneously materialize' good."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:51 PM on August 12, 2014 [12 favorites]
Reading this right here is the moment I fell in love with her, just now.
One of my favorite shows that I worked on also contained one of the best exit lines I've seen, and it was a tribute to a Bacall line. The show took place in the 1950's, and there was a plot with a pair of men who had fallen in love and were figuring out how to sneak off together. A woman who was friends with one of the men helped them cover their tracks; she was one of those classic stereotypical 50's broads-with-a-heart-of-gold.
So anyway, in the play they get to the point where the guys have both met up and are all set to go, and she's taking their leave of them. And after wishing them well, she poses in the door like Lauren Bacall and says "if you need anything, just whistle...you know how to whistle, don't you? You put your lips together and...." and here she stops, looks at the two men staring at her bemusedly, then sighs and says, "ah, forget it," and walks out.
I'll just pile on here. This week is some bullshit.
I just told my roommate that all the news the rest of this week better be good - "like, 'they've discovered a cure for cancer that also causes puppies to spontaneously materialize' good."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:51 PM on August 12, 2014 [12 favorites]
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posted by doctor_negative at 5:56 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by doctor_negative at 5:56 PM on August 12, 2014
I enjoyed this episode of Password where Lauren played against Jack Palance.
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posted by DRoll at 5:57 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
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posted by DRoll at 5:57 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
This sucks. She was in my two of my all time favorite movies: The Big Sleep and Key Largo. Of course, To Have and Have Not was also so so good.
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posted by Kitteh at 5:57 PM on August 12, 2014
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posted by Kitteh at 5:57 PM on August 12, 2014
One Academy Award nomination. One. What in the actual fuck, Hollywood.
Perhaps this is a conversation for another day, and not to derail, but the list of great actors who never won the Oscar outright, particularly Golden Age Hollywood greats, is a much more exclusive club than those who did. The late-in-life honorary make-up Oscar club are the best of the best, and Bacall a charter member of those ranks.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:01 PM on August 12, 2014 [7 favorites]
Perhaps this is a conversation for another day, and not to derail, but the list of great actors who never won the Oscar outright, particularly Golden Age Hollywood greats, is a much more exclusive club than those who did. The late-in-life honorary make-up Oscar club are the best of the best, and Bacall a charter member of those ranks.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:01 PM on August 12, 2014 [7 favorites]
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking. It also looks like I picked a GREAT week to start again.
Lauren Bacall was sexy in a way that's hard to pull off anymore. Sexy for women today is just different, and fraught. It's been changed by the gradual relaxing of standards of which body parts are okay to expose (starting roughly mid-calf, then moving up), and by glossy magazines, and by recent pop culture and Playboy and rape culture and all that. (Not a comprehensive or well-thought-out list, so be kind.)
But Bacall was sexy in that way that's not easy for women to pull off. It's a Don't Fuck with Me kind of sexy that, while alluring, really does warn the viewer not to fuck with her. And man, I envy that.
I don't know how to describe it, really. I'm sure someone has already written about it already. I guess what I'm saying is that that kind of sexy started dying off a long time ago, and I'm sorry she's not still around to represent it.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:04 PM on August 12, 2014 [22 favorites]
Lauren Bacall was sexy in a way that's hard to pull off anymore. Sexy for women today is just different, and fraught. It's been changed by the gradual relaxing of standards of which body parts are okay to expose (starting roughly mid-calf, then moving up), and by glossy magazines, and by recent pop culture and Playboy and rape culture and all that. (Not a comprehensive or well-thought-out list, so be kind.)
But Bacall was sexy in that way that's not easy for women to pull off. It's a Don't Fuck with Me kind of sexy that, while alluring, really does warn the viewer not to fuck with her. And man, I envy that.
I don't know how to describe it, really. I'm sure someone has already written about it already. I guess what I'm saying is that that kind of sexy started dying off a long time ago, and I'm sorry she's not still around to represent it.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:04 PM on August 12, 2014 [22 favorites]
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posted by Joey Michaels at 6:07 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:07 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
IS THIS WEEK FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?
posted by tzikeh at 6:21 PM on August 12, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by tzikeh at 6:21 PM on August 12, 2014 [7 favorites]
Can someone wake me up? I think I've had two shit dreams in succession.
posted by taff at 6:23 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by taff at 6:23 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Celsius1414: I can't help but think forward to next year's Oscars -- the In Memoriam segment is already going to be just heartbreaking the entire show.
FTFY.
Three hours of In Memoriam, and then the award for Best Picture. That's it. That's the next Oscars.
posted by tzikeh at 6:35 PM on August 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
FTFY.
Three hours of In Memoriam, and then the award for Best Picture. That's it. That's the next Oscars.
posted by tzikeh at 6:35 PM on August 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
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posted by quazichimp at 6:35 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by quazichimp at 6:35 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
She was an intelligent, fierce, strong, fantastically talented person. And though she was beautiful, she also personified the notion that sex appeal and charisma come from a much deeper, richer place than simple good looks. There was something tremendously appealing within her interior that somehow showed through her exterior. I have little doubt that even at 89 years old, she still owned every damn room she entered. They really broke the mold.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:35 PM on August 12, 2014 [12 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:35 PM on August 12, 2014 [12 favorites]
Damn. Just damn.
I was raised by my grandparents, so I had a steady diet of Bogey and Bacall as a child. Always, always loved her.
Sleep sweet, Betty.
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posted by MissySedai at 6:39 PM on August 12, 2014
I was raised by my grandparents, so I had a steady diet of Bogey and Bacall as a child. Always, always loved her.
Sleep sweet, Betty.
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posted by MissySedai at 6:39 PM on August 12, 2014
The first time I saw Bacall and understood that she was the Lauren Bacall was in To Have and Have Not and I could not take my eyes off of her. I was well and truly mesmerized.
"After the film was over, I wanted to smack her across the head with my shoe."
This made me fall in love her all over again.
89 years is a life long and well lived.
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posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:41 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
"After the film was over, I wanted to smack her across the head with my shoe."
This made me fall in love her all over again.
89 years is a life long and well lived.
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posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 6:41 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Gams, a looker and smart mouth with a whiskey and cigarette delivery. What's not to like?
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posted by jim in austin at 6:42 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
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posted by jim in austin at 6:42 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
According to one version, the group's original "Den Mother," Lauren Bacall, after seeing her husband (Bogart) and his friends return from a night in Las Vegas, said words to the effect of "You look like a goddamn rat pack."
posted by ovvl at 6:43 PM on August 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 6:43 PM on August 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
I love that people who knew her called her by her given name, Betty.
posted by double bubble at 6:51 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by double bubble at 6:51 PM on August 12, 2014
That's what they call me, so Lauren Bacall me, anything goes.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:58 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 6:58 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
The first time I saw Bacall was in The Mirror Has Two Faces, which my parents had rented from the library. I'm glad she's the only thing I can remember about that movie.
posted by casarkos at 7:01 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by casarkos at 7:01 PM on August 12, 2014
She was eternally sexy on so many levels. Say hi to Bogie for us.
*puts lips together and blows*
posted by jonmc at 7:04 PM on August 12, 2014
*puts lips together and blows*
posted by jonmc at 7:04 PM on August 12, 2014
I just saw Young Man with a Horn on TCM a couple of weeks ago. I looked up the Wikipedia article on it, and found this:
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 7:15 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
As of June 21, 2014, with Kirk Douglas at 97, Lauren Bacall at 89, and Doris Day at 92, the 1950 ''Young Man with a Horn'' is possibly the oldest film with its three leading players, all major stars, still living.:-(
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 7:15 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
You know how to whistle, don't you
Yes, and thanks to Rachel Ward, I know how to dial a phone, too. ;)
Goodnight, Ms. Bacall.
posted by Guy Smiley at 7:25 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Yes, and thanks to Rachel Ward, I know how to dial a phone, too. ;)
Goodnight, Ms. Bacall.
posted by Guy Smiley at 7:25 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
That To Have and Have Not is her first film, and she holds her own against Bogart, emanates a cool sizzle, and a backbone that isn't going to bend with the wind? So impressive. She was great with Bogey (I think Key Largo is the best of the movies, but if you can get past the editing, The Big Sleep has much to offer).
I really want to recommend her movie with Gregory Peck in Designing Woman (that's an extended preview) - it is screwball and wonderful.
posted by julen at 7:31 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
I really want to recommend her movie with Gregory Peck in Designing Woman (that's an extended preview) - it is screwball and wonderful.
posted by julen at 7:31 PM on August 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
I hope I age half as gracefully. RIP.
posted by Beti at 7:31 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Beti at 7:31 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
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Salty, sexy, classy and smart, all the way. Wherever you are, Betty, you are lighting up the joint.
posted by bearwife at 7:33 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Salty, sexy, classy and smart, all the way. Wherever you are, Betty, you are lighting up the joint.
posted by bearwife at 7:33 PM on August 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by Hairy Lobster at 7:36 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by Hairy Lobster at 7:36 PM on August 12, 2014
My Lauren Bacall story (not actually meeting her)...
When I was a young girl, she had come to Fort Worth for a charity auction event. My father was working security there and watched the whole thing. There was a painting of her that she personally signed that night, and no one ended up bidding for it. In lieu of the $200 or so he was going to be paid for the night, my father asked after everyone went home if he could take the painting and they said "why not?"
My father comes home with this monstrous 10ft x 10ft wooden painting of Lauren Bacall that night, somehow gets it into our house, and it resided there for years in our living room, looking upon everyone who visited with an interesting story to it.
I spent my girlhood and young adult life being gazed at by a 10ftx10ft painting of Lauren Bacall... naturally, the painting made me interested in her work. I remember being completely surprised hearing her very deep voice when I actually saw her on screen for the first time. Besides that intense gaze, she was one of the few that could stand side by side with some very strong actors in every role she played.
My dad has the painting in storage now (I wonder to this day how they got it in and out of our house). He wanted to sell it put I said absolutely not, that I would take it in whatever small cramped place I lived. She watched me growing up.
RIP Lauren
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posted by hillabeans at 7:55 PM on August 12, 2014 [20 favorites]
When I was a young girl, she had come to Fort Worth for a charity auction event. My father was working security there and watched the whole thing. There was a painting of her that she personally signed that night, and no one ended up bidding for it. In lieu of the $200 or so he was going to be paid for the night, my father asked after everyone went home if he could take the painting and they said "why not?"
My father comes home with this monstrous 10ft x 10ft wooden painting of Lauren Bacall that night, somehow gets it into our house, and it resided there for years in our living room, looking upon everyone who visited with an interesting story to it.
I spent my girlhood and young adult life being gazed at by a 10ftx10ft painting of Lauren Bacall... naturally, the painting made me interested in her work. I remember being completely surprised hearing her very deep voice when I actually saw her on screen for the first time. Besides that intense gaze, she was one of the few that could stand side by side with some very strong actors in every role she played.
My dad has the painting in storage now (I wonder to this day how they got it in and out of our house). He wanted to sell it put I said absolutely not, that I would take it in whatever small cramped place I lived. She watched me growing up.
RIP Lauren
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posted by hillabeans at 7:55 PM on August 12, 2014 [20 favorites]
I'm 55 years old and was named after Lauren Bacall, long before every third little girl was named Lauren. I was the only Lauren I knew for many many years (other than Miss Bacall). As a matter of fact, a new GYN once came into my exam room and greeted me with "You're the oldest living Lauren I've ever treated." Uhhhh...thanks?
At any rate, I was always proud to claim her as the person I was named after. 89 is a good long run of what seems like a decent life, but she will still be greatly missed.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 8:33 PM on August 12, 2014
At any rate, I was always proud to claim her as the person I was named after. 89 is a good long run of what seems like a decent life, but she will still be greatly missed.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 8:33 PM on August 12, 2014
Gah, losing heroes left and right. :(
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posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:33 PM on August 12, 2014
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posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:33 PM on August 12, 2014
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posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:37 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:37 PM on August 12, 2014
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posted by Halloween Jack at 8:56 PM on August 12, 2014
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:56 PM on August 12, 2014
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My 30 ish cousin is Lauren Elizabeth for Bacall.
In her bio she said that she added the extra L to her mother's maiden name because the studios thought that it would be mispronounced Backle.
My great aunt was acquainted with her, but the only story I know is that they ran into each other when my mother picked Barbara up at LAX when LB was filming Sex and the Single Girl( Natalie Wood played the fictionalized Helen Gurley Brown).
She was Shimon Peres (nè Persky)' cousin
posted by brujita at 9:10 PM on August 12, 2014
My 30 ish cousin is Lauren Elizabeth for Bacall.
In her bio she said that she added the extra L to her mother's maiden name because the studios thought that it would be mispronounced Backle.
My great aunt was acquainted with her, but the only story I know is that they ran into each other when my mother picked Barbara up at LAX when LB was filming Sex and the Single Girl( Natalie Wood played the fictionalized Helen Gurley Brown).
She was Shimon Peres (nè Persky)' cousin
posted by brujita at 9:10 PM on August 12, 2014
I want to second what the man of twists and turns wrote earlier about How to Marry a Millionaire. It's a classic and Bacall is the best thing in it by miles. It can't be easy to be in a movie with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable and make your two co-stars look like also-rans.
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:15 PM on August 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:15 PM on August 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yeah, in To Have and Have Not - her frst film - she not only goes toe to toe w/ one of the dudes who's practically synonymous with 'screen presence', the celluloid practically catches fire from the visible sparks they're throwing off. Her first volume of autobiography is the only one I've read, but it's a really good read and I recommend it.
She guarded Bogie like a mama lion as his health declined, and his memory the same way thereafter. She doesn't seem to have lost a step at all, all the way through her life- she was and remained, and I say this with all possible respect, a quality broad. They don't make 'em like that anymore, but then again, they never really did.
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posted by hap_hazard at 10:04 PM on August 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
She guarded Bogie like a mama lion as his health declined, and his memory the same way thereafter. She doesn't seem to have lost a step at all, all the way through her life- she was and remained, and I say this with all possible respect, a quality broad. They don't make 'em like that anymore, but then again, they never really did.
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posted by hap_hazard at 10:04 PM on August 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
All 16 of the Icons Name-Dropped in Madonna’s “Vogue” Are Now Gone
The song was a tribute, of course, to a certain kind of old-fashioned glamour. With Bacall gone, that flame has just about burned out.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:09 PM on August 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
The song was a tribute, of course, to a certain kind of old-fashioned glamour. With Bacall gone, that flame has just about burned out.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:09 PM on August 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
"In old age, she raged against what she saw as the mediocrity of contemporary Hollywood..."
Dogville and Birth were both really cool movies for her to rebel against mediocrity with too... if you want to experience some late Bacall.
I recently recognized her voice in the English version of Ernest & Celestine, which is apparently one of her last roles.
posted by dgaicun at 11:06 PM on August 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
Dogville and Birth were both really cool movies for her to rebel against mediocrity with too... if you want to experience some late Bacall.
I recently recognized her voice in the English version of Ernest & Celestine, which is apparently one of her last roles.
posted by dgaicun at 11:06 PM on August 12, 2014 [3 favorites]
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posted by chicainthecity at 12:11 AM on August 13, 2014
posted by chicainthecity at 12:11 AM on August 13, 2014
"You know how to whistle" sketch from The Fast Show.
posted by kersplunk at 1:43 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by kersplunk at 1:43 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Been pondering the "bad news comes in threes" thing and thinking I'll just climb a tree and come down in about four days. I'm afraid to check headlines at this point.
Bacall had more class and style in the arch of her brow than any living performer I can think of; she came from a time when stars held themselves a certain way, somehow managing to always be graceful no matter how undignified the situation.
Here's Katherine Hepburn describing her in "The Making of The African Queen":
"While we're looking at people, let's look at Betty. I kept looking at her and looking at her. In the first place, she is young and she has lovely tawny skin and she has the most fabulous sandy hair. Beautiful whether it's straight or curled. In fact you have never seen her until you've seen her in her bright-green wrapper on the way to the outhouse in the early morning with her hair piled up on her head and no lipstick or anything else. Her sleepy-slanty green eyes and her common-sense look and her lost voice and her lanky figure and her apparent fund of pugilistic good-nature. Once she gets on the track of anything, be it picking out a can of baked beans or doing her nails or typing a letter or sunbathing or talking to anyone, don't try to get her on anything else--don't try to hurry her--she is immovable. I gazed at her and wondered whether I would go mad with jealousy as I compared our ages--our skin--our hair--our natures. No, she didn't sweat much either. She and Bogie seemed to have the most enormous opinion of each other's charms, and when they fought it was with the utter confidence of two cats locked deliciously in the same cage."
posted by kinnakeet at 1:54 AM on August 13, 2014 [17 favorites]
Bacall had more class and style in the arch of her brow than any living performer I can think of; she came from a time when stars held themselves a certain way, somehow managing to always be graceful no matter how undignified the situation.
Here's Katherine Hepburn describing her in "The Making of The African Queen":
"While we're looking at people, let's look at Betty. I kept looking at her and looking at her. In the first place, she is young and she has lovely tawny skin and she has the most fabulous sandy hair. Beautiful whether it's straight or curled. In fact you have never seen her until you've seen her in her bright-green wrapper on the way to the outhouse in the early morning with her hair piled up on her head and no lipstick or anything else. Her sleepy-slanty green eyes and her common-sense look and her lost voice and her lanky figure and her apparent fund of pugilistic good-nature. Once she gets on the track of anything, be it picking out a can of baked beans or doing her nails or typing a letter or sunbathing or talking to anyone, don't try to get her on anything else--don't try to hurry her--she is immovable. I gazed at her and wondered whether I would go mad with jealousy as I compared our ages--our skin--our hair--our natures. No, she didn't sweat much either. She and Bogie seemed to have the most enormous opinion of each other's charms, and when they fought it was with the utter confidence of two cats locked deliciously in the same cage."
posted by kinnakeet at 1:54 AM on August 13, 2014 [17 favorites]
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posted by Doktor Zed at 3:32 AM on August 13, 2014
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:32 AM on August 13, 2014
I had a steady diet of Bogey and Bacall as a child.
So now I have this problem in my head. Likely all day. Listening to KTDE all last week does not help.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:49 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
So now I have this problem in my head. Likely all day. Listening to KTDE all last week does not help.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:49 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
No. Lauren Bacall is just one of those people who aren't supposed to leave.
This is a tough one. She was beautiful and smart. She was a dame. She was cool. She was cooler than you or I will ever be if we live to be 189.
So many people are slipping away, in RL and the icons I grew up on.
I'm afraid to check headlines at this point.
I'm afraid to check MeFi. It's been my BadCelebNews delivery system of late.
posted by NorthernLite at 5:40 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
This is a tough one. She was beautiful and smart. She was a dame. She was cool. She was cooler than you or I will ever be if we live to be 189.
So many people are slipping away, in RL and the icons I grew up on.
I'm afraid to check headlines at this point.
I'm afraid to check MeFi. It's been my BadCelebNews delivery system of late.
posted by NorthernLite at 5:40 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
I'll always remember this as The Summer of People I Love Dying.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:23 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:23 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
Oh, kinnakeet, that Hepburn piece is just so utterly perfect! I watched To Have and Have Not last night and you can just see how entirely and completely delighted with each other and with themselves Bogie and Bacall were. In some ways it takes them out of the picture a little, but it doesn't matter--you feel privileged and a little intoxicated to have stood that near to their flame for a while.
posted by yoink at 7:33 AM on August 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by yoink at 7:33 AM on August 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
When I worked as an archivist for Adolph Green's estate, I heard so many wonderful stories and had the privilege of archiving so many great personal snapshots of Lauren Bacall, who was a dear friend of the Greens up to the end, that I imagine few people have ever seen, like offscreen production photos of her starring role in their filmed version of Applause, or family trips. I kind of came to feel like I knew her, because she always had this wonderful sparkle in her eye in every picture. There was a great photo of her in some location in Europe, looking at a rack of postcards that were a bunch of posters of her movies, gazing at herself casually with a wicked grin on her face (I imagine she shocked a few tourists who put two and two together). The world has lost a bit of that sparkle.
I don't have access to most of those pictures, but I did take a picture of one of my favourites. That smile! Those gams!
posted by ilana at 7:44 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
I don't have access to most of those pictures, but I did take a picture of one of my favourites. That smile! Those gams!
posted by ilana at 7:44 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
Lauren Bacall's breakout moment, at age 18: The March 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar.
(more here and here)
posted by argonauta at 9:40 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
(more here and here)
posted by argonauta at 9:40 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Bacall's cameo in Slick Hare (1947; non-speaking).
Bacall for High Point decaff (1980? Hear her say, "I love it.")
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posted by Herodios at 11:03 AM on August 13, 2014
Bacall for High Point decaff (1980? Hear her say, "I love it.")
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posted by Herodios at 11:03 AM on August 13, 2014
Man, she was so cool. Sorry to hear she's gone, but 89 is a good run.
posted by klangklangston at 11:05 AM on August 13, 2014
posted by klangklangston at 11:05 AM on August 13, 2014
Anne Helen Petersen The Look Of Lauren Bacall
posted by The Whelk at 11:09 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:09 AM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]
Lauren Bacall And The 'Sex? What Sex?' Kind Of Movie Sex (by MetaFilter's Own™ Linda Holmes)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:38 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:38 AM on August 13, 2014 [4 favorites]
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posted by joannemerriam at 11:48 AM on August 13, 2014
posted by joannemerriam at 11:48 AM on August 13, 2014
(I was just coming here to link to Linda's piece too; it's really good.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:04 PM on August 13, 2014
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:04 PM on August 13, 2014
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posted by homunculus at 1:19 PM on August 13, 2014
posted by homunculus at 1:19 PM on August 13, 2014
No more death for a while. You can take a vacation dude.
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posted by Splunge at 3:37 PM on August 13, 2014
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posted by Splunge at 3:37 PM on August 13, 2014
Oh Ilana, I am sooo jealous. Comden and Green... wow.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:59 PM on August 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by kinnakeet at 4:59 PM on August 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
I have loved this woman all of my life. :-(
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posted by evilDoug at 8:32 PM on August 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by evilDoug at 8:32 PM on August 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
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. :(
posted by obfuscation at 5:02 PM on August 12, 2014 [46 favorites]