02.27.2020 - By 5 Minute Biographies
“I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that” – Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is a name that any true film
buff is familiar with, as she is one of the most famous women of the golden age
of cinema. She was even named by the American Film Institute as one of the top
20 greatest female stars of classic Hollywood.
Lauren Bacall was born to Jewish parents in The
Bronx, New York City on 16 September 1924 although her name at birth was Betty
Joan Perske. Her mother had emigrated from Romania, in Eastern Europe and had
entered the USA through Ellis Island, while her father was a second-generation
immigrant whose parents had come to the United States from modern-day Belarus
which was then part of the Russian Empire and is also located in Eastern Europe.
Her parents divorced when Lauren was quite young,
after which she no longer had regular contact with her father. This resulted in her developing an incredibly
close relationship with her mother, and in her adopting her mother’s last name,
which in Romanian, is Bacall.
Lauren Bacall started her career in 1941 at
the age of about 16 when she began to attend classes at the American Academy of
Dramatic Arts along with Kirk Douglas who took the same classes, and with whom
she would star in a jazz musical in 1950 called Young Man with a Horn. At the
same time, she worked as an usher at the St. James Theater and also took on
some occasional modelling work, and it was this that would be the catalyst for
her future career and ultimate rise to fame. She started acting in 1942 shortly
after she had turned 17. Her iconic sultry look became one of her trademarks
and was a big selling point when it came to landing film roles. Whilst still a
teenager she even appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue Magazine.
It is little wonder then that with her stunning looks gracing the covers of
national magazines that it would only be a matter of time before Hollywood started
to take notice.
Howard Hanks, a Hollywood producer and
director asked his secretary to find out more about the model following
prompting by his wife, as she might work well for a movie he was directing, which
was called To Have and Have Not. However, through a misunderstanding, the
secretary didn’t just find out more about Miss Bacall but also sent her a
ticket so she could come to Hollywood for a screen test and audition. This turn
of fortune resulted in Hanks signing her to a 7-year contract almost as soon as
he met her which was worth $100 per week. He also took personal charge of her
career which included changing her name to Lauren Bacall as he thought that
Lauren was a better screen name than Betty. He also got her to change the way
she spoke, encouraging her to lower the pitch of her voice for which she used
the services of a voice coach. This resulted in future critics describing her
voice as having a smoky, sexual growl which became another one of her
trademarks.
Lauren Bacall’s career started to take off in
the 1940s after Warner Brothers decided to embark on an extensive marketing
campaign for To Have and Have Not with a view to establishing her as a
Hollywood icon. During this marketing push, she visited the National Press Club
in Washington, DC where the Warner Brothers publishing agent asked Lauren to
sit on a piano while the then vice President Harry S Truman played, thus creating
a great photo opportunity for the young actress.
In 1946 Lauren Bacall starred in The Big Sleep