The Girl with "The Look" Leaves the Stage.

Good day and hello readers.  Say how many of you are aware of the work of Betty Joan Perske?  Actress, singer of film, stage and musical theatre.   Not ringing any bells?  How about her stage name Lauren Bacall?   From her days as a model her sultry looks allowed her to grace magazine covers such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.

In 1941, she got the acting bug  and enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts along a fellow classmate name of Kirk Douglas while she modeled and worked as a theatre usher.   Drawn to the stage she blew away her idol Better Davis in a musical based on the film All About Eve entitled Applause.

Acclaimed director Howard Hawks's wife Nancy noticed Bacall on Harper's Bazaar and urged him to give Bacall a screen test for to have and Have Not.  Nancy mentored Bacall in dress, mannerism, poise and elegance to give her an edge in the business.  At age 19 she appeared in film as lead female role aside Humphrey Bogart in the 1944 film To Have and Have Not.    Meeting her co-star and future husband Humphrey Bogart the chemistry seen on the scene was not forced nor faked.  Having two children by Bogart, son Stephen and Daughter Leslie, each pursued their own lives as Stephen is a news producer, documentary film maker and author while Leslie is a yoga instructor.

  After the tragic passing of Humphrey Bogart, Bacall's career was focused while juggling single parent life to wit she later fell in love with actor Jason Robards, had a child Sam and divorced 8 years later.  From an acting career in TV and Movies spanning more than 70 years she has wowed us with attitude, made tears well up in the eyes and sizzled on the screen.    The Girl with "The Look" leaves us August 12th 2014 at age 89 and Hollywood will never see the like again.