1944–1959: Hollywood contract and leading roles and Bacall c. 1943 After meeting Bacall in Hollywood, Hawks immediately signed her to a seven-year contract with a weekly salary of $100 and personally began to manage her career. He changed her first name to Lauren, and she chose Bacall, a variant of her mother's maiden name, as her
screen surname. Slim Hawks also took Bacall under her wing, dressing Bacall stylishly and guiding her in matters of elegance, manners and taste. At Hawks's suggestion, Bacall was trained by a voice coach to speak with a lower, deeper voice rather than her normally high-pitched, nasal voice. As part of her training, Bacall was required to shout verses of
Shakespeare for hours every day. Her voice was characterized as a "smoky, sexual growl" by most critics This effect, which came to be known as "The Look", became another Bacall trademark, along with her sultry voice. Bacall's character in the film used Slim Hawks's nickname, "Slim" and Bogart used Howard Hawks's nickname "Steve". The on-set chemistry between the two was immediate, according to Bacall. as well as filmmakers and other actors.
Warner Bros. launched an extensive marketing campaign to promote the picture and to establish Bacall as a movie star. As part of the public-relations push, Bacall visited the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on February 10, 1945, and sat on a piano as Vice President
Harry S. Truman played it. plays for servicemen at the
National Press Club Canteen in Washington, D.C. (February 10, 1945) After
To Have and Have Not, Bacall appeared with
Charles Boyer in
Confidential Agent (1945), which was poorly received by critics. By her own estimation, she had been terribly miscast and the film could have caused considerable damage to her career, but her next performance as the mysterious, acid-tongued Vivian Rutledge in Hawks's
film noir The Big Sleep (1946), co-starring Bogart, provided a quick career resurgence.
The Big Sleep laid the foundation for Bacall's status as an icon of
film noir, with which she would be strongly associated for the rest of her career. She was often cast in roles that were variations of the independent and sultry
femme fatale character of Vivian. As described by film scholar Joe McElhaney, "Vivian displays an almost total command of movement and gesture. She never crawls." Bacall was cast with Bogart in two more films. In the film noir
Dark Passage (1947), she played an enigmatic San Francisco artist.
Bosley Crowther of
The New York Times wrote: "Miss Bacall... generates quite a lot of pressure as a sharp-eyed, knows-what-she-wants girl." Bacall appeared in
John Huston's melodramatic suspense film
Key Largo (1948) with Bogart,
Edward G. Robinson and
Lionel Barrymore. In the film, according to film critic Jessica Kiang, "Bacall brings an edge of ambivalence and independence to the role that makes her character much more interesting than was written." Bacall and Bogart were parodied in the Warner Brothers
Merrie Melodies shorts
Bacall to Arms (1946) and
Slick Hare (1947). in the film
Young Man with a Horn (1950) Bacall rejected scripts that she did not find interesting and thereby earned a reputation of being difficult. However, she further solidified her star status in the 1950s by appearing as the leading lady in a string of films that won favorable reviews. Bacall was cast with
Gary Cooper in
Bright Leaf (1950) and as a two-faced
femme fatale in
Young Man with a Horn (1950), a jazz musical co-starring
Kirk Douglas,
Doris Day and
Hoagy Carmichael. From 1951 to 1952, Bacall costarred with Bogart in the syndicated action-adventure radio series
Bold Venture. Bacall starred in the first
CinemaScope comedy,
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), a runaway hit among critics and at the box office that was directed by
Jean Negulesco. She received positive notices for her turn as witty gold-digger Schatze Page. "First honors in spreading mirth go to Miss Bacall," wrote Alton Cook in the
New York World-Telegram & Sun, "The most intelligent and predatory of the trio, she takes complete control of every scene with her acid delivery of viciously witty lines." After the success of
How to Marry a Millionaire, Bacall declined the opportunity to press her handprints and footprints in the
Grauman's Chinese Theatre's famed cement forecourt. She felt that "anyone with a picture opening could be represented there, standards had been so lowered" and did not feel that she had yet achieved the status of a major star and was thereby unworthy of the honor: "I want to feel I've earned my place with the best my business has produced." A television version of Bogart's early film success
The Petrified Forest was performed as a 1955 live installment of the weekly dramatic anthology ''
Producers' Showcase, featuring Bogart in his original role of Duke Mantee and starring Bacall and Henry Fonda. In the late 1990s, Bacall donated the only known kinescope of the performance to the Museum of Television & Radio (now the Paley Center for Media), where it remains archived for viewing in New York City and Los Angeles. Bacall starred in two feature films, The Cobweb and Blood Alley, both released in 1955. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, The Cobweb'' takes place at a mental institution where Bacall's character works as a therapist. It was her second collaboration with
Charles Boyer and the film also stars
Richard Widmark and
Lillian Gish. A
New York Times critic wrote: "In the only two really sympathetic roles, Mr. Widmark is excellent and Miss Bacall shrewdly underplays." '' (1956) '' (1957) Many film scholars consider
Written on the Wind (1956), directed by
Douglas Sirk, a landmark melodrama. Appearing with
Rock Hudson,
Dorothy Malone and
Robert Stack, Bacall plays a career woman whose life is unexpectedly turned around by a family of oil magnates. Bacall wrote in her autobiography that she did not think much of her role, but reviews were favorable.
Variety wrote: "Bacall registers strongly as a sensible girl swept into the madness of the oil family." While supporting Bogart as he suffered from terminal
esophageal cancer, Bacall starred with
Gregory Peck in
Designing Woman (1957) to solid reviews. The comedy was her second feature directed by Minnelli and was released in New York on May 16, 1957, four months after Bogart's death on January 14.
1960–1989: Return to Broadway and musicals Bacall was seen in only a handful of films in the 1960s. She starred on
Broadway in
Goodbye, Charlie in 1959 and went on to a successful stage career. She played Stephanie in the
farce Cactus Flower (1965). She won her first
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Margo Channing in
Applause (1970). The musical was written by
Betty Comden and
Adolph Green. She performed the role both on
Broadway and the
West End. Walter Kerr of
The New York Times praised her performance declaring, "Take your breath away? Indeed. What's more, she never gives it back."
Applause was a musical version of the film
All About Eve (1950), starring
Bette Davis, Bacall's idol as a child. A young and unknown Bacall had met Davis years earlier in New York. Bacall would later win the
Sarah Siddons Award in 1972 and 1984, an award inspired by the fictional trophy in
All About Eve. She returned to
Broadway in the musical
Woman of the Year (1981) with book by
Peter Stone and music and lyrics by
Kander and Ebb. The musical is based on the
1944 film of the same name starring
Katharine Hepburn and
Spencer Tracy. Frank Rich of
The New York Times gave the production a mixed review but praised Bacall writing, "The people who concocted this musical know what their show is really about. Miss Bacall is on hand virtually the whole time and she's vibrant whether no-nonsense or tipsy, domineering or moony, dry or wet. If
Woman of the Year is tired around the edges, it is always smart enough to keep its live wire center stage." She went on to win her second
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The few films in which Bacall appeared during this period were all-star vehicles such as
Sex and the Single Girl (1964) with
Henry Fonda,
Tony Curtis and
Natalie Wood;
Harper (1966) with
Paul Newman,
Shelley Winters,
Julie Harris,
Robert Wagner and
Janet Leigh; and
Murder on the Orient Express (1974), with
Ingrid Bergman,
Albert Finney,
Vanessa Redgrave,
Martin Balsam and
Sean Connery. In 1964, Bacall appeared in two episodes of
Craig Stevens's
Mr. Broadway: first in "Take a Walk Through a Cemetery" with husband
Jason Robards, Jr. and later as Barbara Lake in the episode "Something to Sing About" with Balsam. In 1976, Bacall costarred in
The Shootist with
John Wayne, with whom she had worked in
Blood Alley (1955). Bacall was featured in
Robert Altman's comedy
Health (1980), which underwent a troubled process of release after the change of the top management at 20th Century-Fox and saw a very limited release in theaters. The following year, she appeared in the thriller
The Fan (1981). The film received mixed reviews, especially following the recent murder of
John Lennon and the similarities of the plot to the real event, but Bacall's performance gained a favorable reception.
Variety magazine wrote that Bacall and director
Edward Bianchi "make the audience care what happens" to her character. Bacall took a seven-year hiatus from films to perform on stage in
Woman of the Year (1981) with costar
Harry Guardino, for which she won her second
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and other shows such as a 1985 adaptation of
Tennessee Williams's
Sweet Bird of Youth under the direction of
Harold Pinter. She returned to film in 1988 with supporting roles in
Danny Huston's
Mr. North and
Michael Winner's
Appointment with Death. She also starred in the British thriller
Tree of Hands (1989), based on a novel by
Ruth Rendell and in a
television adaptation of the 1933 classic
Dinner at Eight for
Turner Television.
1990–1999: Film resurgence and West End debut In 1990, Bacall took a small but central role as
James Caan's agent in
Rob Reiner's
Misery, based on the novel by
Stephen King and an important role in the British television movie
A Little Piece of Sunshine, based on a novel by
Frederick Forsyth. The following year, Bacall played the lead in the independent film
A Star for Two (1991) with
Anthony Quinn,
Lila Kedrova and
Jean-Pierre Aumont and played a supporting role in
All I Want for Christmas (1991). In 1993, Bacall was very active in television, pairing again with her lifelong friend
Gregory Peck and his daughter
Cecilia Peck in
Arthur Penn's television movie
The Portrait and costarring with an all-star European cast in
A Foreign Field. She appeared in
Robert Altman's
Prêt-à-Porter (1994), an
ensemble film set in Paris during fashion week. In 1995, she was cast in her friend
Ingrid Bergman's role in
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a television remake of the
1973 movie by the same title. Years earlier, Bergman had played the role in the film version of
Cactus Flower (1969) that Bacall had played on Broadway in 1965. In 1995, she portrayed Claire Zachanassian in the
Friedrich Dürrenmatt play
The Visit at the
Chichester Festival. 1996 was a pivotal year for Bacall's career. She was chosen by
Barbra Streisand to play her mother in the romantic comedy
The Mirror Has Two Faces, also starring
Jeff Bridges,
George Segal and
Brenda Vaccaro. Todd McCarthy of
Variety wrote of her performance "Bacall, posing, rolling her eyes and snapping out the one-liners with consummate skill, is in to play the source of all of Rose's insecurities, the mother who was drop-dead gorgeous and who never told her kind of funny-looking daughter she was pretty." She received widespread critical acclaim and at age 72, she earned her first nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, which she was widely expected to win, but lost to
Juliette Binoche for
The English Patient. She also won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and a nomination for the
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. That year, she recorded voiceovers for
PBS's brand identity, which would continue to see use on its logos until 2002. Bacall received the
Kennedy Center Honors in 1997, and she was voted one of the 25 most significant female movie stars in history in 1999 by the
American Film Institute. In 1999, Bacall starred on Broadway in a revival of
Noël Coward's
Waiting in the Wings. She portrayed American billionaire heiress
Doris Duke in the four part
CBS miniseries
Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke (1999). In the 2000s, she acted as a spokesman for the
Tuesday Morning discount chain and produced a jewelry line. She was also a celebrity spokesman for
High Point coffee and
Fancy Feast cat food.
2000–2009: Dramatic films and final roles '' in February 2007 Her film career saw something of a renaissance taking dramatic roles in independent films. She attracted positive notices for her performances in high-profile psychological dramas such as
Lars von Trier's
Dogville (2003) and
Jonathan Glazer's
Birth (2004), both with
Nicole Kidman. She voiced Witch of the Waste in
Hayao Miyazaki's acclaimed animated film ''
Howl's Moving Castle'' (2004). She was a leading actress in
Paul Schrader's
The Walker (2007). In March 2006, she introduced a film montage dedicated to film noir at the
78th Academy Awards. She made a cameo appearance as herself on
The Sopranos in the April 2006 episode "
Luxury Lounge", during which her character was mugged by
Christopher Moltisanti (
Michael Imperioli). In September 2006,
Bryn Mawr College awarded Bacall its
Katharine Hepburn Medal, which recognizes "women whose lives, work and contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence" of Hepburn. She delivered an address at the memorial service of
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. at the
Reform Club in London in June 2007. She finished her role in
The Forger in 2009. The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bestowed an honorary Academy Award upon Bacall at the inaugural
Governors Awards on November 14, 2009. In July 2013, Bacall expressed interest in the film
Trouble Is My Business. In November, she joined the English-dubbed voice cast for StudioCanal's animated film
Ernest & Celestine. Her final role was in 2014 as a guest voice appearance in the
Family Guy episode "
Mom's the Word". ==Acting credits and accolades ==