They say celebrity death usually comes in threes. On Monday, it was Robin Williams. Before that, it was JJ Murphy of Game of Thrones. On Tuesday, it was movie legend Lauren Bacall who left us at 89.
She was only 19 when she co-starred with future husband Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not", and would make a few more films with "Bogie", as well as the radio drama, Bold Venture, playing Sailor Duvall opposite Bogart's Slate Shannon. In the 70's, Bacall turned to Broadway, and earned a pair of Tony awards, including one for "Woman of the Year". Her lone Oscar nomination, unbelievably, came for "The Mirror Has Two Faces", in which she co-starred with singer-actress Barbra Streisand. However, the Academy would eventually recognize her body of work and award her an honorary Oscar a few years later, perhaps to make up for the oversights of years past.
As Sam Wilson pointed out over at Mondo 70, Bacall made a guest appearance on, of all things, Family Guy (though The Simpsons would've made more sense, in this writer's opinion), not too long ago. Adding her presence to a live-action series, be it, say, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, or even a silly comedy like Community would've made headlines for sure. As Sam and others have also noted, her passing marks the end, almost, of a golden era in Hollywood.
Rest in peace.
I've seen many of her early films and I have a hard time believing she was only 19! She always came across as more mature.
ReplyDeleteHer voice was also recognizable for the Fancy Feast cat commercials she did back in the late 90s/early naughts. She always came across as a class act. I'm not surprised she remained in NY after Bogie died. She'd said in an interview with Edward R Murrow way back in the day that she missed NY terribly and would rather be there than Hollywood.
They truly do not make them like her anymore - and that is to current Hollywood's shame.
Ditto that.
ReplyDeleteShe did those cat food ads? Whod'athunk?