Lauren Bacall was born Betty Jane Perske in The Bronx, New York and lived to be 89.

Lauren Bacall, 18 years of age, posing for a fashion shoot a year and a half before making her acting debut in Howard Hawk’s film To Have And Have Not (released October 11, 1944) | photo Louise Dahl-Wolfe | Harper’s Bazaar, May 1943.  Howard Hawks’ wife, Slim, saw the magazine, showed it to Howard, and he set up a Hollywood screen test, and the rest is history.

Lauren Bacall photographed by John Engstead in 1945

Lauren Bacall in a 1944 publicity photo.  Howard Hawks said about creating her screen image in To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep “She just kept a cool, amused manner, and the audiences liked it very much.”  He brought in screenwriter Jules Furthman who worked on Marlene Dietrich’s screen persona in the early 30s, and  they made Lauren a slightly more accessible and warmer version of Marlene.

Lauren Bacall, photographed by Louise Dahl-Wolfe for the March issue of Harpers Bazaar, 1943

Lauren Bacall, wearing a dress by Milo Anderson, in a publicity photo for To Have and Have Not, 1944

Howard Hawks’ greatest cinematic discovery was Lauren Bacall, who started her career as a teenage model.  She made her first two films with Hawks, To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, both opposite her husband to be Humphrey Bogart.  They stayed married until his death.

Lauren Bacall by John Engstead, 1944