By KATHARINE RAMSDEN
Born September 16, 1924, Player Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske) was an actress known for her alluring, sultry presence and distinctive, husky voice. Named one of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute, she received an Academy Award in 2009 recognizing her contributions to the Golden Age of motion pictures.
In 1944, Bacall had her film debut at the age of 20 in To Have and Have Not opposite Player Humphrey Bogart. Despite a 25-year age difference, Betty and Bogie married the following year.
She continued in film appearances alongside her new husband in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). Her second marriage was to Player Jason Robards with whom she appeared on Broadway in the 1964 play “After the Fall” and the 1966 film “Harper.” Among her many leading roles, she starred in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Designing Women (1957), and Murder on the Orient Express (1974).
Bacall enjoyed a career resurgence for her role in the romantic comedy The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), for which she earned the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and nominations for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Katharine Ramsden is a (semi-retired) former journalist and corporate communications executive. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she is a recently new Player, avid reader and one time a cappella singer.
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