This is the prerogative of legends: they never die. Although she died on August 12, 2014, Lauren Bacall will celebrate her hundredth birthday on September 16. The location of the festivities is, of course, beyond the reach of ordinary mortals… But you don’t need to be a medium to know that Humphrey Bogart will be at the side of the woman of his life – in the same way that he was the man of his life . And to think that at the origin of this legendary couple is a Hollywood mogul, Jack Warner, who just wanted to put a starlet on the arm of his cash cow of the moment, in this case Bogart, in order to better sell his next film … A stupid publicity stunt which will turn into a beautiful novel thanks to the tempered steel character of said “starlet”, to the determination of a pygmalion director, and above all to the mechanics of the heart, the functioning of which, as everyone knows , is unpredictable…
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Throughout the interviews in which she recounted her journey, Lauren Bacall was always proud of having appeared on the cover of Paris Match in 1951. But it was that of “Harper’s Bazaar”, in March 1943, which would truly change her life. She is then only an unknown person, born eighteen years earlier to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant parents, whose father fled when she was 5 years old – and will reappear when she is rich and famous… But when the director scene Howard Hawks, director of “Scarface”, sees “Harper’s Bazaar” on newsstands, he immediately bets on this model that he wants to direct. While courting her, he teaches her to play, to behave and to speak. The “training” lasted a year and ended on Hollywood Boulevard: for three weeks, Hawks forced Bacall to shout texts on the sidewalk while smoking cigarette after cigarette so that his voice would be hoarser.
With Bogie, it was “love at first sight, a spontaneous combustion”, she confided in Match in 1995
It was therefore ready when she arrived, in 1944, on the set of “Port de l’anxiety”, where she told Bogart one of the most famous lines of the 7th art: “If you need me, you don’t All you have to do is whistle. Do you know how to whistle, Steve? You bring your lips together like this, and you blow. » Bogart, alias Steve, himself blown away, remains silent. And Hawks understands that the beauty no longer belongs to him: “Bogart fell in love with the character. So, she had to continue playing it all her life,” the sore loser would later say. In reality, “it was love at first sight, a spontaneous combustion between Bogie and me” declared the actress to Paris Match in 1995.
He’s twenty-five years older than her and three marriages under his belt, but Lauren is the one. The one with whom he made four films and two children, Stephen and Leslie, and with whom he lived until his death on January 14, 1957. During the burial, the widow slipped a whistle into the coffin, a final wink. eye at the start of their romance and hypothetical bet on the future. In the meantime, the world of the living is not kind to the unfortunate woman. “I fell as quickly as I rose,” she admitted in her memoirs, “By Myself” (ed. Stock), the good pages of which were published exclusively in Paris Match in 1979.
She avoids social events, premieres, openings. Only work interests him
However, she never admitted defeat. “I’m looking for work 24 hours a day,” she said in 1989, still in Paris Match. I don’t like social events, lunches, premieres, openings. I’m only interested in work. For material reasons, but also for my mental balance. » In fact, it turns. There is some good – “Private Detective”, with Paul Newman –, some unique – “Dogville”, with Nicole Kidman – and a lot of obligatory ones because you have to eat well.
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On the heart side, it’s the same. There is swagger, like Frank Sinatra, “the worst lover I could choose” she will say about the one who asked her to marry him before dumping her overnight, and seriousness, like Jason Robards, who gives him a son, Sam, but also a lot of worry because of his strong taste for alcohol. But Lauren only has herself to blame: “People who don’t drink are too cautious,” she said boldly in the 1960s. “And people who are too cautious make me nervous. » She came back. In 2005, she declared to Paris Match: “Those who want to outlaw soft drugs should not forget alcohol, which has killed more people than anything else. » Where she is today, it no longer matters. She can celebrate her 100th birthday in peace with Bogart. Whiskey for him, vodka for her, and for the public, the angels’ share.
