Lauren Bacall Gave Good Face
Monday, September 16, 2013 at 12:45PM 
JA from MNPP here, putting my lips together and blowing a very happy 89th birthday in the direction of the living legend Betty Joan Perske... that is, Lauren Bacall. Next year marks the 70th anniversary of her film debut in Howard Hawks' To Have and Have Not, opposite - who else - Humphrey Bogart. And she's still at it, although her last disputably notable role was in 2005 with Lars Von Trier's Manderlay. (I haven't seen The Walker - how was she in that?) It's weird but when I think of Bacall I always immediately think of her as the suitably boring straight woman opposite a trio of over-actors in Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind. Why is that the role out of all her roles that I think of? Is it just I'd always rather be thinking about Dorothy Malone...? Tell me - what's your favorite Bacall? And do you hold a grudge against Juliette Binoche for stealing her Oscar, or are you a sane person who thinks the fact that Juliette Binoche has an Oscar is one of the most right things with the world?
Reader Comments (26)
Favorite Bacalls: The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, How to Marry a Millionaire, Young Man with a Horn (twisted)
All-Time Favorite: Applause
And neither Bacall nor Binoche deserved that Oscar.
I actually love her in How To Marry A Millionaire. She got too few opportunities to play comedy, and her dry wit was exactly what the movie needed with Monroe and Grable bubbling all over the place.
I know she's had a rough patch the last few years having broken a hip and complications that arose from it not healing quickly or well but it looks like she's back at work. IMDB has a rumored role for her in something called Trouble is My Business.
My favorite of her roles is in Women's World where she's wonderfully soignee and drolly observant with some terrific lines at her disposal as well as being surrounded by an amazing cast and plush settings. Also Dark Passage, How to Marry a Millionaire and Murder on the Orient Express.
I don't think she's ever had an Oscar worthy role but she made her scenes count in The Mirror Has Two Faces.
Binoche is one of the top 5 best actress in the world and her performance in The English Patient was stunning, but that was one hell of a category fraud!
Binoche is one of the top 5 best actress in the world and her performance in The English Patient was stunning, but that was one hell of a category fraud!
That category fraud allegation can be applied to the Best Actress winner that year too.
Paul Outlaw: Who then? Marianne Jean-Baptiste? Um, no. If strictly on a performance quality level, I'd have no argument. BUT SHE'S THE CO-LEAD! Category fraud NEVER deserves the win! Bad enough it gets nominated, frankly.
My favorite Bacall of all is the dry and cynical comedienne of the '50s in "How to Marry a Millionaire", "Woman's World" and "Designing Woman".
JOAN ALLEN, Volvagia!
My ranking, category fraud or not:
ALLEN
JEAN-BAPTISTE
HERSHEY
BINOCHE
BACALL
cal + 3rtful: I think there's at least (reasonable) debate on the placement of Binoche and McDormand (I lean on supporting for both of them, though I accept debate). But then you get Marianne Jean-Baptiste, where there's absolutely NO reasonable way you can call that supporting. Who could we have seen in that category if they pitched her honestly? Drew Barrymore's turn at the opening of Scream? Elizabeth Pena's turn in Lone Star? Bonnie Hunt's warm best friend role in Jerry Maguire?
You guys, my heart stopped because the title of this blog post was in past tense and I thought she'd died. She still gives good face!
I would assume that Marion Ross was probably in sixth place if they'd campaigned Jean-Baptiste or Binoche as lead-she had the Globe nod (the only one of the Globe nominees not to get in with AMPAS). Courtney Love and Renee Zellweger probably were also in the running, though that opens up another can of category fraud.
And also between this and the Jack Nicholson posts, you've given me a pair of heart attacks recently Ja!
Sorry sorry! I didn't mean to. I was just shifting around the Madonna lyrics a little bit - blame Madonna! ;)
The Big Sleep and How to Marry a Millionaire, but I also love Key Largo and Edward G. Robinson in it, Edward G. Robinson in general.
My favorite of her performances is probably 'Murder on the Orient Express', if only because she was Best in Show in a movie full of great actors showing off. I'll never understood why the Academy went with Ingrid's rather pedestrian performance, when they had an actually show-stealing performance on their hands here by another great star from Hollywood's Golden Age who didn't have already 2 Oscars on her mantelpiece. Bacall wouldn't have deserved that Oscar over Valentina Cortese (or, for that matter, Madeline Kahn), either, but it wouldn't quite sting that much...
On the other hand, I'm totally fine with Juliette Binoche winning over Bacall in 1996...
To Have and Have Not is the movie that made me a movie fanatic. It may also have turned me gayish. Lauren Bacall was my first film idol, and the one actress for whom I am a full-blown, hardcore actressexual.
By far the highlight of my time working for an Off-Broadway theatre company was when Lauren Bacall called me to RSVP for an event. I actually had to put her on hold after she said who she was (as though I couldn't tell by just listening to her voice) so that I could freak out and then act professionally on the phone. She had some questions so we actually got to talk for about five minutes, but I couldn't say the things I really wanted to - such as, who was the better kisser, Gregory Peck (Designing Woman) or Rock Hudson (Written on the Wind)? And, was it as weird to act directly into the camera in Dark Passage as it is to watch? And, is Barbra's control-freakishness a good thing or a bad thing on set? And, would you work with Lars von Trier again? PLEASE?
Anyway, LOVE HER.
A living movie legend- Happy Birthday Miss Bacall.
Best Bacall? Probably The Big Sleep, though she wasn't a very good actress.
Binoche > Bacall was the right call in terms of performance quality. I'm even fine with the designation as The English Patient was really lopsided towards the main romance.
The Big Sleep will always be my favorite from her. Binoche was an extremely worthy winner and I'm thrilled she has an Oscar, but she wasn't my top pick. Marianne Jean-Baptiste was incredible in Secrets & Lies, a movie I despised aside from her performance. I still haven't seen Hershey and need to revisit Allen, but the idea that Bacall went into the evening as the frontrunner is shocking on its own.
eurocheese -- that was entirely based on Bacall's living legend status but obviously people didnt care either way about the performance really beyond "oh, it's Bacalll! we love her"
My Favorite Bacall: TO HAVE AND TO HAVE NOT...film debut and best performance at the same time
since she hasn't never nominated for an Oscar before, I was glad that she had received a nomination for MIRROR...I remember that she was in general considered a frontrunner (or maybe it's just my bad memory...) and in general I remember Binoche's winning as a schocker (but that could be my bad memory again...). thanks to Stinkylulu I realize that today that particular perf is not widely appreciated, anyway I'm ok with Binoche's winning
Bacall is also my first film idol, Deborah Lipp, she and Bogart were my childhood idols. It helps that I read her autobiography when I was in seventh grade.
I was extremely disappointed that she didn't win the Oscar but I loved Binoche in English Patient and she gave such a gracious speech and I am glad that she's been recognized by the Academy. What burns me the most is that Bacall's honorary oscar came the year they decided not to give the awards on Oscar night and we couldn't watch the tribute and watch her be fabulous on the stage. Still extremely annoyed about that.
My favorite performances of hers include To Have and Have Not (it's fascinating reading her description of her first day filming in the autobiography- she was shaking so much that she had to hold her chin down- thus was born "the look."), How to Marry a Millionaire, and The Big Sleep. Also loved her cameo in The Sopranos.
Bacall's best performance, for me, is in 'The Cobweb' - such an underseen movie, and she pitches her character - warm but guarded, and capable of self-righteousness - so perfectly.
Lauren Bacall is awesome, I've colorized a few of her classic photos on my site Metacolor
I am late to the game...as Miss Bacall has sadly left the planet. But what an imprint she left behind. Yes...I'm still bitter that she lost that Oscar.... Favorite Bacall film? I have a strange soft spot for THE FAN....as it further pushed my Midwestern self to move to NYC...the city which she symbolized to me. And subsequently led me to see her in WOMAN OF THE YEAR more times that I care to admit here. But must make mention of HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, all four of her Bogart films and although her acting is a bit off...she is so damned gorgeous in DESIGNING WOMAN.