Lauren Bacall has died at the age of 89 at her home in New York, after a big-screen career that spanned seven decades.
The news was broken by the Bogart estate, with the statement: “With deep sorrow for the magnitude of our loss, yet with great gratitude for her amazing life, we confirm the passing of Lauren Bacall.”
Perhaps best known for her on-screen partnership with her first husband Humphrey Bogart, Bacall starred in such noir classics as The Big Sleep , Key Largo and Dark Passage .
A classic femme fatale, her signature husky delivery added a whole other dimension to such seminal lines as: “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”
Bacall was nominated for an Oscar just once in her long career, as Best Supporting Actress in The Mirror Has Two Faces , but was presented with an honorary Academy Award in 2010.
Her big-screen career would go on well into her later years, with a pair of collaborations with Lars von Trier on Dogville and Manderlay among her later-period highlights.
As the Hollywood landscape loses one of its last genuine icons, Total Film ’s thoughts go out to the Bacall family during this difficult time.
