19 things you need to know about Lauren Bacall

1. Lauren Bacall was a defining film star of the 40s with an incredible acting career spanning seven decades.

2. She was born Betty, which her friends and family always called her. Lauren was just a stage name.

Lauren Bacall, 27, with husband Humphrey Bogart, 50 (PA)

3. She grew up in the Bronx in New York, her mum was Romanian and her dad Polish. She had to drop out of drama school because her mum couldn’t afford the fees after they’d divorced.

4. Lauren started life as a model and was spotted by director Howard Hawks’ wife in Harpers Bizarre magazine. She persuaded her husband to give the 19-year-old a screen test.

5. It was her first film To Have and Have Not, adapted from an Ernest Hemingway novel in 1944, that catapulted her to fame.

Humprey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (PA)

6. Her raspy voice, strong presence and stunning looks made her one of the first Hollywood starlets.

7. Humphrey Bogart described her as “steel with curves”.

8. This scene became one of the most memorable in Hollywood film history.

9. To Have or Have Not was the start of relationship with co-star Humphrey Bogart. He was 25 years her senior and married at the time.

10. But it became an early Hollywood love story in what became known as the Golden Age and they married soon after.

11. The pair also starred together in The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and Key Largo.

Vice President Harry S. Truman playing the piano with Lauren Bacall (PA)

12. Humphrey died from cancer in 1957 and Lauren was briefly engaged to Frank Sinatra, before marrying actor Jason Robard and divorcing him eight years later.

13. She starred alongside Marilyn Monroe in the comedy How To Marry A Millionaire in 1953. One memorable quote was: “You don’t think he’s a little old?” Lauren’s character is asked. She replied: “Wealthy men are never old.”

14. She was nominated for an Oscar for The Mirror Has Two Faces, in which she played Barbra Streisand’s vain, obnoxious mother.

Lauren Bacall when she was starring on Broadway in Applause (PA)

15. Lauren appeared on Broadway too, starring in Applause which she won a Best Actress Tony award for.

16. Lauren was an anti-republican.

17. She figured prominently in the lyrics to a Clash song, Car Jamming from the album Combat Rock.

18. She had three children, Stevie, Leslie, from her marriage to ‘Bogie’ and Sam from her second marriage.

19. She starred with Nicola Kidman in Dogville in 2003 about Colorado in the Depression-era.

Lauren Bacall in 1965 (PA)