Happy 87th Birthday to Lauren Bacall! What's Her Greatest Onscreen Moment?

Lauren Bacall: smokiest dame who ever lived? Besides Myrna Loy, who was so (literally) smoky that Nicotine dripped off the screen? Today is Bacall's 87th birthday, and even if she lost the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to that two-bit whippersnapper Juliette Binoche, she's still a supremely respected star of a bygone era. What's your favorite Bacall moment of all time?

I'm taking us back to the start -- and to a very revered classic. In 1944's To Have and Have Not, Bacall slinks away from Bogie and over to the piano for a devastating, husky rendition of Hoagy Carmichael's "How Little We Know." If you can survive the sauna of sexuality that is her voice, you still have to get over that unbelievable face. Has any other star -- including Marilyn, Elizabeth, or Grace -- ever embodied the term "knockout" so fiercely?



Comments

  • David J says:

    .....and she's still a babe

  • S.T. VanAirsdale says:

    I'll take her 1982 Ford Fairmont commercial any day of the week:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fINAJ8dENzs

  • Jen Yamato says:

    She was much better delivering this line than huskily crooning that ditty:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MheNUWyROv8
    Happy birthday, lady!

  • Jen Yamato says:

    On second thought, "lady" doesn't sound right. She's a DAME if I ever saw one.

  • Cynthia D says:

    A teenaged Andy Williams, in fact, dubbed her singing voice in that movie. Look it up! That said, LOVE Lauren Bacall... so beautiful.

  • Dick Edsall says:

    Just watched To Have and Have Not for the umpth-teen time. It has been my favorite film since I first saw it as a high school senior in 1944 way back - both in miles and time - in Wichita, Kansas. I was just 17 and getting ready to leave home for the Army. 2.5 years later I was back in Wichita. All these many years I adored you, the most beautiful lady in the world. Sexiest, too. Of course, I've always liked older women. You are 87 and I am a mere 85. Thank you, dear Betty, for all the years of happiness you have given to your millions of fans. You're the tops, you're the Mona Lisa, you're the tops, you're the tower of Pisa. May God bless you and be by your side. and again, thanks. Dick Edsall. Salt Lake City, UT, kre3030@aol.com