You may not have heard of Betty Joan Perske, the young Jewish girl from The Bronx – but Lauren Bacall, as she would later become known, is a name well-known as a cinematic icon of the 20th century.
Bacall is listed as the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by The American Film Institute. She was a teenage fashion model before making her way into acting and finding success in classics like To Have and Have Not, Key Largo and How to Marry A Millionaire. The young actress famously began a romance with her much-older co-star, Humphrey Bogart, in 1944 and their marriage lasted until his death from cancer in 1957.
Her career endured for many decades and she received a Golden Globe award and Oscar nomination at the age of 72, for her role in The Mirror Has Two Faces.
Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, was related to Lauren on her father’s side. He spoke publicly about her after she passed away in 2014, describing her as ‘very beautiful and very strong’ and discussing his meeting with the star many decades before.