Born Betty Joan Perske, Lauren Bacall was a student of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (appearing off-Broadway as Betty Bacall) and was only 19 when, having been spotted on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, she obtained a screen test from director Howard Hawks.

Howard Hawks cast Bacall opposite Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not" (1944).

In her autobiography, "By Myself," Bacall wrote that Hawks said he wanted to put her in a film with Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart. "I thought, 'Cary Grant - terrific! Humphrey Bogart - yucch.'"

Bacall's teaming with Bogart was the beginning of a beautiful friendship (the two were married the following year), and the launch of a timeless screen duo.

Lauren Bacall with Hoagy Carmichael in "To Have and Have Not."

In "Confidential Agent" (1945), Charles Boyer played a member of the anti-fascist column in the Spanish Civil War who encounters Lauren Bacall amid a tangle of espionage and diplomatic wrangling.

Bacall starred as Vivian Sternwood Rutledge opposite Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe in the Raymond Chandler mystery, "The Big Sleep" (1946), directed by Howard Hawks.

Bacall wrote, "Howard's idea was always that a woman should play a scene with a masculine approach - insolent. Give as good as she got, no capitulation, no helplessness. Oh, he had something in mind, definitely, but it would be a long time before I knew what it was."

Filmed in 1945, the stateside release of "The Big Sleep" was delayed as Warner Brothers pushed to distribute several war-themed films in the closing months of World War II. Before the film noir finally debuted in 1946, additional scenes between Bacall and Bogart were shot to capitalize on the actress' rising notoriety -- and the couple's romance.

After obtaining a divorce, Bogart married Bacall on May 21, 1945.

Lauren Bacall in "The Big Sleep" (1945).

An undated publicity photo of Lauren Bacall.

The one on the right is Vice President Harry Truman, playing the piano at the Washington Press Club, February 10, 1945.

A publicity photo of Lauren Bacall c. 1945.

"Dark Passage" (1946), written and directed by Delmer Daves, starred Humphrey Bogart as an escaped convict who employs a plastic surgeon to alter his identity as he goes on the trail of his wife's murderer.

"Dark Passage" was the third film to feature Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in the 1948 film noir "Key Largo," directed by John Huston. As a hurricane descends upon a hotel in the Florida Keys, a gangster played by Edward G. Robinson holds Bogie, Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor hostage.

A 1948 photo of actor Humphrey Bogart and his wife, actress Lauren Bacall.

In "Young Man With a Horn" (1950), Kirk Douglas played a jazz musician whose marriage and friendships are decimated by his growing alcoholism. It co-starred Lauren Bacall (left), Doris Day, and Hoagy Carmichael.

Gary Cooper played a tobacco baron making a play for bordello owner Lauren Bacall in the 1950 drama "Bright Leaf."

The romantic comedy "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1954) starred Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe as gold diggers out to land rich husbands.

When ruminating about age differences, Schatze Page (Bacall) says, "Look at what's-his-name in 'African Queen.' Crazy about him."

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart and their children - daughter Leslie and son Stephen - appeared on CBS News' "Person to Person" with Edward R. Murrow, Sept. 3, 1954.

Richard Widmark starred as the head of a psychiatric facility who falls for Lauren Bacall in the 1955 drama, "The Cobweb."

In Douglas Sirk's "Written on the Wind" (1956), Robert Stack believes the pregnancy of his wife (played by Lauren Bacall) was the result of an adulterous affair.

An undated portrait of Lauren Bacall.

Lauren Bacall filmed "Designing Woman" (in a role originally to be played by Grace Kelly) just months before Humphrey Bogart succumbed to cancer.

Opposites attract: Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck starred in Vincente Minnelli's 1957 romantic comedy, "Designing Woman," about the mishaps facing the marriage of a fashion designer and a sportswriter.

George Wells' original screenplay won the Academy Award.

Following Bogart's death, Bacall did a few movies over the next several years, and was engaged to Frank Sinatra (left), who made her part of the original Rat Pack.

In the 1959 drama "Flame Over India" (a.k.a. "North West Frontier"), Lauren Bacall played the governess of a young Hindu prince trying to flee a 1905 Muslim uprising.

At age 17 she had made her Broadway debut in 1942 as Betty Bacall, in the melodrama "Johnny 2 x 4."

Bacall returned to Broadway in "Goodbye Charlie" (1959), "Cactus Flower" (1965), "Applause" (1970), "Woman of the Year" (1981), and "Waiting in the Wings" (1999). She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for "Applause" and "Woman of the Year."

"The theater has given me an opportunity to do things that I never would have been given an opportunity to do in movies," Bacall said. "Those were great moments in my life."

Left: Jason Robards and Lauren Bacall are seen at New York's Idlewild Airport on May 8, 1961.

The actors were married from July 1961 to September 1969. They had one child, Sam Robards, who is also an actor.

Lauren Bacall was just one passenger on a train full of murder suspects in the star-filled 1974 film of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express."

Lauren Bacall and John Wayne during filming of the 1976 Western, "The Shootist," the Duke's final movie.

Lauren Bacall plays a woman suffering from narcolepsy, in Robert Altman's 1980 satire "H.E.A.L.T.H." Also among the ensemble cast were James Garner, Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson, Paul Dooley, and Alfre Woodard.

The 1981 thriller "The Fan" featured a crazed fan stalking a Hollywood actress played by Lauren Bacall.

Anthony Quinn and Lauren Bacall are reunited decades after an impassioned wartime affair in "A Star for Two" (1991).

Lauren Bacall appeared as the agent of writer James Caan in "Misery" (1990).

Jack Lemmon and Lauren Bacall played a former President and first lady in the 1996 comedy, "My Fellow Americans."

Lauren Bacall played the mother of Barbra Streisand and a mother-in-law of Jeff Bridges in the 1996 romantic comedy-drama "The Mirror Has Two Faces," directed by Streisand.

Bacall received her very first Academy Award nomination for the film, as Best Supporting Actress.

Actress Lauren Bacall holds her Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture-Comedy for her performance in "The Mirror Has Two Faces," January 19, 1997, at the 54th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California.

Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall co-starred in the 1999 caper "Diamonds."

Lauren Bacall and her son Stephen Bogart arrive at the 60th anniversary gala tribute screening of "Casablanca," at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, August 11, 2003 in New York City.

Lauren Bacall was among the cast of Lars von Trier's minimalist morality tale, "Dogville" (2003), about a small mountain community that must decide whether to hide a woman (Nicole Kidman) running from her past.

Honorary Award recipients Roger Corman, Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis following the 2009 Governors Awards, in Hollywood, Calif., Saturday, November 14, 2009. Bacall received a Lifetime Achievement Oscar.

In presenting the award to Bacall, Anjelica Huston ("Prizzi's Honor") said she "defines what it means to be a great actress and also a huge movie star," and praised her "steadfastness, honesty and extraordinary beauty."

An undated promotional photo of Lauren Bacall.

"I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that," she said.

Legendary actress Lauren Bacall dies at age 89