The Hollywood actress deserves to be remembered for more than looking stunning in a black and white photograph or being Bogarts wife, says Tracy McVeigh
Amidst the obituaries for big stars Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall there is a lot of talk of Williams bravery in talking about his debilitating mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse. Lauren Bacalls death is mostly marked by tributes to her beauty and to misty-eyed sentiment about that old school Hollywood glamour that she came to represent. Its often the case with beautiful women that their achievements can be undone by people transfixed by their smouldering celluloid gaze.
Lost a little over time, and over a longer life with a less tragic ending than poor Robin Williams, seems to be any acknowledgement of Bacalls own courage. It might be arguable as to whether or not the sexism in the film industry is as rife or simply takes a different less blatant track, but there was just as much grit thrown in the path of this screen goddess of the 40s and 50s as there is to the fame-haunted celebrities of now. Bacall was a naive 19-year-old when she first entered what she called the roller coaster world of film and she matured under the same spotlight that burned out so many young women. Immediately she raised hackles of the studio bosses by falling in love with her first co-star - the 44-year-old married Humphrey Bogart - and risked the disfavour of movie audiences by being the other, very young, woman as Bogie battled his way publicly through his third divorce to be with her. Theirs was a very visible love story which lasted until Bogies death in 1957 but Bacall never pretended they had some airbrushed, no-flaws marriage. They adored each other but rowed and had pressures like anyone else.
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