Lauren Bacall remembered by Terry Hands

16 September 1924–12 August 2014
The director recalls working with the Hollywood star, who ‘seemed impervious to the demands of vanity’, in a UK theatre production in 1995

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I worked with her in 1995 at Chichester Festival theatre in The Visitby Friedrich Dürrenmatt. And I remember her fondly as two Bacalls – Lauren, the megastar, a diva from the golden age of Hollywood and Betty (the name she preferred) in rehearsal.

As Lauren, she could be haughty, grand, intimidating – not to us, fellow professionals – but to managers, producers, any who might profit from her presence. I remember a demanded easy chair for her dressing-room – many presented, many rejected, until one from Harrods was finally purchased at great cost, doors and wall part-removed (subsequently rebuilt) for installation – and that too finally rejected. She could be mischievous.