Lauren Bacall's Real Name: Betty Joan Perske

Quick answer: Lauren Bacall's documented original name is Betty Joan Perske. Encyclopaedia Britannica lists that form as also known as, and an Associated Press obituary says she was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924 (Britannica; AP).

Real name and early life

She became famous as Lauren Bacall. AP says she was born in the Bronx; a BBC obituary places the birth in Brooklyn; Britannica's opening line gives New York, New York. All three agree on the date, September 16, 1924, and on New York City. AP records that she was raised by her Romanian immigrant mother after her parents split, that her mother took part of her family name, Bacal, and that Betty added the extra l when she became an actress. A BBC obituary likewise says she took her mother's maiden name after her parents divorced when she was five, adding an l to Bacal. She worked as a fashion model and a bit-part New York actress before moving to Hollywood at 19, AP says.

Career highlights

Her first film, To Have and Have Not (1944), made her an immediate star, both sources record; AP highlights the "just whistle" scene opposite Humphrey Bogart. Britannica says the two were married in 1945 and later costarred in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). Other films Britannica lists include Young Man with a Horn (1950), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Designing Woman (1957), and The Shootist (1976), with Ron Howard and John Wayne. After Bogart's death in 1957, Britannica says, she scored a Broadway hit in Cactus Flower and later wrote the autobiographies By Myself (1978), Now (1994), and And Then Some (2005). AP notes a National Book Award for By Myself, two Tony Awards, a first Oscar nomination for The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), and an honorary Oscar at the 2009 Governors Awards.

Death

Bacall died on August 12, 2014, at age 89. Britannica gives the place as New York, New York. AP, citing hospital officials, says she was pronounced dead that afternoon at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Name notes for searchers

Betty Joan Perske is the documented original name; the professional name is Lauren Bacall. Searchers looking for the lead in To Have and Have Not or The Big Sleep are usually aiming at the same person.