Lauren Bacall dies: Five of the screen legend’s notable movie roles

Hollywood lost one of its most storied screen stars Tuesday with the death of Lauren Bacall, whose gravelly voice and sultry looks captivated Humphrey Bogart and legions of moviegoers alike. With a career spanning seven decades, Bacall left behind a distinguished body of work, including memorable films with and without her beloved Bogey.

Here are five of her memorable big-screen performances.

“To Have and to Have Not” (1944): Making her first film appearance at the age of 19, Bacall set the screen smoldering with Bogart in Howard Hawks’ 1944 war drama about an expat American charter-boat captain (Bogart) in Martinique who falls for a beautiful drifter (Bacall) while getting entangled with the French resistance. The film featured the now-famous scene in which Bacall’s Slim teaches Bogart’s Steve to whistle — “You just put your lips together and blow” — and established the pair as a sizzling screen duo.

“The Big Sleep” (1946): Bogey and Bacall reunited on the screen in Hawks’ adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s classic detective novel “The Big Sleep.” Bogart gave the definitive performance as the hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe, while Bacall portrayed Vivian Sternwood, the strong-willed eldest daughter of a dying millionaire. Like its source material, “The Big Sleep” is a complex, confusing whodunit, but the plot takes a backseat to sharp dialog, crackerjack direction and Bogart and Bacall’s palpable chemistry. Bacall and Bogart would go on to star in two more films together, “Dark Passage” and “Key Largo.”

“How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953): Bacall got a chance to show off her comedic chops in director Jean Negulesco’s romantic comedy co-starring Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable. The three played a trio of gold-diggers who split a New York city penthouse in the hopes of ensnaring wealthy men. As Schatze, the group’s strict ringleader, Bacall once again treated audiences to her effortless cool while also allowing moments of vulnerability to peek through. Bonus: It’s all captured in the then-new technologies of Technicolor and CinemaScope.

“Written on the Wind” (1956): Bacall starred opposite Rock Hudson, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone in “Written on the Wind,” arguably the best of director Douglas Sirk’s lush melodramas. Bacall played a New York secretary who enters the lives of an immoral, imploding, oil-rich Texan family. Hudson and Bacall’s more grounded characters helped set the stage for Stack and Malone’s dynamic supporting performances, both of which earned Oscar nominations (Malone won).

“The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996): Bacall, for her part, earned her first and only Oscar nomination more than five decades into her career, for her supporting role as the overbearing mother to Barbra Streisand’s English literature professor in this romantic dramedy. Bacall, who had already won a Golden Globe for her sardonic turn, was considered the frontrunner in the Oscar race but ultimately lost to Juliette Binoche for the latter’s role in “The English Patient.” In 2009, however, Bacall received an honorary Oscar “in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures.”

Follow @ogettell for movie news