Lauren Bacall, Silver Screen Legend, Dead at 89

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Lauren Bacall, star of such all-time classic Hollywood films as The Big Sleep, Key Largo, Written on the Wind, and Designing Woman, has died at age 89.

According to TMZ the cause of death was a massive stroke.

Bacall made her film debut, opposite her soon-to-be husband Humphrey Bogart, in Howard Hawks’ To Have or Have Not. Only just out of her teens, she delivered a memorable and magnetic performance in the flick, as well as one of the most famous quotes in movie history:

You know you don’t have to act with me, Steve. You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.

She and Bogie remained married until his death in 1957.

In more recent years, Bacall gave an Oscar nominated turn in Barbara Streisand’s 1996 film, The Mirror Has Two Faces, and was memorable in Lars Von Trier’s 2003 film, Dogville.

Her credits are considerable, and her reputation as one of the great film presences of numerous Hollywood eras unassailable. Variety pays tribute here.