Under the weight of Robin Williams, came word yesterday of another Hollywood death — one of my most-favorite, the most-wonderful, Lauren Bacall.
She was old, though, and went out the normal way at age 89.

Although she’d been out out the major spotlight for decades, Bacall was the epitome of the modern woman — quick-lipped, way-too-intelligent than any guy and way-too-suggestive for someone so smart. When I was about 12, I wanted to marry her, or Sophia Loren, whichever.

Tall, lanky with the so-called ‘The Look‘ — ‘…chin low, eyes glancing up in a come-hither but still better-than-you stare…‘ — Bacall was cool despite shaking mental fibers:

“I used to tremble from nerves so badly that the only way I could hold my head steady was to lower my chin practically to my chest and look up at Bogie. That was the beginning of The Look.”

And she looked the part. Sucking up small, dumb-ass verbiage and reflecting it back with intelligent flirting, like her seemingly tagline from “To Have and Have Not,” and can you handle this, Bogie: “Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.”

Bacall was maybe too smart for Hollywood — via Aljazeera:

In 1999, the American Film Institute voted Lauren Bacall one of the 25 most significant female movie stars in history.
When asked if she thought of herself as a legend, her response was unambiguous.
“No, I don’t like legend. I mean, I don’t like the category.
“And to begin with, to me, a legend is something that is not on the earth, that is dead … because legends are built and evolve in the past.
“They’re not the present.”

And in the present nowadays, there’s a lot of shit that makes one near-constantly weep, huh?

(Illustration: Lauren Bacall from “Key Largo,” found here).