"I'm hard to get, Steve. All you have to do is ask me."
--Lauren Bacall, as Slim, to Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not"
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In "The Mirror Has Two Faces," there is a scene-stealing supporting role for a New York-savvy, aged-but-still-formidable beauty with the measured delivery and comic timing of Alice Kramden.
Lauren Bacall was a natural for it.
She also was plenty available, she says. Hollywood isn't exactly beating down her door these days, a condition that anyone who spends five minutes with this actress would find hard to fathom. At 71, the former Betty Joan Perske comes across as intelligent, genuine, witty and opinionated. Actually, perhaps that explains it.
She has lost none of the star magic that radiated even in the intense light of her frequent co-star Humphrey Bogart. Dressed in a sleek black pantsuit and multiple gold baubles, with because-I'm-worth-it-blond hair falling softly at her shoulders, Bacall talked recently over a cup of tea in her Four Seasons Hotel suite in Los Angeles.
She recalled Hollywood during the days of the studio system and had many an opinion about changes in the industry since then. But she was most eager to talk about her new film, directed by and starring Barbra Streisand. Bacall gets to deliver some memorable zingers in the movie.
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Question: Why did you decide to do this particular movie now?
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Answer: Well, it's a terrific part, that's the main reason--a better part than I have been offered for some time. And working with Barbra, of course, was a giant attraction because I'm a fan of hers and I have tremendous respect for her.
(Bacall still remembers her first introduction to Streisand, at the opening-night party for the Broadway run of "Funny Girl" in 1964: "I looked at her, and I thought: You're too damn good. I said, 'It's just so depressing, it's really upsetting. I think maybe I ought to smack you.' And she said, 'Well, that's good, isn't it?' She liked the fact that I was jealous.")
Also, I've never been directed by a woman. It was a wonderful cast, and I knew it would be classy. Her standards are as high as mine, and I'm as big a perfectionist as she is--maybe a little less cuckoo but not so much less--and I understand it and am simpatico with it. So I thought, what a great opportunity for me. Plus she was shooting it in New York, so I could live at home.
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Q: Your comedic timing in the movie is really . . .
A: Don't you understand, that's what I do. I play comedy. I'm very good at comedy. That's the one area in my career that I really feel secure about. Jack Benny, who was the most perfect comedian who ever performed, told me I had perfect timing. And I thought, "Well, if Jack Benny says so, by God, I'm proud of that." I love comedy. I believe that life without laughter is no life. There are people who don't have humor; I couldn't stand to be around them. I really couldn't bear it.
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Q: Are you more fond of the comedic roles you've played, then?
A: Well, it depends upon the part. Unfortunately, I have not been offered such great parts in quite a while. But there was comedy in "To Have and Have Not." And certainly "Designing Woman" and "How to Marry a Millionaire" were comedies--there's been comedy in a lot of good parts I've played. And then every now and then I would play a kind of straight part because I wanted the change, and maybe those parts weren't quite as good, but anyway. . . .
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Q: The common rap right now is that there aren't enough substantial parts for women. And for older women, I would imagine that the pie shrinks even further.
A: Yeah, but there are no parts for any age women, that's the thing. "The First Wives Club," which is the big success this year, those three women [Diane Keaton, Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn] are all over 50, so they're not kids. But Julia Roberts, who was the hottest woman in pictures a couple of years ago, hasn't had a decent part in three, four years. There are very few good roles for women. Barbra found this one; Goldie got that one. So it takes a woman to find a woman's part.
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Q: And a powerful woman to get it made?
A: And how many women can do that? Very few.
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Q: One of the things I found most interesting in your first autobiography was the story of "The Look" (chin to chest, eyes raised coyly), which became your trademark and nickname. You say that came about (in "To Have and Have Not") because you were trying to steady your head, which was shaking from nerves. Most people probably wouldn't think of you as the nervous type.
A: I'm a nervous person. I think most actors have nerves, and I think it's healthy to have nerves, as long as they don't take over. You have to learn to control them, and gradually I did, though it's taken me a long time. I still have nerves when I have to make an appearance or something. It's my nature.
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Q: When you imagine Lauren Bacall on screen, do you see her in black and white or in color?
A: God, you know, I don't even think of that. But I can tell you that I prefer black and white to color.
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