Lauren Bacall: with that voice, that look, and above all that spirit, it's no wonder this legendary actress is so expert at making waves—and riding them. And as her performances in two daring, cult-ready new movies prove, she's not about to rest on her laurels

Interview, April, 2004 by Brad Goldfarb

LB: Yeah, once you pass the age of 25, you're in trouble. The preoccupation with youth and with endless trips to the plastic surgeon beginning at age 18 is just horrific. But I'm very lucky. Believe me, I'm grateful every day for the fact that I'm still working, and I intend to keep working until I drop, which I hope will not be today or tomorrow. [laughs] But I think the reason I've continued to work is that I've never stopped, and also that I've spent 20 years starring in plays and musicals and being in the public eye and being able to play the kinds of parts that I never would have been offered in California. No one ever thought of me in any way except the way I was in To Have and Have Not, and naturally one cannot continue that. So I was fortunate in that I was in musicals--the thing I wanted all my life--and hit musicals, as well as the great Broadway comedy Cactus Flower. Even though Bette Davis was my idol I never thought I'd be in movies. I only wanted to be onstage. I wanted to see my name in lights. I wanted to take that curtain call. And I received recognition for my work in the theater, which I never really did in California.

BG: Do you think that's because the early excitement of your career was so quickly eclipsed by your marriage to Humphrey Bogart?

LB: Well, I think the minute I married Bogie I was just considered his wife. My career kind of stopped. Fortunately, I was in some very good movies without him while he was still alive, but after that--boy, I was in some duds. But I got out of that town, and thank God.

BG: It sounds like you think leaving saved you.

LB: I think it did save me. I was able to go to England and be in a good movie, Flame Over India [1959], and just shake up my life and then come back to New York where my mother and family were. This is where my roots are. I was offered a play here, Goodbye Charlie, and I was thrilled with the idea. It was a perfect reason for me to end up in New York and to put my children in school here. And then once I landed here, that's where I stayed. And that's where I had my work opportunities and where I developed as an actress and as a musical performer and as a comedian and all the things that I wanted to be. So I'm grateful to the Broadway theater, God knows.

BG: What's your relationship with Hollywood like today?

LB: Well, it's okay. I go out there because one of my sons lives there, though temporarily, and my daughter lives there, and occasionally I'm asked to do certain things. I've presented at the Golden Globes a couple times, but I'm never asked to present at the Academy Awards.

BG: Yet you were nominated for an Oscar for The Mirror Has Two Faces [1996].

LB: Yeah, well, nobody cares--losers don't count. I don't know, they just don't think of me. What can I tell you? The problem in America as far as actors are concerned--and it's probably true in other fields as well--is that they don't value people who are older or talented. I don't think ability means anything. How much money you have or how much money you can make for them are the only things they seem to care about or understand. You can't fight that battle, can you?