Lauren Bacall wouldn't call Tom Cruise a great actor

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 2, 2005

Lauren Bacall has a few unkind words to say about Tom Cruise.

In an interview in the Aug. 8 issue of Time magazine, now on newsstands, the 80-year-old actress says, "When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise.

"His whole behavior is so shocking," she says. "It's inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it's kind of a sickness."

Bacall was alluding to Cruise's displays of emotion and public courting of Katie Holmes in the weeks leading up to the release of his new film, "War of the Worlds." Cruise and Holmes became engaged in June after he proposed at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Last fall, Bacall made similar remarks about Cruise's ex-wife Nicole Kidman, her co-star in "Birth." While promoting the movie, Bacall became irritated when an interviewer described Kidman as "a legend."

"She's not a legend," Bacall said. "She can't be a legend at whatever age she is. . . . You have to be older."

"Private Screenings: Lauren Bacall" and a marathon of Bacall's films were to air Monday on TCM.