How did the making of a single movie forge a lifelong friendship? Let's dig
into the bond between screen legends Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall.
Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall were already established stars with steady movie careers by
the time they met. Hepburn was nearly 20 years older than Bacall and had been one
of Hollywood's biggest box office draws during the 1930s. Bacall was just a kid
as Hepburn's career was ramping up, but she got her own start in Hollywood in the 1940s.
According to Biography, Bacall's real name was Betty Joan Perske, and she hailed from New York
City, where she was raised by a working class family. Somewhat in line with her upbringing,
Bacall's first job in show business was as an usher at a movie theater, but before long
her talents and looks landed her a spot on stage in productions both on and off Broadway. She was
offered a screen test in 1943 and soon after she took her now famous stage name and her own
career was underway. At just 19, she appeared in her first film, "To Have and Have Not," in 1944,
where she met her future husband, Humphrey Bogart. It was through Bogart that Bacall's star would
continue to rise, and also through Bogart that she would form a lifelong bond with Hepburn.
"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."
It's not too surprising that filming of "The African Queen," a survival epic starring Bogart
and Hepburn and directed by the great John Huston, ended up being a bonding experience for the cast
and crew. It was filmed in 1951 in the jungles of what's now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The crew was far from any town or stores, which meant they had to work to be self-sustaining.
Bacall tagged along to help out with meals and with transporting things,
no one had an assistant with them, and as the film's continuity director Angela Allen
later told Vulture that everyone camped together and generally helped each other.
Bogart and Bacall's son, Stephen, also remembered some of his parents' horror
stories from the shooting of "The African Queen." In an interview with The New York Post,
Stephen Bogart noted that his father had several run-ins with leeches,
while his mother once woke up to find the floor of her tent covered with ants.
After going through that and more, the whole crew bonded, including Hepburn and Bacall.
Bacall later told TCM's Robert Osborne that she thought Hepburn grew to admire her behavior
during the troubled production, which lasted more than eight weeks and was never without difficulty.
In a 1987 appearance on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," Bacall remembered how
nearly everyone in the cast and crew got sick from drinking contaminated water while filming
on location. Bacall, Bogart, and director John Huston were the only ones who avoided illness,
in part because Bogart and Huston always preferred drinking alcohol instead of just plain water.
Bacall also described sleeping in huts made of bamboo and palm leaves with earthen
floors — hence the ant problem — and sitting outside in the extremely hot temperatures.
Despite the troubles, she remembered it as a fascinating experience,
and it helped cement a 50-year friendship with Hepburn.
Bogart also befriended his co-star Hepburn on the set of "The African Queen," so when they got back
to the United States, Bogart and Bacall started spending time with Hepburn and her partner,
actor Spencer Tracy. Hepburn and Tracy had a relationship that spanned three decades,
but they kept much of it hidden due to the fact that Tracy was still married to Louise Treadwell,
a former actress herself. The two had been married in 1923, but had been living separately for years.
However, Tracy was a devout Catholic and refused to get a divorce from Treadwell,
but that didn't stop his relationship with Hepburn. Bacall wrote that Hepburn
was "blindingly" in love with Tracy, which meant that his marriage didn't stop them.
Tracy and Hepburn starred in nine films together over the course of their long relationship,
including "Adam's Rib" and Tracy's final film, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."
"I have to be happy for her, Matt, and I am."
According to Vanity Fair, Hepburn and Tracy often visited Bogart and Bacall
when Bogart grew seriously ill just before his death in 1957.
Hepburn's friendship during that time was especially important to Bacall, who told
Robert Osborne in 2005 that Hepburn respected the way she acted during Bogart's illness,
and that Hepburn was very careful with her in the wake of his death.
Bacall and Hepburn worked with the same editor, Robert Gottlieb, while writing
their respective memoirs. Gottlieb later recalled that Bacall didn't need any help with the writing;
she just needed a place to work, so he got her an office at his publishing company.
She wrote her book by hand and had typists transcribe it at the end of each day.
Other than a few disagreements over what photos should be on the cover,
Gottlieb said Bacall was easy to work with. The book found its way to the top of the
best-sellers list and earned a National Book Award for the legendary movie star.
Hepburn was a different story. Gottlieb described her autobiography "Me: Stories of My Life" as
self-absorbed and not completely honest, though he thought the title was appropriate. Gottlieb
had also worked with Hepburn on her previous book, "The Making of The African Queen:
How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall, and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind."
According to the editor, work on the first book was quite a bit easier than work on the second.
In her autobiography, Bacall remembered the last time she saw Hepburn before Hepburn's death in
2003. They looked at books featuring pictures of Bogart and Tracy, and Bacall talked to Hepburn
about them. Though Hepburn was suffering from dementia, she seemed to remember them during
their conversation. When Bacall went to leave, Hepburn asked her to stay. Bacall stayed with
her friend for another half hour, before saying goodbye with several kisses on Hepburn's cheeks.
According to Vanity Fair, Hepburn responded by simply saying, quote, "Thank you."
Bacall lived for another decade, having also survived Bogart, Tracy,
Huston, and many other figures of Hollywood's golden years. In her second autobiography,
"Now," she reflected on her years of being alone. She continued to act until
the end of her life, receiving her only Oscar nomination in 1996, and winning an
honorary Oscar for her overall film work in 2009. In 2014 she died of a stroke at age 89.
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