jewish actresses photos: Jewish Actress Biography

Jewish Actress Biography
Lauren Bacall's 1944 Hollywood debut in To Have and Have Not catapulted this young Jewish actress into instant stardom. Co-starring with her husband-to-be, Humphrey Bogart, Bacall soon became known for "The Look"-downturned head, eyes looking up, suggestive of a young woman sexually wise beyond her years. She and Bogart were one of Hollywood's most famous Couples, both on screen and off, and Bacall was famous for her characterizations of women whose strong will complemented, rather than detracted from, their sexual attraction. Throughout her career in Hollywood, Bacall has felt economic and social pressure to relinquish a Jewish identity, a demand complicated by her strong allegiance to her first-generation Jewish immigrant family.

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, to William Perske and Romanian born Natalie (Weinstein) Perske. She spent her earliest years in Brooklyn. When she was six years old, her parents divorced, and she and her mother relocated to Manhattan. At age eight, her father stopped his weekly visits, and they remained estranged for the rest of his life. ,Vs an only child, Bacall was brought up in the close-knit, extended Weinstein family. In addition to her mother, Natalie Bacal (who changed her and her daughters last name to the Romanian version of Weinstein), Bacall was especially close to her grandmother Sophie, aunt Renee, and uncles Charlie and Jack and their spouses. Her maternal grandfather, Max Weinstein, had started life in America as a push-cart peddler and quickly earned enough to buy a small candy store in the Bronx. He died at age fifty-five, but Sophie Weinstein managed the candy store successfully enough to send her sons to City College to get law degrees. Natalie Bacal worked as a secretary.

While a student at Julia Richman High School, Bacall took Saturday acting classes at the New York School of the Theater. For a year after high school, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts until economic circumstances forced her to find employment. While looking for work in the theater, Bacall held jobs as a model on Seventh Avenue and as an usher on Broadway. She finally landed a few small roles, but still had to make ends meet by working as a model, this time for Harper's Bazaar. After seeing Bacall on the cover of the magazine, Slim Hawks suggested to her producer husband, Howard, that he invite the young woman to Hollywood for a screen test. This invitation was Bacall's big break.Jewish Actress