Humphrey Bogart’s family announced the death of Lauren Bacall on Tuesday. The sultry, award-winning actress was 89.
Bacall, who was married to Bogart from 1945 until his death in 1957, had two children with her on-screen and off-screen lover. She also had a passion for dogs. Often, she would bring her dog, Sophie, a Papillion, to book signings and to stroll the red carpet.
Watch as actress Glenn Close interviews Bacall about Sophie in 2008. The two screen legends meet in Bacall’s Upper West Side apartment, the Dakota.
The women chat further about the dogs in Bacall’s life.
Close: When and how did you become a dog lover?
Bacall: I was always a dog yearner. I didn’t have a dog growing up in the city with a working mother. As an only child, I yearned for someone to talk to. When I was sixteen, we got a champagne-colored Cocker Spaniel and named him “Droopy”. He was very male. From the first moment, he was very possessive of me. All my dogs have been possessive of me. We eventually mated Droopy and kept one of his girl puppies—Puddle. I went to Los Angeles for a screen test when I was eighteen years old. My mother followed me out later. The dogs came, too.
In LA, Droopy was killed by a hit-and-run driver. There was a place in the valley where a nutty woman had a funeral parlor for dogs. I went to pay my last respects to Droopy. All the dogs were there in open caskets. Droopy was resting his head and paws on a pillow. It was terrible.
Bogey and I had Boxers. We were married on Louis Bromfield’s farm in Ohio. Louis had Boxers that would fight under the table at dinner. He gave us a week old Boxer puppy for a wedding present. We named him Harvey, after the invisible rabbit. Harvey was really smart. He knew he wasn’t allowed to get on the furniture so he would only put two paws on at a time. He would sit between us if we had a fight. Harvey died six months after Bogey. I went to see him at the vet’s and said goodbye. Five minutes after I got home, I was told that after I left, Harvey had eaten his dinner and died.
Close: What is your pet peeve about Sophie?
Bacall: She dictates. I’m her slave. She barks when I’m on the phone. She doesn’t like it when my back is to her.
That’s probably true about all of us and our pets. Maybe celebrities are just like us.
Photo A Certain Cinema
