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Lauren Bacall, leading light of Hollywood's golden age, dies aged 89

Legendary actress starred alongside first husband Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Marilyn Monroe

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Lauren Bacall, pictured in 2007. The Hollywood icon died on Tuesday, aged 89. Photo: AFP

Legendary actress Lauren Bacall, an icon of Hollywood’s golden age who lit up the silver screen in a series of classic films opposite her husband Humphrey Bogart, died on Tuesday aged 89, her family said.

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“With deep sorrow, yet with great gratitude for her amazing life, we confirm the passing of Lauren Bacall,” the Bogart estate confirmed in a brief statement on Twitter.

US media reports said Bacall had died after suffering a massive stroke at her home in New York on Tuesday morning.

Born Betty Joan Perske – “a nice Jewish girl from the Bronx,” as she later put it – Bacall electrified Hollywood in her 1944 screen debut , when she famously met Bogart and “taught him how to whistle.”

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Lauren Bacall with husband Humphrey Bogart at the Stork Club in New York in 1950. Photo: AP
Lauren Bacall with husband Humphrey Bogart at the Stork Club in New York in 1950. Photo: AP
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