Lauren Bacall, An Astrological Centennial

She was born Betty Joan Perske, but she was Lauren Bacall.  The grace, sophistication and style that her stage name came to embody fitted her like a glove, but Lauren Bacall was never comfortable with her Hollywood moniker, and remained “Betty” to friends and family to the end of her days, though Bogie called her “Babe.”  Born 16 September 1924 with sun sign Virgo, Lauren Bacall would have celebrated her centenary this week if she hadn’t died a decade ago.

Bacall was born in the Bronx, and gravitated toward acting at an early age, taking lessons at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York (where she briefly dated fellow student Kirk Douglas).  Her first professional gig was as a model; noted for her “cat-like grace, tawny blonde hair, and blue-green eyes,” Bacall made a splash quickly, appearing on the covers of “Harper’s Bazaar” and “Vogue.”  It was the “Harper’s” shoot which grabbed the attention of “Slim” Keith, wife of Hollywood producer and director Howard Hawks, who insisted he offer her a screen test for his latest film project, “To Have and Have Not.”  After they met, Hawks cast her in the female lead without hesitation, despite her tender age (she was 19 at the time) and total lack of film experience. 

Hollywood legend states that Bogie and Bacall met on the set of “To Have and Have Not” in 1944, but in fact, they were introduced several months earlier by Hawks; neither was impressed initially.  It was a different story once principal photography for the Hemingway-inspired film began, with the two rapidly falling in love and beginning an affair; he was 25 years her senior.  Humphrey Bogart was on his third marriage at the time (the first two having failed in divorce), but ended his current union the following year, and he and Bacall were married less than two weeks later.

Their onscreen chemistry was apparent, and they went on to make four films together, including “The Big Sleep” (1946), “Dark Passage” (1947) and “Key Largo” (1948), all popular box office successes, and acknowledged as classics today.  The inexperienced Bacall was so nervous filming with star Bogie on that first set, that she couldn’t keep her head still, and her chin trembled constantly.  The problem was such that Bacall feared she’d be dumped from the picture because of it, but Bogie took her under his wing, and together he and Hawks found a solution – if Bacall kept her head down, she could maintain her composure.  That meant she was always shot looking up at her costar with raised eyes, and this trademark glance earned her the Hollywood sobriquet, “The Look.”

Despite three prior marriages, Bogart had never been a father, until Bacall gave him his first child in 1949, a son named Stephen after Bogie’s character Steve in the film that brought them together.  They also had a daughter, Leslie.  Their love affair continued until Bogart died of cancer in January 1957.

Bacall went on to date other actors, including Frank Sinatra, and married Jason Robards in 1961; they had one son, and divorced in 1969.  Her career continued with such acclaimed comedic films as “How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953), with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, and “Designing Woman” (1957), with Gregory Peck.  Now entering her forties, an age when Hollywood actresses often become invisible, Bacall retreated to her first love, the Broadway stage, winning Tony Awards for “Applause” (1970) and “Woman of the Year” (1981). 

She continued to appear in films until 2011, in increasingly smaller parts, and received an Academy Honorary Award in 2010 in recognition of her body of work throughout her film career.  Lauren Bacall suffered a stroke and died in her New York apartment on 12 August 2014, just weeks shy of her ninetieth birthday.

Born 16 September 1924 at 2 AM EDT in New York, NY (Rodden Rating B), asteroids approximating Lauren Bacall’s birth names fall in typical placement, with asteroid Betti 17076 at 4 Capricorn trine the 28 Aries Moon, and asteroid Joan 2677 at 12 Virgo in sesquiquadrate to it, also conjoined the 14 Virgo Mercury and exactly semisquare the 27 Cancer Ascendant.  What’s remarkable, however, is that her eponymous asteroid, Laurenbacall 5107, not discovered until 1987 when the actress was in her sixties, falls at 23 Gemini, exactly squared her 23 Virgo Sun!

Bacall thus joins the ranks of the asteroid-nominated celebrities whose celestial namesakes appear in eerily appropriate positions in their birth charts.  These include Robin Williams, with asteroid Robinwilliams 12820 conjoined the Ascendant; Brad Pitt, with asteroid Bradpitt 29132 conjoined his Sun; Freddie Mercury, with asteroid Freddiemercury 17473 exactly conjunct Mercury; and Stevie Wonder, with asteroid Steviewonder 144296 conjunct his Moon.  It is truly a bizarre, but accommodating, cosmos!

Laurenbacall, as a stage name for her career, also interacts with Saturn, ruling career, at 0 Scorpio (in trine), and the 11 Aries Midheaven, representing reputation, status, and our place in the world, by semisquare.  Her vocation under that moniker can be seen in Laurenbacall’s sesquiquadrate to asteroid Actor 12238 at 9 Aquarius.

Howard Hawks’ impact on her acting career is seen as asteroid Hawke 3452 at 9 Libra, conjunct the 11 Libra IC and opposed the Midheaven, also exactly trine asteroid Actor.  The IC is a foundational point, and Hawks, with his wife’s help, created Lauren Bacall from whole cloth, teaching her how to walk, talk, dress, interact and look like a movie star, almost singlehandedly creating her acting (Actor) career (MC).

Humphrey Bogart, the love of her life and another early formative influence, is seen as asteroids Humphreys 10172 at 8 Pisces and Bogard 4794 at 2 Leo.  Humphreys is closely inconjunct Venus, planetary ruler of romance and relationships, at 7 Leo, which Bogard conjoins, also aligned with the 27 Cancer Ascendant, a point which affects how others see us.  Bogart’s role in crafting her public image was a powerful one, but it was their marriage which established them as one of Hollywood’s premiere couples, with Humphreys also conjunct asteroid Groom 5129 at 10 Pisces, and sesquiquadrate asteroid Juno 3 at 26 Libra, named for the Roman goddess of marriage, doubling down on the matrimonial connection.  Bogard also squares Juno, for a third nuptial bond between them. 

(Second husband Jason Robards appears as asteroid Jason 6063, which at 14 Leo conjoins Venus and is closely sextile asteroid Hera 103 at 15 Libra, named for Juno’s Greek precursor.  Whereas asteroid Sinatra 7934 at 25 Leo, named for the singer/actor with whom she had a brief affair, opposes asteroid Aphrodite 1388 at 1 Pisces, noted for transitory romantic alliances that often do not result in long-term unions.)

When Bacall and Bogie wed on 21 May 1945, it was under a T-Square of the Sun at 0 Gemini on its fulcrum, squared to asteroids Laurenbacall at 9 Pisces (conjunct natal Humphreys/Groom) and Humphreys at 5 Virgo.  Asteroid Betti at 23 Gemini was an exact match for natal Laurenbacall, and conjoined transit Hera at 26 Gemini – it was time for Betty Bacall to marry.  Asteroid Bogard at 9 Cancer was exactly trine Laurenbacall, and conjunct Saturn at 8 Cancer, representing both maturity or old age (Bogart was 46 at this, his fourth, marriage) and the official “consort,” as well as signifying a father figure, which Bogie surely was to his child bride.

That Saturn connection is also reflected in Humphrey Bogart’s birth chart (born 25 December 1899, no time available), with his natal asteroid Laurenbacall exactly conjunct Saturn at 26 Sagittarius.   Laurenbacall also reaches out to asteroid Briede 19029 (phonetic match for “bride”) at 22 Aquarius, in sextile, and asteroid Hera at 22 Pisces, in square.  Asteroid Betti at 18 Gemini is trine Briede and inconjunct asteroids Actor and Juno at 18 and 19 Capricorn, bringing the matrimonial wheel full circle, with Bogie choosing an actress (Actor) bride (Briede) named Betty (Betti) as his wife (Juno).  (Bogart’s first three wives, Helen Menken, Mary Philips, and Mayo Methot, were actresses as well – he definitely had a “type”! – as reflected in that Actor/Juno pairing.)

Despite her popularity, Bacall was never nominated for an Academy Award during the peak of her career, but did receive a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work in 1997’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” opposite Barbra Streisand.  She was recognized by her peers with an Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2010.  The potential for an Oscar was there in the birth chart, with asteroid Academia 829 (for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which sponsors the awards) at 25 Capricorn, angular on the 27 Capricorn Ascendant, squared both Saturn (career) at 0 Scorpio and asteroid Victoria 12 (named for the Roman goddess of victory) at 28 Libra.  Academia also squares asteroid Oskar 751 at 18 Libra, which is trine Laurenbacall (with an inconjunct from Academia).  The presence of asteroid NOT 2857 at 28 Scorpio, sextile Academia, may have impeded her Oscar hopes, with NOT as a general disqualifier or symbol of negation.  Together, NOT and Academia form the base of a Yod pattern, or Finger of Destiny, with Laurenbacall at its Apex, suggesting Bacall might never garner an award for a specific film.

Lauren Bacall passed on 12 August 2014, with the Sun at 19 Leo conjoined asteroid Laurenbacall at 21 Leo, spotlighting her one last time.  Also here is asteroid Lachesis 120 at 17 Leo, named for the Greek Fate who determines the span of life, while Mercury at 24 Leo brought news of her death.  Laurenbacall is also widely opposed asteroid Anubis 1912 at 12 Aquarius, named for the Egyptian deity governing funerary rites; and more closely squared Saturn at 17 Scorpio, the ancient lord of death.

A grouping of Venus and Jupiter with asteroid Requiem 2254 at 0, 6 and 7 Leo prefigures the death (Requiem, named for the funeral mass for the dead) of a female (Venus) celebrity (Jupiter), while a pairing of asteroids Atropos 273 (named for the Greek Fate who severs the thread of life at death) and Actor at 0 and 3 Libra signals the death of an actress.  In sextile to each other, these two groups form the base of another Yod, with Neptune at 6 Pisces on its Apex, inconjunct to both, specifying a movie actress as the deceased celebrity in question.

Activations to astrological death indicators in the natal chart include transit Requiem at 7 Leo squared a natal Lachesis/Rip 7711 (for “RIP”, Rest In Peace) pairing at 3 and 5 Taurus, also opposed by transit Mars at 9 Scorpio; transit Lachesis/Sun at 17 and 19 Leo conjoined natal Atropos at 13 Leo; transit Betti at 25 Libra conjoined natal Osiris 1923 (Egyptian god of the dead) at 18 Libra, also squared exactly by transit Joan at 18 Capricorn; and transit Mercury at 24 Leo squared natal Anubis at 27 Scorpio.

Lauren Bacall remains an icon of feminine beauty, grace and style, an image which even time cannot dim.

Alex Miller

Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, whose website AlexAsteroidAstrology.com offers a trove of info on the role of asteroids in personal and mundane astrology. He is the author of The Black Hole Book (available on Amazon.com) and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. Alex’s books and writings are available on his website. Alex can also be reached for comment or services at .