she was from hollywood's golden era and the wife of actor humphry bogart. ♪ the big sleep was among aandful of films they made together. but their love affair was one of tinseltown's greatest romances. bogart died of cancer in 1957, leaving bacall a widow at 32 with two small children. for a time she was engaged to family friend and singer frank sinatra. when the romance fizzled, sin nat interest headed to las vegas. soon bacall fell in love again and married actor jason robards with whom she had a son. she blamed his drinking for their divorce. >> i don't know if he enjoyed it, but he was hooked on it. and it really almost destroyed him. fortunately it did not. >> reporter: bacall was born betty joan perskie. her parents were immigrants who divorced when she was just 6. as a lanky teen, she modelled to earn extra money, taking her mother's maiden name bacall, adding a second l to make it easier to pronounce. film director howard houck saw her on a magazine cover. a screen test later and he changed her name. >> he thought lauren bacall was better sounding than betty bacall. he had a v