KATHARINE HEPBURN & LAUREN BACALL - Inside Their SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP

THE LEGENDARY ACTRESSES FORGED A STRONG, SUPPORTIVE RELATIONSHIP THAT LASTED MORE THAN 50 YEARS

- LOUISE A. BARILE

On the first leg of their journey to Africa together, Lauren Bacall boarded a plane in Rome and discovered Katharine Hepburn hiding in the restroom. “I opened the door and there was Katie laughing uproariously at having outwitted the press,” Lauren remembered in her memoir By Myself.

The exotic set of 1951’s The African Queen began a close friendship between Katharine and Lauren, or “Kate” and “Betty,” as they called each other. Over the next 50 years, the two silver-screen legends shared secrets, sorrows and advice. They leaned on each other when tragedy struck and put friendship first when show business pitted them against each other. “To be accepted as a true friend despite the difference in our ages,” wrote Lauren, who was 17 years Kate’s junior, “is it any wonder I adored her?”

As a young woman in New York, Lauren had seen Katharine onstage and came into the relationship already a fan. To support her husband, Humphrey Bogart, she traveled to the set of The African Queen, where Katharine sized up the younger actress. “She has lovely tawny skin, and she has the most fabulous sandy hair,” Katharine recalled in her memoir The Making of The African Queen. “I gazed at her and wondered if I would go mad with jealousy.”