A few years back, I once had to “explain” who Lauren Bacall was to a friend thanks to (of all things) a rather hilarious episode of The Sopranos where she was unceremoniously mugged by one of the main characters after an awards show:

When I said “explain” above, I didn’t do much in the way of talking at all other than to point him in the direction of Howard Hawks’ brilliant To Have and Have Not so he could see one tiny reason why she was so important. I’d say she got a lot more respect after that. And a whistle, most likely. This is turning into a kind of rotten week for falling stars, isn’t it? Still, while I’m not a believer in the afterlife, I’d bet that right about now, Bogie is sitting on a bar stool about to have a round when the doors swing open, a certain someone walks in with a cool breeze blowing behind her and without turning around, he lifts up his left hand which has two unlit cigarettes in it and says “What kept you, doll? I was getting bored here”, to which he’ll hear a smoky, purred “You were getting lonely here, you mean…”, as the lady takes both smokes and lights them then passes one back to him as he’s turning around.

They kiss (of course), THE END

Fade out. Roll credits…