Bacall Still Alive, Thank You

ByABC News
November 21, 2000, 2:27 PM

November 20 -- "I do have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dead," joked 76-year-old screen legend Lauren Bacall as she accepted a lifetime achievement award in Stockholm, Sweden

"An achievement award means it's over, but I can assure you it's not over," said the star of such classic films as To Have and Have Not and How to Marry a Millionaire.

Bacall was honored Sunday at Stockholm's 11th annual film festival.

The actress, who was born Betty Jane Perske, was honored for her "straightforwardness, intelligence, and an ironic look that have given her portrayals their unique strength and weight." Early in her career, she formed one of cinema's coolest on-screen couples with husband-to-be Humphrey Bogart in Key Largo and The Big Sleep.

Most recently, she and Tony winner Rosemary Harris appeared in the Broadway play Waiting in the Wings as ex-actresses in a retirement home.