Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall ( search ) sits in a secluded corner of the outdoor dining area of a tony Westside hotel for a twilight interview.She's near the end of a book promotion tour, which she found more strenuous than the movie tours of her Hollywood days, and she's in need of a little pick-me-up: "I'd like a pot of tea with a thermos of boiling water," she instructs a waiter.A longtime New Yorker, she has returned to her old stomping grounds — the house she shared with Humphrey Bogart was just a couple miles away — to hawk her new-old book, "By Myself and Then Some." ( search ) It's a unique publishing venture: The first part is a reprint of her excellent 1978 memoir, "By Myself." It is followed by "And Then Some," which brings her life up to date.Why do it that way?"I wasn't convinced it was such a great idea," she explains, "until my literary agent said, 'Listen, it's 25 years since "By Myself" was published. You've had a life since then; a lot of things have happened. There's a whole new ge...

Read More ›