Lauren Bacall was one of the last leading ladies from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She died on Tuesday at the age of 89. Her death was the latest in an extraordinarily hard week for show business, as it came 24 hours after Robin Williams’ shocking death.

Bacall came into the movies at age 19, a beauty far beyond her years. As a young film fan, I could never quite wrap my head around the fact that she is just 19 when she asks for a match from Humphrey Bogart in To Have And Have Not, her first film. That also means that she was just 20 when she had to deliver the confusing dialogue of The Big Sleep.

Although her career in the movies began to slow down by the mid 1950s, she never really stopped working, save for a break in the 1980s. In her later years, she would take supporting roles and even earned her first Oscar nomination for Barbra Streisand’s 1996 film The Mirror Has Two Faces. She also received her honorary Oscar in 2010.

Bacall’s career also includes a Golden Globe for the Streisand film and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. She earned three Emmy nominations for TV appearances. She also won two Tony Awards - one in 1981 for her performance in Woman of the Year and another in 1970 for Applause.

In honor of her iconic career, here are 10 classic films she starred in that you need to see right now.

image courtesy of Walter McBride/INFphoto.com

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10. Written on the Wind, 1956

Douglas Sirk was a director who defined the 1950s. At the time, his films were mostly dismissed as trite, “women’s pictures,” but in the years since, his films have been reappraised as melodramas critical of ‘50s American society. Written on the Wind was a rarity for him though, since it was critically acclaimed when it came out, mostly for Dorothy Malone’s Oscar-winning performance.

In this one, Bacall plays the love interest of Rock Hudson and the two provide the calming counter-punch to Malone and Robert Stack. Of course, Stack winds up married to Bacall, despite Rock’s feelings. Take a look at Bacall’s eyes in this scene. She was really good at getting maximum reaction out of minimal movement.

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9. Sex and the Single Girl, 1964

This comedy by Richard Quine is clearly dated, but it’s worth seeing Bacall paired with Henry Fonda as a married couple. We also have Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Oh, and a zany chase scene at the end. What could go wrong?

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8. Designing Woman, 1957

Designing Woman was another opportunity for Bacall to test her comic timing. Here, she’s a designer paired with Gregory Peck’s sports writer. The two get married quickly, but discover they have nothing in common when they get home. As with all great Vincente Minnelli movies, this one is beautifully photographed.

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7. Key Largo, 1948

For the final of their four films together, Bacall and Bogart starred in John Huston’s fast-paced adaptation of the Maxwell Anderson play. It centers on a group of hotel residents being held hostage as a hurricane hits Key Largo. Sure, many of the supporting stars seem to outshine Bogie & Bacall, including Edward G. Robinson’s manic performance as Johnny Rocco and Claire Trevor’s Oscar winning turn as Johnny’s moll. But Bogart and Bacall’s chemistry on screen is still alive and she gives another great performance here.

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6. The Shootist, 1976

The Shootist is best known as John Wayne’s final film and was directed by Don Siegel. Bacall gives a caring, moving performance as the woman who runs the house Wayne’s aging gunslinger spends his final days at. She is easily up to the challenge of starring alongside the “Duke.” Ron Howard also appears as her son.

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5. Murder on the Orient Express, 1974

In Sidney Lumet’s version of the Agatha Christie murder mystery, Albert Finney stars as everyone’s second-favorite private detective, Hercule Poirot. Ingrid Bergman won a third Oscar for her performance here. But Bacall also gives a lovely turn as Harriet Belinda Hubbard, the wealthy American socialite who loves to talk. That certainly plays to her best qualities.

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4. Young Man With A Horn, 1950

Young Man With A Horn is hardly among Casablanca director Michael Curtiz’s best work, but Bacall is really the film’s saving grace. Kirk Douglas is the real star of the movie, but when she comes in as the wrong woman for him to fall in love with (Doris Day is the right one), it drastically changes the film’s direction. It gets dark, and that’s when everyone in the film is at their best.

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3. The Big Sleep, 1946

Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep is the ultimate film noir, based on the Raymond Chandler novel and starring Bogart as Philip Marlowe. This is a strange case where the plot doesn’t make much sense. We just care about seeing Bogie and Bacall light the screen on fire.

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2. To Have And Have Not, 1944

The movie that started it all. From the moment Bacall asks Bogie, “Anybody got a match?” and then later gives her famous “whistle” speech, you just know instantly that she is going to be a force in movies. She was so unique and unlike anyone else on the screen. Her sultry beauty and smoky voice only helped to further highlight her talents. There’s a great smile she flashes at the end, as if to say “I’m here, and I’m not leaving.”

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1. Dark Passage, 1947

This may sound like an out-of-left-field choice, but anyone who has seen this great film noir can understand why I put it so high. This is more Bacall’s movie than Bogart’s, because we don’t see his face on-screen for nearly halfway through the film. He plays a San Quentin escapee who meets Bacall, a socialite who opens her door to him. Writer/director Delmer Daves got a fantastic performance from Bacall and it’s definitely a film to see.