You would think that, by this time, Lauren Bacall had seen it all.
But on Monday night at Elle Magazine's Women in Hollywood Tribute, Miss Bacall said she was downright discombobulated after negotiating a frenzied press line with photographers screaming and flashes going off everywhere. Then there were the endless questions about how she felt about being one of the evening's honorees.
"I've never been in the middle of anything like this before. I don't know what it's like [to be honored by Women in Hollywood]. I'll have to let the evening progress and then I will discover it myself...A serious question requires a long answer and using my brain but my brain is now addled because of the screaming."
The great star may be 83 years old, but she remains more interested in continuing to be a busy working actress than dwell on past roles in a career that began with 1944's "To Have and Have Not" opposite future husband Humphrey Bogart and include an Oscar-nominated performance in 1996's "The Mirror Has Two Faces."
"I'm unemployed at the moment," said Bacall, whose most recent film, "The Walker," will be released in December. "["The Walker"] has got Woody Harrelson, Lily Tomlin, Kristen Scott Thomas, and me."

Bacall, just 19 when she became a major star in her very first film, went on to make four films with Bogart in the 50s, including "The Big Sleep" and "Key Largo." Other memorable roles followed in "Young Man With a Horn," "Written in the Wind," "Blood Alley," "How to Marry a Millionaire" and "Designing Woman."
But for Bacall, it has not been easy.
"I'm not like anyone," she says. "My career has not been a smooth career. It's been very up and down in movies."
Broadway beckoned in the 60s and early 70s but she returned to films in 1974's "Murder on the Orient Express" and "The Shootist" - John Wayne's final film, had a juicy role as a Broadway star being stalked in "The Fan," and since 2003, has had roles in "Dogville," "Birth" "Manderlay," and "These Foolish Things."

But even if film roles dry up - as they sometimes have - Bacall has never been one to sit around. She's had the Broadway stage to keep her busy, winning Tony Awards in 1970 and 1981 for the musicals "Applause" and "Woman of the Year." She also won the National Book Award in the late 70s for her autobiography, "By Myself" which she updated a few years ago with new chapters.
"I had a great 20 year period on the stage, I love the theater, that was my first love, and I keep going. I've written three books and I just keep going...Until they catch me."
In some ways, she is emulating her childhood idol, Bette Davis, who was still making movies after her 80th birthday.
"She was a brilliant actress," she says of Davis. "A talent. Talent is what I worship."