Jason Robards Jr.: Was Lauren Bacall Husband in ‘60s Before Divorce; Father of One of Her Children; Died in 2000

Jason Robards posing for photographer during the Deauville US film festival, northwestern France, where he presented his film 'Storyville' directed by Mark Frost, in 1992. Robards was Lauren Bacall's second husband. He died in 2000. (Getty Images)

Jason Robards Jr. was one of Lauren Bacall’s two husbands.

Robards , also an actor, married Bacall in 1961, following her marriage to Humphrey Bogart.

They were together until 1969.

Bacall had one of her three children with Robards. Sam Robards was born in December 1961. He is also an actor.

Robards Jr. was the son of Jason Robards Sr., an actor in early films and in theater.

Robards Sr. was reportedly a fairly big actor during the silent film era but fell out of hand during the transition to films with sound, leaving his son soured to Hollywood.

But while in the Navy he started thinking about becoming an actor, after emceeing for a Navy band in Pearl Harbor and drawing some laughs, reported the New York Times Magazine.

Robards Jr. found small parts for several years, appearing in episodes in more than half a dozen television shows from 1951 through 1959. His big break is thought to have come from playing Theodore ‘Hickey’ Hickman in The Iceman Cometh. He’s best known for roles in Once Upon a Time in the West, All the President’s Men, Philadelphia, and Magnolia, according to IMDB.

He won a number of awards, including a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor for Inherit the Wind (1988) and an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Julia (1978).

Bacall and Robards split mainly because of his alcoholism, Bacall said in her autobiography. Bacall was Robards third wife. He divorced the first two as well.

He married Lois O'Connor in 1970 and stayed with her until his death in 2000 due to lung cancer.