Humphrey Bogart 1899 – 1957 ….the stuff that dreams are made of…

He became just “Bogie” to the world…people like to give nicknames to those important to them. He has been dead for almost 50 years but he is still considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time. His films, mannerisms and even bits of his movie dialogue have become permanent parts of Americana. Above all, Bogie was an honest man who lived by his own rules but never compromised his standards for Hollywood’s phony polishing. Here’s looking at you, kid!

Bogart at 11 months

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was the oldest of three children born to Manhattan surgeon Belmont DeForest Bogart and his wife, illustrator Maud Humphrey. He was actually born on Christmas Day, 1899 according to census records. At age 1, his portrait drawn by his mother was captioned “ The Real Maud Humphrey Baby!”. The Bogarts were Upper East Side “Blue Book” society, an unlikely casting for the future “Bogie”. Humphrey recalls that his parents fought loudly and often, usually over money and Belmont’s penchant for fishing, hunting and sailing instead of practicing medicine. Maud was left to earn for the family with her baby pictures.

Humphrey as a boy

Humphrey’s best friend Bill lived next door. Bill just happened to be the son of theatrical producer William Brady, Sr. and actress Gladys George. The Bradys would became very important later in Humphrey’s life but he had to leave his friend behind when he went off to prep school in 1917. Humphrey hated Andover, Massachusetts and Phillips Academy and they didn’t like him very much either. He lasted two semesters. In July, 1918 he enlisted in the US Navy.

.... a Navy man!

Bogart was assigned to the Leviathan, a captured German passenger liner converted to a troop transport. He was aboard a year later when they were shelled by a U-boat and a splinter of wood went through his upper lip, paralyzing a nerve. It would give Bogart that tight-set look and slight lisp that was uniquely “Bogie”.

After the Navy and several years of trying to break into the business world unsuccessfully, Humphrey finally went to see Bill’s father. It was the raw beginning of Bogart’s acting career. Brady gave him a job as a stage manager, then as an actor and, when that failed, back to a stage manager. Bogart was hired, fired and rehired back so many times it was a wonder he knew which hat he was wearing. But he learned acting techniques along the way (particularly not to mumble his lines) and eventually Bogart the actor took shape!

The acting life for me!

Humphrey made his stage debut in a play called “Swifty” with Alice Brady. He had one line of dialogue. By 1926 he had been in 6 more plays with more dialogue and had married actress Helen Mencken. The marriage lasted barely a year. In April, 1928 Bogart married actress Mary Philips. Things were going well until October, 1929 when the stock market crashed and everything went sour on the Great White Way. Bogart tried to keep in mind the advice given to him by actor Holbrook Blinn..”Just keep working. If you are always busy, somebody is going to get the idea that you must be good…(and) think tall”. From then on, Bogart looked to the role and not the paycheck.

In September, 1934 Humphrey’s father died and he was crushed that his father didn’t live long enough to see him a success. Besides $10,000 in debts and some $35,000 in uncollected fees, Dr. Bogart left his son a ruby ring that Humphrey would wear the rest of his life. A year later, Bogart read for the small part that would not only pay off his debts (and his father’s) it would be the beginning of the success he was looking for…the role of Duke Mantee in Robert Sherwood’s “The Petrified Forest”. But it was Hollywood that would claim him.

Warner Bros. bought the screen rights to the play and signed the star Leslie Howard to play the lead in the film. They also optioned Bogart to reprise his role of Mantee. But before he left for Hollywood with Mary, he received the tragic news that his best friend, Bill Brady had died tragically in a fire. Bogart later remarked it was the only the second time he remembered crying.

....with Leslie Howard in "The Petrified Forest"

When he arrived on the West Coast, Bogart found out that Edward G. Robinson had already been signed to do the role of Duke Mantee. Leslie Howard had promised Bogart that he would see that the role went to him so Bogart cabled him in Scotland. Jack Warner had Howard’s ultimatum by the next day….”No Bogart, no Howard!” Bogart never forgot it and when his daughter was born, she was named Leslie.

That picture would make Bogart a star but in the meantime the guy who wouldn’t even kill a mouse became a gun-toting bad guy in Warner Bros. “murderers Row”! He would do over 29 films between 1936 and 1941 as a gangster or gunslinger, arrested in 9 and executed in 8 of them. And while he was doing one picture after another, his 10-year marriage to Mary broke up and she went back to New York.

The Bogart/Methot nuptials

Humphrey met Mayo Methot at a Screen Guild party and it wasn’t long before they were a twosome. She was the daughter of a sea captain and loved the sea as much as Bogart did. He thought that was enough and, on August 20, 1938, they got married. Now Humphrey enjoyed a good verbal argument but he tried to stay away from knock-down, drag out fights. Mayo was the slugger kind. They became known as “The Battling Bogarts”! Once Mayo actually stabbed him and it took $500 to keep the doctor quiet. The marriage lasted 7 bruising years but Bogart, who felt sorry for Mayo, was saddened over the break-up.

In 1941 Bogart broke out of “Murderer’s Row” and did “High Sierra” the story of a gangster but this time a sympathetic one. The public recognized the difference and demanded to see more of this real actor! It gave Bogart the push to get top billing in his next film “The Wagons Roll at Night” and from that time on, he never got anything less. As Sam Spade in “The Maltese Falcon” he played the private eye so well the picture became the “sleeper” hit of the year. “ Casablanca” came along in 1942. It was Bogart’s first real romantic role. Then, in 1944, on the set of “To Have or Have Not” Bogart finally met the lady who would become the love of his life. Her name was Betty Jane Persky but she was billed as Lauren Bacall. Bogie never called her anything but Betty.

Bogart and Betty tie the knot!

"The Treasure of Sierra Madre"

Bogart was very much in love with Betty but he worried about the age difference…Betty was only 19 years old and he was 44. What if it didn’t work out? Peter Lorre told him “It’s better to have 5 good years than none at all”. So Bogart married Betty on May 20, 1945 at Malabar Farm, the home of author Louis Bromfield. He didn’t know then that the marriage would last as long as he lived.

For the last ten years of his life, Bogart lived out his dreams. Betty gave him two beautiful children, Stephen and Leslie. In 1947 he started his own company, Santana Pictures, named after his beloved boat. In 1948 he made “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” listed among the greatest pictures ever made. In the 1950s Bogart played roles that gave him wider range and an Oscar for “The African Queen” and by 1955, he was again at the top of the box office. Then, in March of 1956, it came crashing down. He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus just as he started “The Harder They Fall” but he decided against surgery until the picture was finished…and the disease spread.

...at home with the family

On the morning of January 14, 1957 Humphrey DeForest Bogart died in his sleep at home with his family as he wanted. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Humphrey Bogart left a legacy of work that still thrills audiences today. The screen is still filled with his enormous presence.

Filmography