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Humphrey Bogart Biography
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American film and theater actor. His performances in numerous films from the Classical Hollywood era made him a cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected him as the greatest male star of classic American cinema.
Humphrey Bogart Age
Bogart was born on Christmas Day 1899 in New York City. The name “Bogart” derives from the Dutch surname “Bogaert”.The precise date of Bogart’s birth was long a matter of dispute but has been cleared up. Warner Bros. listed his birthdate, throughout his career.
But Clifford McCarty maintained that the studio publicity department had altered it from January 23, 1900 “to foster the view that a man born on Christmas Day couldn’t really be as villainous as he appeared to be on screen”.The “corrected” January birthdate subsequently appeared in some cases.
Biographers Ann M. Sperber and Eric Lax documented, however, that Bogart always celebrated his birthday on December 25, and consistently listed it as such on official records, such as his marriage license.
Humphrey Bogart Movies
The great Humphrey Bogart labored long and hard during the ’30s as a contract
player with Warner Brothers. During some years up to eight films were made in a single year. Bogart said it was difficult to remember which film he was working on on a day to day basis.
After 1941, following breakthrough starring performances in two classics, High Sierra and Maltese Falcon, Bogart was at the pinnacle of the movie acting world and remained on top until his tragic early passing in 1957. Bogart created many memorable, classic and indelible movie characterizations. Here are 31 of his very best.
♦ The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
♦ Casablanca (1942)
♦ The Maltese Falcon (1941)
♦ The Caine Mutiny (1954)
♦ The African Queen (1951)
♦ To Have and Have Not (1944)
♦ Dark Passage (1947)
♦ Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
♦ The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Humphrey Bogart Family
Belmont is the eldest child of [father] Belmont DeForest Bogart and Maud Humphrey[mother]. Bogart had two younger sisters, Frances (“Pat”) and Catherine Elizabeth (“Kay”). His parents were busy in their careers and frequently fought. Very formal, they showed little emotion towards their children.
Maud told her offspring to call her “Maud” not “Mother”, and showed little if any physical affection for them. When pleased she “lapped you on the shoulder, almost the way a man does”, Bogart recalled.”I was brought up very unsentimentally but very straightforwardly. A kiss, in our family, was an event. Our mother and father didn’t glug over my two sisters and me.
Humphrey Bogart Spouse
Bogart and his first wife Helen Menken m. 1926–1927. His second marriage was to Mary Philips m. 1928–1937. On August 21, 1938, Bogart entered into a turbulent third marriage, with actress Mayo Methot, a lively, friendly woman when sober, but paranoid and physical when drunk. She became convinced Bogart was cheating on her (which he eventually would, with Lauren Bacall, when filming To Have and Have Not in 1944).
The more the two drifted apart, the more she drank, in her fury, throwing plants, crockery and anything close at hand at Bogart. She set their house on fire, stabbed him with a knife, and slashed her wrists on several occasions. Bogart, for his part, needed her, and seemed to enjoy confrontation; he was himself sometimes violent as well. The press accurately dubbed them “the Battling Bogarts”.
Bogart met Lauren Bacall (1924–2014) while filming To Have and Have Not (1944), a loose adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel. When they met, Bacall was 19 and Bogart 44. Bogart filed for divorce from Methot in February 1945. He and Bacall married in a small ceremony at the country home of Bogart’s close friend, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield,[74] at Malabar Farm near Lucas, Ohio, on May 21, 1945.
Humphrey Bogart And Lauren Bacall
Bogart met Lauren Bacall (1924–2014) while filming To Have and Have Not (1944), a loose adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel. The movie has many similarities with Casablanca—the same enemies, the same kind of hero, and a piano player (played by Hoagy Carmichael).
When they met, Bacall was 19 and Bogart 44. He nicknamed her “Baby.” She had been a model since 16 and had acted in two failed plays. Bogart was drawn to Bacall’s high cheekbones, green eyes, tawny blond hair, and lean body, as well as her maturity, poise and earthy, outspoken honesty. Reportedly he said, “I just saw your test. We’ll have a lot of fun together”.
Their emotional bond was very strong from the start, their age difference and disparity in acting experience allowing the dynamic of a mentor-student relationship to emerge. Quite contrary to the Hollywood norm, their affair was Bogart’s first with a leading lady.
He was still married and his early meetings with Bacall were discreet and brief, their separations bridged by ardent love letters. The relationship made it much easier for the newcomer to make her first film, and Bogart did his best to put her at ease with jokes and quit coaching. He let her steal scenes and even encouraged it. Howard Hawks, for his part, also did his best to boost her performance and highlight her role, and found Bogart easy to direct.
Stephen Humphrey Bogart
Bogart became a first-time father aged 49 when Bacall gave birth to Stephen Humphrey Bogart on January 6, 1949, during the filming of Tokyo Joe. The name was drawn from Bogart’s character’s nickname in To Have and Have Not, “Steve”.
Stephen later became an author and biographer and hosted a television special about his father on Turner Classic Movies. The couple’s daughter, Leslie Howard Bogart, was born on August 23, 1952, gaining her forenames from British actor Leslie Howard, Bogart’s friend, and co-star in The Petrified Fores.
Humphrey Bogart Death
A heavy smoker and drinker, Bogart developed esophageal cancer. He did not speak of his health and visited a doctor in January 1956, after much persuasion from Bacall. The disease worsened several weeks later. On March 1, 1956, he underwent a surgical operation in which his entire esophagus, two lymph nodes, and a rib were removed. However, the surgery failed, even with chemotherapy.
Bogart underwent corrective surgery in November 1956, when cancer had spread. With time, he grew too weak to walk up and down stairs, fighting the pain yet still able to joke: “Put me in the dumbwaiter and I’ll ride down to the first floor in style.” It was then altered to accommodate his wheelchair. Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy visited Bogart on January 13, 1957.
Bogart fell into a coma and died the next day. He had just turned 57 years old 20 days prior and weighed only 80 pounds-36 kg. His simple funeral was held at All Saints Episcopal Church. The ceremony was attended by some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Hepburn, Tracy, Judy Garland, David Niven.
Bogart’s cremated remains were interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California, in the Garden of Memory, Columbarium of Eternal Light. He was buried with a small, gold whistle once part of a charm bracelet he had given to Lauren Bacall before they had married.
On it was inscribed an allusion to a line from the film To Have and Have Not, which Bacall had said to him shortly after their first meeting: “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.” The inscription read: “If you want anything, just whistle.”
Humphrey Bogart Height
Bogart had an estimated height of 1.73 meters.
Humphrey Bogart Networth
The probate value of his estate was $910,146 gross and $737,668 net $8.1 million and $6.6 million in 2018, respectively.