- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHumphrey DeForest Bogart
- Nickname
- Bogie
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in preparation for medical studies at Yale. He was expelled from Phillips and joined the U.S. Naval Reserve. From 1920 to 1922, he managed a stage company owned by family friend William A. Brady (the father of actress Alice Brady), performing a variety of tasks at Brady's film studio in New York. He then began regular stage performances. Alexander Woollcott described his acting in a 1922 play as inadequate. In 1930, he gained a contract with Fox, his feature film debut in a ten-minute short, Broadway's Like That (1930), co-starring Ruth Etting and Joan Blondell. Fox released him after two years. After five years of stage and minor film roles, he had his breakthrough role in The Petrified Forest (1936) from Warner Bros. He won the part over Edward G. Robinson only after the star, Leslie Howard, threatened Warner Bros. that he would quit unless Bogart was given the key role of Duke Mantee, which he had played in the Broadway production with Howard. The film was a major success and led to a long-term contract with Warner Bros. From 1936 to 1940, Bogart appeared in 28 films, usually as a gangster, twice in Westerns and even a horror film. His landmark year was 1941 (often capitalizing on parts George Raft had stupidly rejected) with roles in classics such as High Sierra (1940) and as Sam Spade in one of his most fondly remembered films, The Maltese Falcon (1941). These were followed by Casablanca (1942), The Big Sleep (1946), and Key Largo (1948). Bogart, despite his erratic education, was incredibly well-read and he favored writers and intellectuals within his small circle of friends. In 1947, he joined wife Lauren Bacall and other actors protesting the House Un-American Activities Committee witch hunts. He also formed his own production company, and the next year made The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Bogie won the best actor Academy Award for The African Queen (1951) and was nominated for Casablanca (1942) and as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny (1954), a film made when he was already seriously ill. He died in his sleep at his Hollywood home following surgeries and a battle with throat cancer.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan [email protected]
- SpousesLauren Bacall(May 21, 1945 - January 14, 1957) (his death, 2 children)Mayo Methot(August 21, 1938 - May 10, 1945) (divorced)Mary Philips(April 3, 1928 - August 11, 1938) (divorced)Helen Menken(May 20, 1926 - November 18, 1927) (divorced)
- Children
- ParentsMaud HumphreyBelmont DeForest Bogart
- RelativesFrances Bogart(Sibling)Catherine Elizabeth Bogart(Sibling)
- Typically played smart, playful, courageous, tough, occasionally reckless characters who lived in a corrupt world, anchored by a hidden moral code.
- Almost always played a hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side.
- Low-key, distinctive nasal voice
- Often wore bow ties
- Roles in films noir
- Named his daughter, Leslie Bogart, to show his gratitude to Leslie Howard, who got him his big break in The Petrified Forest (1936).
- His coffin contains a small, gold whistle, put there by his wife, Lauren Bacall.
- He was involved in a serious automobile accident late in the production of Beat the Devil (1953). Several of his teeth were knocked out in the accident, hindering his ability to speak clearly. Director John Huston hired a young British actor noted for his mimicry skills to re-record some of Bogart's dialog during post-production looping. And although the talent of the young impersonator is such that the difference is undetectable while viewing the film today, it is a young Peter Sellers who provides Bogart's voice during some of the scenes.
- After undergoing a nine-and-a-half hour operation for esophageal cancer on 1 March 1956, Bogart began smoking filtered cigarettes for the first time in his life.
- Frank Sinatra's friends, known as The Clan, were originally a group of Bogart friends who enjoyed drinking heavily. They referred to themselves as 'The Holmby Hills Rat Pack', since Bogart lived in the Holmby Hills section of Hollywood. The Rat Pack name had originated one morning, after a night of heavy boozing, when Bogart's wife Lauren Bacall came upon the sodden group and flatly stated, 'You look like a God-damned rat pack.' Bogart enjoyed the term, and a legend was born. But Sinatra stopped using the "Rat Pack" name after Bogie died in 1957, and he and his friends hated it when others continued to label them that way (Source: Robert Osborne, Turner Classic Movies).
- The trouble with the world is that it's always one drink behind.
- Acting is experience with something sweet behind it.
- It's been misspelt a lot. He decided on it. It's not Bog-ey. He signed with an -ie. And that's good enough for me. -
- [on Lauren Bacall] "She's a real Joe. You'll fall in love with her like everybody else."
- [attributed last words] "I should never have switched from scotch to martinis."
- Sabrina (1954) - $300,000
- Deadline - U.S.A. (1952) - $17,500 /week
- The African Queen (1952) - $125,000 + 30% of gross
- Sirocco (1951) - $133,000 + % of gross
- Two Guys from Milwaukee (1947) - $5,000
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