30 Years of Brilliance: 1930-1959
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart is one of the true legends of Hollywood's golden age. Included in his large body of work are some classic movies and he created some unforgettable characters such as Rick Blaine in 'Casablanca' and Charlie Allnut in 'The African Queen'. He was nominated three times for the Best Actor Academy Award and he won it once. He became famous and popular for creating his onscreen persona of a hardbitten cynic who is, despite himself heroic, noble and a romantic.
His time in the Navy was spent ferrying troops back from Europe after the Armistice. He had a lifelong love of the sea and after discharge he joined the Naval Reserve. After working for an Importer and as a bond salesman he joined 'World Films' owned by a friend of his family, William S Brady. After trying his hand at most behind the scenes tasks without much apparent success he became interested by the apparent glamour of the acting life and he started making making regular appearances on stage. His roles at this time were all minor romantic second leads.
Bogart's first two marriages occurred at the start of his acting career. His first wife was Helen Menken, a well known actress, whom he married in 1926 but the marriage never worked out and they divorced one year later. He married his second wife, Mary Phillips who also was an actress, in 1928 and for a while they worked on stage together. When the stock market crashed in 1929 production of stage plays fell off markedly. Bogart joined an exodus of young actors heading west to find work in Hollywood. Mary, the more established performer, stayed in New York, where she still had work.
When he arrived in Hollywood talkies were becoming popular and actors with clear diction were in demand. He signed up with the Fox Corporation but his first films were not successful and his contract was cancelled. Movies for other companies also failed and in 1934 Bogart was forced to return to New York where Mary was still working as an actress. It proved the right move and he was very soon asked to test for a new type of role, that of an escaped killer, Duke Mantee, in the stage play 'The Petrified Forest'. He was given the part due in large measure to the insistence of the leading man, Leslie Howard, an English actor who was a friend of Bogart. The play was outstandingly successful and Bogart was able to display his ability to play tough guy roles as well as romantic leads. In 1936 when the movie was made, Leslie Howard again insisted that Bogart play the part of Duke Mantee. The movie was also a smash hit and Bogart was given a contract with the studio, Warner Brothers. He was now a genuine Hollywood actor.
Despite her husband's new success Mary refused to leave her New York theatrical base and the strain put on a divided marriage caused them to divorce in 1937. Bogart married his third wife the following year. She was another actress, Mayo Methot, a firebrand with a reputation for liking alchohol too much. The same could be said of her husband and the two soon became known as 'the Battling Bogarts'.
Bogart spent a large part of his early movie career making disappointing 'B' pictures. His work was regular, over 30 movies in 4 years after 1936 but he suspected, correctly, that he was just getting the leftover gangster roles which top stars like Cagney had rejected. Some of the movies stand out, such as 'Dead End' in 1937, 'Angels with Dirty Faces' in 1938, and 'They Drive by Night' in 1940 but he had to wait until 1941 for two parts which would propel him to superstardom.
'High Sierra' was scripted by John Huston, who was to play a major role in the remainder of Bogart's career, and it was directed, with great intelligence, by the masterly Raoul Walsh. Bogart and his co-star, Ida Lupino, gave excellent performances and the film was a crically acclaimed box-office hit. Also in 1941 came John Huston's directorial debut with 'The Maltese Falcon'. Bogart was able to project a more rounded character in the detective, Sam Spade, and he gave a more romantic side to his customary hard-man image. the movie featured a first class supporting cast including Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre who were also to feature in Bogart's next movie, 'Casablanca' the film with which he is most closely identified.
It was Bogart's first romantic lead role, as Rick Blaine, the club owner in wartime Casablanca. His clever portrayal gave depth to the character, showing him as romantic deep beneath his tough outer layer.The movie was an outstanding success and has remained popular ever since. Bogart was nominated for Best Actor Oscar but lost out, to general surprise, to Paul Lukas in 'Watch on the Rhine'.
Bogart was now a top box-office draw and the best paid actor in Hollywood. During the next ten years he would appear in many top quality movies and show the world his great acting ability. In 1944, whilst filming 'To Have and Have Not' he met a young model who was just setting out on her acting career. Her name was Lauren Bacall and when she and Bogart started a romance it caused fireworks both onscreen and off. Bogart was now able to end his unhappy marriage to Mayo Methot whose jealous outbursts on set had caused him great problems. Their divorce came through in May 1945 and he married Lauren Bacall just eleven days later. for Bogart it was his first truly happy marriage and he and Bacall went on to have a happy family life. Son Stephen was born in 1949 and daughter, Leslie Howard was born in 1952. She was named after the actor who had given Bogart his break in 'The Petrified Forest' in 1934 and who had been killed in an World War II air crash.
Bogart had another great success with 'To Have and To Have Not' and he was offered a remarkably generous contract by Warners of $1million a year. He made 3 further movies with Lauren Bacall including 'The Big Sleep' in 1946 and 'Key Largo' in 1948 and also in 1948 he and John Huston made 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'. His portrayal of the distinctly unheroic prospector, Fred C. Dobbs was one of his finest performances but he topped it in 1950 with 'In a Lonely Place', in which he gave a masterly acting performance displaying rage and violent self-loathing. The movie was made by Bogart's own production company, Santana Productions, named after his private yacht.
Bogart gave another marvellous performance in 'The African Queen' in 1951, for which he won his Academy Award for Best Actor. He co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and again he was directed by John Huston who seemed to have the knack of getting the best out of him. He continued to play a variety of character roles such as Captain Queeg in 'The Caine Mutiny' (for which he received his third Best Actor Academy Award nomination), a film director in "The Barefoot Contessa, and a businessman in the unfunny comedy 'Sabrina'. His final films were made when he was fighting increasing ill-health and were disappointing: 'We're No Angels', 'The Desperate Hours', and 'The Left Hand of God' all in 1955, and the drama about boxing, 'The Harder They Fall' in 1956.
By this time Bogart's lifetime of heavy drinking and smoking had caught up with him. He was seriously ill with cancer and after several unsuccessful operations, he died at his Hollywood home on January 14, 1957 aged 57 years.
