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Humphrey Bogart

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Photographed by Yousuf Karsh
Photographed by Yousuf Karsh

Humphrey DeForest Bogart (December 25 1899 – January 14 1957)[1][2] was an American actor and cultural icon. In 1997, Entertainment Weekly magazine named him the number one movie legend of all time. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked "Bogie" the greatest male star.

After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart also turned to film. His first great success was as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest. He had been acclaimed for his performance in the play, and his friend Leslie Howard saw to it that he reprised his role in the 1936 film version. Despite rave reviews, Bogart was typecast as a gangster in B-movies. His breakthrough came in 1941, with High Sierra (though he still played a criminal) and The Maltese Falcon. The next year, his performance in Casablanca finally raised him to the peak of his profession and at the same time, cemented his trademark film persona, that of the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side. Other triumphs followed, including The Big Sleep (1946); Key Largo (1948), opposite his wife Lauren Bacall; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); The African Queen (1951), for which he won his only Academy Award (for Best Actor); and The Caine Mutiny (1954). Altogether, he appeared in 75 feature motion pictures.

Contents

[edit] Early career in the theatre

Bogart returned home to find Belmont was suffering from poor health (perhaps aggravated by morphine addiction), his medical practice was faltering, and he lost much of the family's money on bad investments in timber.[3] During his naval days, Bogart's character and values developed independent of family influence, and he began to rebel somewhat from their values. He came to be a liberal who hated pretensions, phonies, and snobs, and at times he defied conventional behavior and authority, traits he displayed in life and in his movies. On the other hand, he retained their traits of good manners, articulateness, punctuality, modesty, and a dislike of being touched.[4]

After his naval service, Bogart worked as a shipper and then bond salesman.[5] He joined the Naval Reserve. More importantly, he resumed his friendship with boyhood mate Bill Brady, Jr. whose father had show business connections, and eventually Bogart got an office job working for William A. Brady Sr.'s new company World Films.[6] Bogart got to try his hand at screen writing, directing, and production, but excelled at none. For a while, he was stage manager for Brady's daughter's play A Ruined Lady. A few months later in 1921, Bogart made his stage debut in Drifting as a Japanese butler in another Alice Brady play, nervously speaking one line of dialog. Several more appearances followed in her subsequent plays.[7] Bogart liked the late hours actors kept, and enjoyed the attention an actor got on stage. He spent a lot of his free time in speakeasies and became a heavy drinker. A bar room brawl during this time might have been the actual cause of Bogart's lip damage, as this coincides better with the Louise Brooks account.[8] As he stated, “I was born to be indolent and this was the softest of rackets”.[5]

Bogart never took acting lessons, and had no formal training, but he was persistent and worked steadily at his craft. He appeared in at least seventeen Broadway productions between 1922 and 1935. He played juveniles or romantic second-leads in drawing room comedies. He is said to have been the first actor to ask "Tennis, anyone?" on stage.[9] Critic Alexander Woollcott wrote of Bogart's early work that he "is what is usually and mercifully described as inadequate."[10] Some reviews were kinder. Heywood Broun reviewing Nerves wrote, “Humphrey Bogart gives the most effective performance…both dry and fresh, if that be possible”.[11] Bogart loathed the trivial, effeminate parts he had to play early in his career, calling them "White Pants Willie" roles.

Early in his career, while playing double roles in the play Drifting at the Playhouse Theatre in 1922, Bogart met Helen Menken. They were married on May 20, 1926 at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City, divorced on November 18, 1927, and remained friends.[12] Later on April 3, 1928, he married Mary Philips at her mother's apartment in Hartford, Connecticut. She, like Menken, had a fiery temper. He met Mary when they appeared in the play Nerves that had a very brief run at the Comedy Theatre in September 1924.

After the stock market crash of 1929, stage production dropped off sharply, and many of the more photogenic actors headed for Hollywood. Bogart's earliest film role is with Helen Hayes in the 1928 two-reeler The Dancing Town, of which a complete copy has never been found. He also appeared with Joan Blondell in a Vitaphone short in 1930 which was re-discovered in 1963.[13] Bogart then signed a contract with Fox Film Corporation for $750 a week. Spencer Tracy was a serious Broadway actor whom Bogart liked and admired, and they became good friends and drinking buddies. It was Tracy, in 1930, who first called him "Bogey". (Spelled variously in many sources, Bogart himself spelled his nickname "Bogie".)[14] Tracy and Bogart appeared in their only film together in John Ford's early sound film Up the River (1930), with both playing inmates. It was Tracy's film debut.[15] Bogart then performed in The Bad Sister with Bette Davis in 1931, in a minor part.[16]

Bogart shuttled back and forth between Hollywood and the New York stage from 1930 to 1935, suffering long periods without work. His parents were living separately and Belmont died in 1934 in debt, which Bogart eventually paid off. (Bogart inherited his father's gold ring which he always wore, even in his films. At his father's deathbed, Bogart finally told Belmont how much he loved him.)[17] Bogart's second marriage was on the rocks, and he was less than happy with his acting career to date; he became depressed, irritable, and drank heavily.[18]

[edit] The Petrified Forest

Bogart starred in the Broadway play Invitation to a Murder at the Theatre Masque, now the John Golden Theatre in 1934. The producer Arthur Hopkins heard the play from off stage and sent for Bogart to play escaped killer Duke Mantee in Robert E. Sherwood's new play, The Petrified Forest.[18] Hopkins recalled, “When I saw the actor I was somewhat taken aback, for he was the one I never much admired. He was an antiquated juvenile who spent most of his stage life in white pants swinging a tennis racquet. He seemed as far from a cold-blooded killer as one could get, but the voice (dry and tired) persisted, and the voice was Mantee's”.[19]

The play had 197 performances at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York in 1935.[20] Bogart played opposite Leslie Howard as escaped killer Duke Mantee. A critic for the New York Times Brooks Atkinson said of the play, “a peach… a roaring Western melodrama… Humphrey Bogart does the best work of his career as an actor.”[21] Bogart said the movie, “marked my deliverance from the ranks of the sleek, sybaritic, stiff-shirted, swallow-tailed ‘smoothies’ to which I seemed condemned to life.” However, he was still feeling insecure.[20]

Warner Bros. bought the screen rights to The Petrified Forest. The studio was famous for its gritty, urban, low-budget action pictures so the script seemed a perfect vehicle, especially when the public was presently entranced by real life criminals like John Dillinger and Dutch Schultz.[22] Bette Davis and Leslie Howard were signed up, and Howard, who held production rights, made it clear he wanted Bogart to star with him. The studio tested several Hollywood veterans for the Duke Mantee role, and chose Edward G. Robinson, who had greater star appeal and was due to make a film to fulfill his expensive contract. Bogart cabled news of this to Howard, who was in Scotland. Leslie Howard cabled reply was, “Att: Jack Warner Insist Bogart Play Mantee No Bogart No Deal L.H.”. When Warner Bros. saw that Howard would not budge, they gave in and cast Bogart.[23] Jack Warner, famous for butting heads with his stars, tried to get Bogart to adopt a stage name, but Bogart stubbornly refused.[24] Bogart never forgot Howard's favor, and in 1952 he named his only daughter, Leslie, after Howard, who had died in World War II. Robert E. Sherwood remained a close friend of Bogart's.

[edit] Rise to stardom

[edit] High Sierra

High Sierra, a 1941 movie directed by Raoul Walsh, had a screenplay written by Bogart's friend and drinking partner, John Huston, adapted from the novel by W.R. Burnett (Little Caesar, etc.).[25] Both Paul Muni and George Raft turned down the lead role, giving Bogart the opportunity to play a character of some depth. The film was Bogart's last major film playing a gangster (his final gangster role was in The Big Shot in 1942). Bogart worked well with Ida Lupino, and her relationship with him was a close one, provoking jealousy from Bogart's wife Mayo.[26]

The film cemented a strong personal and professional connection between Bogart and Huston. Bogart admired and somewhat envied Huston for his skill as a writer. Though a poor student, Bogart was a lifelong reader. He could quote Plato, Pope, Ralph Waldo Emerson and over a thousand lines of Shakespeare. He subscribed to the Harvard Law Review.[27] He admired writers, and some of his best friends were screenwriters, including Louis Bromfield, Nathaniel Benchley and Nunnally Johnson. Bogart enjoyed intense, provocative conversation and stiff drinks, as did Huston. Both were rebellious and liked to play childish pranks. John Huston reported being easily bored during production, and admired Bogart (who also got bored easily off camera) not just for his acting talent but for his intense concentration on the set.[28]

[edit] The Maltese Falcon

Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon
Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon

Raft turned down the male lead in John Huston's directorial debut The Maltese Falcon (1941), due to its being a cleaned up version of the pre- Production Code The Maltese Falcon (1931), his contract stipulating that he did not have to appear in remakes. The original novel, written by Dashiell Hammett, was first published in the pulp magazine Black Mask in 1929. It was also the basis for another movie version, Satan Met a Lady (1936).[29] Complementing Bogart were co-stars Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Elisha Cook, Jr., and Mary Astor as the treacherous female foil.[30]

Bogart's sharp timing as private detective Sam Spade was praised by the cast and director as vital to the quick action and rapid-fire dialog.[31] The film was a huge hit and for Huston, a triumphant directorial debut. Bogart was unusually happy with it, remarking, "it is practically a masterpiece. I don’t have many things I’m proud of… but that's one".[32]

[edit] Casablanca

Greenstreet and Bogart in Casablanca.
Greenstreet and Bogart in Casablanca.

Bogart got his first real romantic lead in 1943's Casablanca, playing Rick Blaine, the hard-pressed ex-pat nightclub owner, hiding from the past and walking the fine line between Nazis, the French underground, the Vichy prefect, and his ex-girlfriend. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, produced by Hal Wallis, and featured a strong cast, including Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Sidney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson.

In real life, Bogart played tournament chess, one level below master level and often played with crew members and cast off the set. It was reportedly his idea that Rick Blaine be portrayed as a chess player, which also served as a metaphor for the sparring relationship of the characters played by Bogart and Rains in the movie. However, Paul Henreid proved to be the best player.[33]

The on-screen magic of Bogart and Bergman was the result of two actors doing their very best work, not any real-life sparks, though Bogart's perennially jealous wife assumed otherwise. Off the set, the co-stars hardly spoke during the filming, where normally she had a reputation for affairs with her leading men.[34] Because Bergman was taller than her leading man, Bogart had 3-inch (76 mm) blocks attached to his shoes in certain scenes.[34] She reportedly said later, "I kissed him but I never knew him."[35] Years later, after Bergman had taken up with Italian director Roberto Rossellini, and bore him a child, Bogart confronted her. "You used to be a great star", he said, "What are you now?" "A happy woman", she replied.

Casablanca won the 1943 Academy Award for Best Picture. Bogart was nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role, but lost out to Paul Lukas for his performance in Watch on the Rhine. Still, for Bogart, it was a huge triumph. The film vaulted him from fourth place to first in the studio's roster, finally exceeding James Cagney, and more than doubling his salary to over $460,000 per year by 1946, making him the highest paid actor in the world.[36]

[edit] Bogart and Bacall

Bogart and Bacall interviewed during World War II.
Bogart and Bacall interviewed during World War II.

Bogart met Lauren Bacall while filming To Have and Have Not (1944), a very loose adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel. The movie has many similarities with Casablanca — the same enemies, the same kind of hero, even a piano player sidekick (this time Hoagy Carmichael).

When they met, Bacall was nineteen and Bogart was forty-five. He nicknamed her "Baby." She had been a model since she was sixteen 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 poise and earthy, outspoken honesty.[37] Reportedly he said, “I just saw your test. We’ll have a lot of fun together”.[38] Their physical and emotional rapport was very strong from the start, and the age difference and different acting experience also created the additional dimension of a mentor-student relationship. Quite contrary to the Hollywood norm, it was his first affair with a leading lady.[39] Bogart was still miserably married and his early meetings with Bacall were discreet and brief, their separations bridged by ardent love letters.[40] The relationship made it much easier for the newcomer to make her first film, and Bogart did his best to put her at ease by joking with her and quietly coaching her. He let her steal scenes and even encouraged it. Hawks, for his part, also did his best to boost her performance and her role, and found Bogart easy to direct.[41]

Hawks at some point began to disapprove of the pair. Hawks considered himself her protector and mentor, and Bogart was usurping that role. Hawks fell for Bacall as well (normally he avoided his starlets, and he was married). Hawks told her that she meant nothing to Bogart and even threatened to send her to Monogram, the worst studio in Hollywood. Bogart calmed her down and then went after Hawks. Jack Warner settled the dispute and filming resumed.[42] Out of jealousy, Hawks said of Bacall: "Bogie fell in love with the character she played, so she had to keep playing it the rest of her life."[43]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ontario County Times birth announcement, 10 January 1900
  2. ^ Birthday of Reckoning
  3. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 28.
  4. ^ Meyers 1997, pp. 22, 31.
  5. ^ a b Meyers 1997, p. 23.
  6. ^ Meyers 1997, pp. 24, 31.
  7. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, pp. 29–31.
  8. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 35.
  9. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 28.
  10. ^ Time Magazine, June 7, 1954.
  11. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 33.
  12. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 36.
  13. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, pp. 39–39.
  14. ^ letter from Bogart to John Huston displayed in documentary John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1989)
  15. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 41.
  16. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 41.
  17. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 48.
  18. ^ a b Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 45.
  19. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 49.
  20. ^ a b Meyers 1997, p. 51.
  21. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 46.
  22. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 52.
  23. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, pp. 52–54.
  24. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 57.
  25. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 119.
  26. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 128.
  27. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 127.
  28. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 115.
  29. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 123.
  30. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 125.
  31. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 127.
  32. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 131.
  33. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 198.
  34. ^ a b Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 201.
  35. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 196.
  36. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 151.
  37. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 166.
  38. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 165.
  39. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, p. 258.
  40. ^ Meyers 1997, pp. 166–167.
  41. ^ Meyers 1997, pp. 173–174.
  42. ^ Sperber and Lax 1997, pp. 263–264.
  43. ^ Meyers 1997, p. 168.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Bacall, Lauren. By Myself. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1979. ISBN 0-394-41308-3.
  • Bogart, Stephen Humphrey. Bogart: In Search of My Father. New York: Dutton, 1995. ISBN 0-525-93987-3.
  • Bogart, Humphrey. "I'm no communist" Photoplay Magazine, March 1948.
  • Citro, Joseph A., Sceurman, Mark and Moran, Mark.Weird New England. New York: Sterling, 2005. ISBN 1-40273-330-5.
  • Halliwell, Leslie.Halliwell's Film, Video and DVD Guide. New York: Harper Collins Entertainment, 2004. ISBN 0-00-719081-6.
  • Hepburn, Katharine. The Making of the African Queen. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1987. ISBN 0-394-56272-0.
  • Hill, Jonathan and Ruddy, Jonah. Bogart: The Man and the Legend. London: Mayflower-Dell, 1966.
  • "Humphrey Bogart (cover story)." Time Magazine, June 7, 1954.
  • Hyams, Joe. Bogart and Bacall: A Love Story. New York: David McKay Co., Inc., 1975. ISBN 0-44691-228-X.
  • Hyams, Joe. Bogie: The Biography of Humphrey Bogart. New York: New American Library, 1966 (later editions renamed as: Bogie: The Definitive Biography of Humphrey Bogart). ISBN 0-45109-189-2.
  • Meyers, Jeffrey. Bogart: A Life in Hollywood. London: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 1997. ISBN 0-233-99144-1.
  • Michael, Paul. Humphrey Bogart: The Man and his Films. New York: Bonanza Books, 1965. No ISBN.
  • Porter, Darwin. The Secret Life of Humphrey Bogart: The Early Years (1899-1931). New York: Georgia Literary Association, 2003. ISBN 0-9668030-5-1.
  • Pym, John, ed. "Time Out" Film Guide. Time Out Group Ltd., 2004. ISBN 1-904978-21-5.
  • Sperber, A.M. and Lax, Eric. Bogart. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1997. ISBN 0-68807-539-8.
  • Wallechinsky, David and Wallace, Amy. The New Book of Lists. Edinburgh, Scotland: Canongate, 2005. ISBN 1-84195-719-4.
Further reading

[edit] External links

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