Bogart, Humphrey 1899-1957

BOGART, HUMPHREY 1899-1957

Actor

Unlikely Origins

He made his name as a sensitive tough guy on the screen. He came to define an everyman sensibility and cynicism with his edgy, slightly slurred urban delivery. In the 1940s and early 1950s he was among Hollywood's biggest box-office stars. But Humphrey Bogart's origins belie the screen persona he was to become. He was born into affluence on Riverside Drive in New York City. His mother, Maud Humphrey, was a well-known illustrator. Her "Maud Humphrey Baby" became a popular figure in advertising. The portrait was of the infant Humphrey Bogart. Bogart attended Trinity School in New York City and the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He was a poor student and left the school early to join the navy. He reported to the USS Leviathan in October 1918, and World War I ended sixteen days later. In June 1919 Bogart was discharged. The navy gave him one thing—his distinctive speech. While serving as a military policeman, he was hit in the mouth with handcuffs by a prisoner attempting escape. The blow left a scar and the slight slur that would be imitated worldwide by the 1940s.

Struggling on Stage

Out of the navy, Bogart procured work in odd jobs and on the stock exchange. A family friend, William Brady, helped Bogart become involved in the New York stage. He appeared briefly in Drifting (1922) and then took the lead in a comedy called Swifty (1922). He spent the next five years alternating successes, such as Cradle Snatchers (1925), with disasters such as Baby Mine (1927). He also began drinking and married twice. He appeared on film for the first time in 1929 in a ten-minute Warner Bros. Vitaphone Corporation production called Broadway's Like That, which featured Joan Blondell.

Struggling on Film

One year later he signed with Fox Studios and began an undistinguished run as a supporting actor. He drifted back and forth from Hollywood to New York looking for stage and screen work. He filmed Up the River (1930) with Spencer Tracy. Within a decade both would be legendary. Tracy coined the name "Bogie," which Humphrey came to prefer. Despite steady work Bogart was in dire straits financially. His father died, leaving Humphrey in debt. Bogart began drinking heavily and hit the bottom of his career in 1934. That year, however, while appearing in Invitation to Murder, an undistinguished stage mystery, he was spotted by Arthur Hopkins, who decided to cast Bogart in The Petrified Forest, a Robert Sherwood play about random murder in an Arizona cafe. Bogart played Duke Mantee, a brooding, suicidal killer, and gained recognition for the role in 1935.

Stability

The star of The Petrified Forest, Leslie Howard, insisted that Bogart be given the same role in the screen production. Warner complied with the demand and thus affirmed Bogart's film appeal. He signed with Warner and became a staple of the gangster films of the 1930s as one of the "tough guys," along with Edward G. Robinson, George Raft, and James Cagney. For four years Bogart appeared in films such as Bullets or Ballots (1936), Angels With Dirty Faces (1938), and Brother Orchid (1940). This period peaked in 1941 with High Sierra, in which Bogart played a killer but also displayed the tragic tenderness that lay beneath the tough figures he would play.

"Bogie" Arrives

The Humphrey Bogart of legend arrived in 1941 as Sam Spade in John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, based on Dashiell Hammett's novel. George Raft had turned down the part, seeing it as not important enough. Bogart was ambivalent but took the role. The Studio considered it a B movie. Bogart and Huston made it a hit, and it is often considered the first legitimate film noir movie. Bogart played Sam Spade, a tough private eye with a tender, not completely cynical style. He had played tough guys for years but was beginning to explore the underlying idealism of the roles. His exploration of this character type reached its peak in Casablanca, filmed in 1942. Bogart's Rick, the tough, cynical, bitter idealist, is the strongest statement of the Bogart role. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the picture and throughout the 1940s was among the top five box-office draws.

Versatility

In 1944, with his third marriage on the rocks, Bogart filmed To Have and Have Not. The film marked Lauren Bacall's screen debut, and she and Bogart promptly fell in love, creating one of Hollywood's most famous romances. She was nineteen, and he was forty-five. They were married in 1945 and had two children. In 1947 he traveled to Washington, D.C., to show support for the Hollywood Ten, who were testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Bogart's most versatile acting followed the war years. He began branching out into more-complex roles. He again teamed with Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) in which he played a man driven mad with greed. In 1957 he teamed with Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen and won an Academy Award for his role as the drunken and comedic Charlie Allnut. The Caine Mutiny followed in 1954 with one of his greatest roles. He filmed The Harder They Fall in 1956, but he was already showing the effects of cancer. On 14 January 1957 Humphrey Bogart died, leaving behind a distinguished body of film work and one of the greatest of Hollywood's legends.

Source:

Jonathan Coe, Humphrey Bogart: Take It and Like It (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991).