Humphrey Bogart has probably been imitated more than any other actor. His film characters such as Sam Spade, Rick Blaine, Duke Mantee and Fred C. Dobbs, to name a few, have become woven into the fabric of American culture. His on-screen fights against the likes of Cagney, Robinson, and Raft were nothing compared to his offscreen antics which included several stormy marriages, ongoing battles with Hollywood mogul Jack Warner for better parts, and a dependency on alcohol. For many, though, he will always be the ultimate screen actor whose position as the greatest movie tough guy of them all is secure.

Bogart's screen persona--the tight-lipped, streetwise thug--is a testament to his gifts as an actor, especially when contrasted against his upper crust upbringing. Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City on December 25, 1899 to Maud Humphrey, a noted illustrator and artist, and DeForest Bogart, a prosperous Manhattan surgeon. (Some accounts list his birth as January 23, 1899; see Urban Legends for details.) Hoping that their son would eventually be bound for Yale rather than Broadway or Hollywood, the Bogarts sent their son to such posh halls of academia as Trinity School and Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., where he was prepping for medical school. But failing grades and a supposed incidence of irreverence to a faculty member led to his expulsion from the latter.

Bogart traded in his chance at a graduation cap for a sailor's cap by enlisting in the U.S. Navy in the spring of 1918. It was during his naval stint that he got his trademark scar and developed his characteristic lisp, though the actual circumstances are hazy at best. One account is that his lip was cut be a piece of shrapnel during a shelling of his ship, the Leviathan. Another version, which Bogart's long time friend, author Nathaniel Benchley, claims is the truth, is that Bogart was injured while on assignment to take a naval prisoner to Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire. Supposedly, while changing trains in Boston, the handcuffed prisoner asked Bogart for a cigarette and while Bogart looked for a match, the prisoner raised his hands, smashed Bogart across the mouth with his cuffs, cutting Bogart's lip, and fled. Bogart used his .45 gun to drop the prisoner who was eventually taken to Portsmouth. By the time Bogart was treated by a doctor, the scar had already formed.

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After his discharge, Bogart looked up a family friend, theatrical producer William A. Brady, who hired him as an office boy. Bogart eventually landed a job as a stage manager and also did some chores at Brady's New York film studio, World Film Corp. Brady's daughter, actress Alice Brady, thought Bogart had some acting potential and gave him a small role in "Drifting" (1922), a play in which she was starring. Later that year, Bogart was given his first substantial stage role in "Swifty," but his notices were hardly the stuff that dreams are made of. Critic Alexander Woollcott called Bogart's performance "what is usually and mercifully described as inadequate." Still, Bogart got plenty of stage work throughout the '20s in a number of antiquated drawing room comedies and dramas playing, of all things, callow juveniles and romantic second leads.

During this time, Helen Menken, a renowned stage actress of the day, became smitten with Bogart. More out of advancement for his career than out of love, Bogart decided to marry Menken in 1926, but not surprisingly, the union lasted less than a year.

Then in 1928, he married for a second time, to actress Mary Philips whom he'd known for several years. The two began a long-distance marriage shortly thereafter. Discouraged by his lack of progress on Broadway, Bogart headed west in 1930 hoping his luck would change in films. Since talkies were still in their infancy, the studios were eagerly importing stage actors with crisp voices, a situation which helped Bogart land a contract with Fox Film Corp. His first feature film was a forgotten failure called "The Devil With Women." After two more dismal pictures, Fox released Bogart from his contract and he began making the rounds at Columbia, Universal and Warner Brothers, where he landed roles in several more forgettable films. Mary meanwhile was still in New York, where her stage success was their chief means of support.

Following the film "Midnight" in 1934, Bogart returned to New York, once again hoping to jumpstart his stage career. Time had caught up with him and he was well past the age to keep playing juveniles. He had heard that playwright Robert E. Sherwood was seeking someone to play a vicious killer named Duke Mantee in his new play, "The Petrified Forest," which already had Leslie Howard as its star. Bogart approached Sherwood hoping that his weathered appearance would show that physically at least he was right for the role...

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Sherwood referred Bogart to the play's director who told Bogart to return in three days for a reading. He came back sporting a three-day stubble and wearing his shabbiest clothes. The combination of a tramp-like appearance and stellar reading helped Bogart land his first plum role. Both the play and Bogart were immediate hits with both audiences and critics.

When Warner Brothers acquired the film rights to "The Petrified Forest," Howard was again asked to play the lead, but the studio thought contract player Edward G. Robinson would be a better choice to play Mantee. Howard refused to star in the film unless Bogart was also cast as Mantee. Warners gave in and signed Bogart to a studio contract.

"The Petrified Forest" (1936), which also co-starred Bette Davis, turned out to be just as big a smash on screen, but Jack Warner had no plans to build Bogart into a major star. Instead, Bogart languished in a string of Bs including "The Return of Dr. X" (1939), which its star called "this stinking movie," and "The Oklahoma Kid" (1939), with Bogart and Cagney looking saddle sore as cowboys. Occasionally there was a good role in an A picture, like "Dead End" (1937) on loanout for Samuel Goldwyn. In that film, Bogart gave a chilling performance as Baby Face Martin, a gangster idolized by a street gang played by the Dead End Kids. Unfortunately, back at Warners, his welcome home present was the lead in "Swing Your Lady" (1938), a piece of hillbilly hokum universally regarded as the worst movie of Bogart's career.

His professional difficulties were minor compared to his personal life at this time. His marriage to Mary fell apart shortly after they moved west, primarily because she had no intention of giving up her stage career and settling in Hollywood as Bogart had hoped. Not too long after their breakup, Bogart met a fiery actress named Mayo Methot while working on "Marked Woman" (1937). Methot was noted for having a penchant for alcohol, an explosive temper and a right hook Joe Louis would have envied. Through her persistence, she wangled a proposal from a reluctant Bogart and they were married in August, 1938.

In no time at all, they became known as the Battling Bogarts, thanks to their frequent outbursts at nightclubs, hotels, and restaurants, which turned into boxing rings as the two hurled crockery, plants, and any other handy items at each other.

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At the studio, Bogart was still stuck in his gangster mold, basically handling the leftovers rejected by Cagney or Robinson. Bogart frequently argued with Warner for better roles, but since he refused to take a suspension, he still found himself supporting "names" like George Raft in two films in 1940, "They Drive By Night" and "Invisible Stripes." Ironically, it would be Raft who unwittingly would give Bogart his first crack at stardom the following year. Raft turned down the role of Roy Earle, an ex-con out to pull his last big job before retiring, in Raoul Walsh's classic, "High Sierra." Raft's reason for saying no: He didn't want to die in the end. (Paul Muni also turned the role down.) Warner reluctantly gave the part to Bogart, and it was a perfect fit. Thanks to John Huston's intelligent script, Walsh's crisp direction, and the performances of Bogart and co-star Ida Lupino, "High Sierra" was a smash.

Later that year, Bogart and Huston were reteamed for an even bigger film, the third, and without a doubt the best version of "The Maltese Falcon," which was also Huston's directorial debut. As detective Sam Spade, Bogart created the first film-noir detective, a character that everyone from Alan Ladd to George Raft tried unsuccessfully to copy during the '40s. It was also the first time Bogart was given a strong romantic relationship onscreen. While men had appreciated his tough guy demeanor, for the first time women began to respond to his sexuality. After "The Maltese Falcon," Bogart was firmly established with Davis, Cagney, Robinson, and Errol Flynn in the upper echelon of Warner's stock company.

Bogart, Astor, Greenstreet and Huston teamed up again the following year for "Across the Pacific," a wartime adventure which The New York Times called "a delightfully fear-jerking picture." Bogart's next film, also in 1942, might have started off as just another wartime epic, but it would ultimately become the film most identified with Bogart--"Casablanca." Based on an unproduced play called "Everybody Goes to Rick's," "Casablanca" has rightfully earned a reputation as the greatest love story ever put on film. The tale of Rick Blaine, a nightclub owner in Casablanca, who becomes torn between love and honor when his former love Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) shows up in Casablanca with her husband, Victor Laszlo, a Resistance fighter fleeing the Nazis, is timeless...

[continued at my Tribute to Humphrey Bogart site, see link above]