“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
Whilst he may not have been the finest actor born in the 19th century, he's probably the most important, and certainly my favourite. To date I've only seen about 1/4 of his movies, but hope that will increase during the life of this blog. He is widely acknowledged as one of the all-time greatest movie stars. His private life occasionally mirrored his on-screen persona's, so alongside his naval history [see The Caine Mutiny], he was a heavy smoker and drinker (a habit he'd picked up through frequenting Speakeasies during the prohibition of the 20's & 30's) [see The Roaring Twenties] and a keen chess player (developed during years of hustling at Coney Island and parks throughout NYC) [see Casablanca]. Also, it's a little known fact that it was through Bogart that the infamous "Rat Pack" began, as it centered around him and his circle of friends (which included Frank Sinatra, but NOT Dean Martin or Sammy Davis Jr).
He was born in New York City on christmas day 1899, and began his career as a stage actor, following a stint in the US navy at the end of WWI. The timing of his move into movies couldn't have been better, with the year of his debut screen performance coinciding with the birth of 'talkies'.
During the 1930's he made a name for himself as a strong supporting actor before cementing himself as a true star, which continued for the remainder of his life. His impressive list of credits during this time resulted in a 'classic' per year, which included: High Sierra (1941), Casablanca, Sahara, To Have And Have Not, Dead Reckoning, Dark Passage, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, In a Lonely Place, The Caine Mutiny, Sabrina, The Desperate Hours and finally The Harder They Fall (1956).
For me, Bogey's definitive roles were his performances in Film-Noir classics The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, portraying the Hammett & Chandler Private Detectives "Sam Spade" and "Philip Marlowe".
Unfortunately, Humphrey Bogart's life was cut short, when he died in early 1957 due to cancer.
I had hoped to find some great clips of Bogey's films, but couldn't really find what I was after. I hope these will do.
A nice collection of scenes from his most popular movies
(but be warned, the music isn't very good)
A nice collection of stills
(this time with the appropriate music!)
Happy Birthday! Humphrey Bogart born in 1899
— Orson deWelles (@ClassicFilm) December 25, 2011
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