Хэмфри Богарт \english\
Хэмфри Богарт
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. 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.
Телеграмма
Хэмфри Богарта Леонарду Бернштейну:
"IF
MY HAT HAD NOT BEEN BLOWN OFF YEARS AGO, I WOULD TAKE IT OFF. BETTY,
WHO STILL HAS A HAT, THROWS HERS IN THE AIR. JUST WONDERFUL. BOGIE."
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 sub>stantial 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.
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.
"Deadline
USA", 1952
Title Card
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 James 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. Most often, these fights stemmed from Mayo's
delusions that Bogart was chasing other women. Bogart, who had always
enjoyed a stiff drink, began drinking especially heavily during his
marriage to Mayo.
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.
During his rise in 1940, Bogart found himself recieivng
attention of another kind. In 1940 the 'Dies Committee' began its
look into Un-American activity in Hollywood, and John L. Leech, an
reported high ranking member of the local Communist Party, named both
Bogart and James Cagney, of being Communists.The local district
attorney, Buron Fitts, convened a grand jury, where Leech wou;d
describe clandestine meetings at the home of B. P. Schulberg, a
Paramount Pictures production head, where Bogart and others would
read "the doctrines of Karl Marx." The only problem with
this so called testimony is that the FBI had already investigated
Leech, and concluded he was a pathological liar.
Bogart was
grilled by Dies about his membership in the Communist Party, saying
the only thing radical about him was his membership in the Screen
Actors Guild, and as for his knowledge of who in the industry might
be suspect, he advised Dies he has suspicions but no way to prove
anything so he answered no. Despite holding himself in check during
questioning, when allowed to add anything to the record his anger
spilled out, "I've been born an American. I've always been a
loyal citizen. I have great love for my country. Anytime I would be
called upon I would sever that country. I resent the intrusion and
insinuation that I am anything else --- I think it's completely
un-American (for) a ma (Leech) who has been, as far as I can read in
the papers, called a liar to be allowed to testify befroe a grand
jury without the people accused being permitted to have an
opportunity to answer those charges."
The newspapers had a
field day tearing apart Leech, and at the same time questioning the
credibility of Dies and his Committee. The end result of this round
amounted to nothing, when Dies was forced to admit that there was "no
evidence" connecting anyone Leech named to the Communist Party.
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. Bogart's pain as hears Sam play 'As Time Goes By'; Bogart
and Bergman bidding a tearful farewell at the airport; Bogart and
Claude Rains pledging eternal friendship; and countless other scenes
have become a part of film lore. The film's status is also due in no
small part to the superb supporting cast including Rains, Conrad
Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson, as well as
Michael Curtiz's masterful direction and a taut script by Philip and
Julius J. Epstein and Howard Koch. Bogart, in his first romantic
role, was honored with his first Academy Award nomination (he
inexplicably lost to Paul Lukas in another Warner Brothers flagwaver,
'Watch on the Rhine').
The fact that 'Casablanca' was chosen as
Best Picture of 1943 and has since made just about everyone's list of
the 10 greatest movies ever made is especially remarkable when one
considers the script was only half finished when shooting began. The
actors were given new pages of dialogue on a day-to- day basis, and
were unaware of how the picture would end until the last scene was
shot. The final decision was to write two endings--one in which
Henreid gets Bergman, and another in which she stays with
Bogart--shoot both and then show both to preview audiences to see
which works better. As it turned out, the former was shot first and
played so well that plans for a second version were abandoned.
During the filming of 'Casablanca,' Mayo was a frequent (and none
too welcome) visitor to the set. She was extremely jealous of Bergman
and became convinced that her love scenes with Bogart were a little
too convincing. Supposedly, once when Bogart received a compliment on
his performance in 'Casablanca,' the star quipped, 'I wasn't allowed
to see it.'
While Mayo's concerns about Bergman may have been
unjustified, she had every reason to worry when Bogart was assigned
to star in 'To Have and Have Not' in 1944. His co-star in this loose
adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel was a sleek 20-year-old
fashion model named Lauren Bacall, who had just been signed by Warner
Brothers. When Bogart met Bacall for the first time after seeing her
screen test, he said, 'We'll have a lot of fun together.' If the
finished film is any indication, they obviously had a great time both
in front of and away from the camera. Once audiences saw the classic
scene in 'To Have and Have Not' when Bacall taught Bogart to whistle,
everyone knew he had met his match.
Fun turned to romance and the
two were soon talking marriage. Unfortunately, Mayo was still trying
to hold onto her husband, but even she knew it was hopeless. She and
Bogart were divorced on May 10, 1945; Bogart and Bacall were married
11 days later.
Bogart's wedding present from Warner Brothers was
a new contract which guaranteed him an annual salary of $1 million
for the next 15 years, an unprecedented agreement at the time.
Certainly the box-office strength of 'To Have and Have Not' and his
new marriage to his leading lady were a factor. The studio wasted no
time in reteaming them for three more films: 'The Big Sleep' (1946),
'Dark Passage' (1947) and 'Key Largo' (1948). While all were
entertaining, none had the same spark as their first film, although
'The Big Sleep' came closest. Sandwiched in the middle of the Bacall
trio were the film noir 'Dead Reckoning' (1947) with Lizabeth Scott,
a poor man's Bacall, for Columbia, and 'The Two Mrs. Carrolls' (1947)
which cast Bogart as an artist with shades of Bluebeard menacing
(unconvincingly) spouse Barbara Stanwyck.
Now at the height of
his fame Bogart almost brought his own career to end, taking on the
1947 HUAC hearings, which had seven years previously targeted him.
His friend and director John Huston was a founding member of the
Committee for the First Amendment (CFA), and Bogart along with his
wife Lauren Bacall threw their support behind it. Along with many
others they produced a radio broadcast opposing the hearings, and
flew to Washington to show their opposition to hearings they felt
were trampling all over the Constitution.
The hearings turned into
a circus with the CFA caught in the middle, and a now unfriendly
press, began to question why Bogart and Bacall were taking to task a
Committee striving to stop the "hater of our people. the foe of
our way of life, the poisoner of the minds of our children."
Bogart would be targeted by the media, and he freely gave various
interviews, to the leftists he was a reactionary to the Republicans
he was a Communist.
The final blow came in November of 1947, as
'Dark Passage' starring Bogart and Bacall was released. Bogart in New
York to promote the film continued to voice his displeasure with
HUAC, and a frantic Jack Warner cabled his New York people to get
Bogart to "make a retraction" At the same time a letter
writing campaign was targeting Fox theatres that were showing his
films, box office receipts for 'Dark Passage', which usually amounted
to $1,000 a day per theatre showing a Bogart film, barely took in one
fifth of that, and Warner's pulled the film. The FBI was now
composing a file on Bogart, despite the attempts of Ed Sullivan, who
did not like what Bogart was saying, but nonetheless called FBI
Director J. Edgar Hoover and said Bogart was as much a Commie the
Director. Bogarts' own production company, Santanna, was having
trouble securing money for new productions, the public was beinging
to openly question him and the CFA, studio executives were pressuring
their contract players to retract statements against HUAC
By
December the pressure had won out and defeated the CFA, Bogart in
particular was the first to capitulate, and headed back to Hollywood
by train. Warner Brothers had a statement drafted for him, and on a
rain soaked platform in Chicago, Bogart addressed the assembled
press, "I went to Washington because I thought fellow Americans
were being deprived of their Constitutional rights, and for that
reason alone. That the trip was ill-advised, even foolish, I am very
ready to admit. At the time it seemed the right thing to do. --- I am
an American --- sometimes a foolish and impetuous American." He
went on to add that Communists had used the CFA for their own
agenda.
Several papers, and one congressman, Chet Holifield wrote
that the CFA and Bogart had no need to apologize or retract
statements, noting that even the toughest of actors can be forgiven
for faltering under intense pressure, said one columnist "All
right, Humphrey. You can get up off your knees."
Fellow CFA
members were in shock at their star attraction pulling hte rug out
from under them, though many understood the intense pressure put upon
him. Many noted that he had a tortured look about him. John Huston
would later say of his friends actions "I felt Bogie was out of
line. But he was only the first of quite a number."
Despite
this apparent falling out, Bogart reteamed with his favorite director
John Huston for another career milestone, 'The Treasure of the Sierra
Madre'. Bogart shed his private eye image for a chance at his first
solid character role. As a grubby gold prsopector named Fred C.
Dobbs, Bogart delivered what may be his finest performance, showing
heretofore untapped range as a man totally consumed by greed. Equally
memorable was his co-star Walter Huston, who deservedly won a
Supporting Actor Oscar. Although critics loved the film and praised
Bogart, it died at the box office.
Despite his past problems with
politcal issues Bogart supported several Democratic political causes
and even campaigned for Adlai Stevenson during his unsuccessful
presidential bid in 1952.
On the homefront, the Bogarts welcomed
a new member to the family in 1949 when their son, Stephen Humphrey,
was born. (Their daughter, Leslie Howard, was born in 1952 and named
after his friend and fellow actor who lost his life in WW II.)
Meanwhile, a different type of Bogart production had been set up
in 1947. Bogart formed Santana Pictures Corp., named after his other
great love besides Bacall, his boat Santana. At the time, Bogart was
the first actor to form his own production company. Between 1949 and
1951, Bogart starred in four Santana productions for Columbia: the
urban drama 'Knock On Any Door,' the forgettable adventure flicks
'Tokyo Joe' and 'Sirocco,' and the cult classic 'In a Lonely Place.'
Jack Warner was furious when Bogart formed his production unit,
fearing it would start a trend in which actors would gain new power.
Regardless, Bogart still worked for Warner in two minor films in the
early '50s that finished his Warner Brothers contract: 'Chain
Lightning' and 'The Enforcer.'
Freed from Warner's shackles,
Bogart was clearly ready to stretch his acting muscles. The perfect
showcase came again from Huston: 'The African Queen'. The offbeat
teaming of Bogart as a drunken boatman and Katharine Hepburn as a
strait-laced missionary proved compelling. Bogart was happy to shed
his image as a tough, romantic lead to play an unkempt, vulnerable
sot and comic sparring partner for Hepburn. The film proved to be a
huge hit and Bogart's performance was universally applauded. At the
Academy Awards ceremony in the spring of 1952, Bogart at long last
won a Best Actor Oscar, beating out such solid competition as Marlon
Brando in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and Fredric March in 'Death of a
Salesman.'
The film also kicked off the final phase of Bogart's
film career as a dependable character actor. His later films included
such diverse characterizations as the unbalanced Captain Queeg in
'The Caine Mutiny' (a third Best Actor Oscar nomination), a
disreputable adventurer in Huston's satiric 'Beat the Devil,' a film
director in 'The Barefoot Contessa,' a stodgy businessman wooing
chauffeur's daughter Audrey Hepburn in 'Sabrina,' and a hoodlum
holding a family hostage in 'The Desperate Hours.' Bogart made his
final film in 1956, the gritty boxing drama, 'The Harder They Fall'.
Shortly after its release in February 1956, Bogart underwent surgery
to remove a cancerous growth from his esophagus. He recovered and
gained back some of the weight he had lost. Unfortunately, he was
readmitted to Good Samaritan Hospital in November of that year for
treatment of nerve pressure caused by the growth of scar tissue on
his throat. He was sent home sometime after the operation, but never
recovered. Bogart died on January 14, 1957 in the bedroom of his home
in Hollywood's Holmby Hills. At his funeral, long-time friend Huston
spoke for every Bogart fan: 'He is quite unreplaceable. There will
never be anybody like him.'
Bibliography
Nathaniel Benchley,
Humphrey Bogart (Little Brown & Co., Boston, 1975).
Ephraim
Katz, The Film Encyclopedia (Putnam, New York, 1979).
Ted Sennet,
Warner Brothers Presents (Castle, Secaucus, N.J., 1971).
David
Shipman, The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years (Bonanza, New York,
1970).
Hollywood Album: Lives and Deaths of Hollywood Stars from
the Pages of The New York Times (Arno, New York, 1979).