Humphrey Bogart Woodcut

Humphrey Bogart's characters smoked, drank, fought and almost always got the girl. His film image was that of a wounded, cynical loner with his own idealistic moral code. He was born on Christmas Day in 1899. His father was a renowned doctor and his mother a famous commercial illustrator.

Bogart grew up in affluence but he despised pretension, snobs and phonies. Bogart's first big film role came in 1936 playing escaped murderer Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest." Between 1936-1940, he made an average of six movies a year for Warner Brothers, most mediocre. These were his B-Movie years and Bogart was cast primarily as a gangster. During this period, Bogart entered his third marriage, to actress Mayo Methot. Methot was a heavy drinker and paranoid that Bogart was cheating on her.

They fought constantly and the press dubbed them "the battling Bogarts." Mayot set their house on fire, stabbed Bogart with a knife and slashed her wrists on several occasions. Bogart bought a yacht and began finding refuge at sea. In 1941, he starred in "High Sierra," a film written by John Huston. Huston became a film director and cast Bogart as Detective Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon." The film was a hit and Bogart was able to shed his gangster image.

Bogart's watershed role came in 1942 playing Rick Blaine in "Casablanca." Bogart's teaming with Ingrid Bergman yielded the greatest romantic pairing in movie history. Off set, the two stars barely spoke.

In 1944, Bogart met Lauren Bacall while filming "To Have And Have Not." Bogart was 44, Bacall 19. They fell in love. They were reunited for "The Big Sleep" and their scenes together crackled with sexual tension. In 1945, Bogart divorced Mayo Methot and married Bacall.

They bore two children making Bogart a father at age 49. In 1951, Bogart won a Best Actor Academy Award for "The African Queen." He became a vocal protester against Senator McCarthy and the Hollywood Blacklist. In 1956, while dining at Romanoffs, Bogart had a horrible coughing fit.

A heavy smoker and drinker, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He returned home and remained bedridden, losing so much weight he was transported upstairs and downstairs in the dumb waiter. He died at age 57.

Because he was cremated, a glass-enclosed model of his beloved yacht Santana stood in place of his casket at the funeral. John Huston eulogized Bogart with the words: "In each of the fountains at Versailles there is a pike which keeps all the carp active, otherwise they would grow fat and die. Bogie took delight in performing a similar duty in the fountains of Hollywood." (woodcuttingfool.blogspot.com)