Humphrey Bogart on stage, screen, radio and television

Bogart in Brother Orchid, 1940

Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957)[1][2] was an American actor and producer whose 36-year career began with live stage productions in New York in 1920. He had been born into an affluent family in New York's Upper West Side,[3] the first-born child and only son of illustrator Maud Humphrey and physician Belmont Deforest Bogart.[1] The family eventually came to include his sisters Patricia and Catherine.[4] His parents believed he would excel academically, possibly matriculate at Yale University and become a surgeon.[5] They enrolled him in the private schools of Delancey, Trinity, and Phillips Academy, but Bogart was not scholarly inclined and never completed his studies at Phillips, joining the United States Navy in 1918.[5]

On the completion of his military service, Bogart began working in theatrical productions. He was initially employed as a manager behind the scenes for the plays Experience and The Ruined Lady, before trying his talents on stage in the 1922 play Drifting. A recurring legend about Bogart is that his dialog in the 1925 play Hell's Bells was, "Tennis anyone?", but Bogart denied that. His body of stage work included more than a dozen plays, and lasted a little over a decade. He began to pursue a career in film by 1928, first appearing in the short film The Dancing Town, and then in the 1930 short film Broadway's Like That. Bogart appeared in 75 feature films, and initially believed he was on the road to stardom when he secured a 1929 contract with Fox Film. The resulting productions of A Devil with Women, Up the River, A Holy Terror, Body and Soul and Women of All Nations for Fox, as well as Bad Sister for Universal Pictures, were collectively a disappointment to him, and he returned to stage work in New York.

Bogart's break-out role was that of escaped murderer Duke Mantee whom he played in 197 stage performances of the 1935 Broadway theatre production of The Petrified Forest, with actor Leslie Howard in the lead. The play, and his subsequent casting in the movie version, propelled him to stardom, and secured him a movie contract with Warner Bros. He made 48 films for them, including The Maltese Falcon, To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, and Casablanca, the last of which earned Bogart his first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Bogart won the award on his second nomination, for his 1951 performance in the United Artists production The African Queen. His third Oscar nomination was for his performance in the 1954 Columbia Pictures production The Caine Mutiny. In addition to his film work, Bogart guest starred in numerous radio and television programs, primarily reprising his film roles. He formed Santana Productions in 1948, with the company's 1950 production of In a Lonely Place chosen by the National Film Registry in 2007 for permanent preservation as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. Santana Productions also created the 1951–1952 Bold Venture half-hour radio series as a vehicle for Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall.

Broadway theatre (1920–1935)

Bogart and Shirley Booth in Hell's Bells, 1925

After Bogart completed his World War I service with the United States Navy, he found theatrical employment in New York. He stage managed the 1920 play Experience, and later became a road manager for The Ruined Lady.[1] When he began to pursue an acting career, his debut role was in the 1922 play Drifting.[6]

He appeared in 18 productions on Broadway, including the role that would propel him to fame and success in the movie industry; from January through June 1935, he appeared in 197 performances of The Petrified Forest as Duke Mantee, a murderer fleeing across the Arizona-Mexico border to evade capture by law enforcement.[7] Leslie Howard appeared in the lead role as intellectual idealist Alan Squier.[8]

Note that the opening and closing dates of the below productions are not listed. With the exception of The Petrified Forest, the sources do not indicate whether or not Bogart was in the entire run of any production.

Broadway theatre credits of Humphrey Bogart[9]
Title Year Role Theatre Notes Ref(s)
Drifting 1922 Multiple roles Playhouse Theatre [6]
Swifty 1922 Tom Proctor Playhouse Theatre [10]
Meet the Wife 1923 Gregory Brown Klaw Theatre [11]
Nerves 1924 Bob Thatch Comedy Theatre [12]
Hell's Bells 1925 Jimmy Todhunter Wallack's Theatre Popular lore says Bogart delivered the line, "Tennis anyone?" (or similar phrasing) in this play. Bogart denied it, saying his line was, "It's forty-love outside. Anyone care to watch?" [13]
Cradle Snatchers 1925 Jose Vallejo Music Box Theatre [14]
Baby Mine 1927 Alfred Hardy Chanin's 46th Street Theatre [15][16]
Saturday's Children 1927 Rims O'Neil Booth Theatre [17]
Saturday's Children 1928 Rims O'Neil Forrest Theatre [18]
Skyrocket 1929 Vic. Ewing Lyceum Theatre [19]
It's a Wise Child 1929–1930 Roger Baldwin Belasco Theatre [20]
After All 1931 Duff Wilson Booth Theatre [21]
I Loved You Wednesday 1932 Randall Williams Sam H. Harris Theatre [22]
Chrysalis 1932 Don Ellis Martin Beck Theatre [23]
Our Wife 1933 Jerry Marvin Booth Theatre [24]
The Mask and the Face 1933 Luciano Spina Guild Theatre [25]
Invitation to a Murder 1934 Horatio Channing Theatre Masque [26]
The Petrified Forest 1935 Duke Mantee Broadhurst Theatre 197 performances, with Leslie Howard in the lead role of Alan Squier

Bogart always believed that the future of his profession was ultimately in the burgeoning film industry. After signing with Charles Frohman Productions, he was cast as the male lead opposite stage actress Helen Hayes in a two-reel silent The Dancing Town (1928) for Paramount Pictures.[27] He appeared in a Vitaphone short musical Broadway's Like That (1930), which also featured Joan Blondell and Ruth Etting.[28]

Film short credits of Humphrey Bogart
Title Year Role Notes Ref(s)
The Dancing Town 1928 Man in Doorway at Dance Paramount Pictures
Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive 		[29]
Broadway's Like That 1930 Ruth's Fiancé Soundtrack lost
Vitaphone
Bogart, Leslie Howard and Bette Davis, in The Petrified Forest, 1936
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film poster)
Dooley Wilson and Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
Bacall and Bogart To Have and Have Not (1942)
In a Lonely Place (1950 poster)
Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart,The African Queen (1951)

He made 75 feature length films during his career. Two serendipitous events helped pave a path for his career ambitions. During the last half of the 1920s, the film industry's transition from the silent era to sound shifted focus towards stage actors whose vocal talents had been honed in front of live audiences.[31] When the 1929 stock market crash triggered the Great Depression in the United States, funding for stage shows became precarious.[31] Bogart's brother-in-law, Stuart Rose,[32] had become an employee of Fox Film, and was able to arrange a screen test for him with Fox executive Al Lewis. After viewing the test, the Hollywood home office of Fox sent Lewis a directive that Bogart was to be signed to a $750 per week contract, with an option of raising it to $1,000 per week if he performed as expected:[31]

I'm going to become the biggest movie star Hollywood's ever seen.

— Humphrey Bogart after signing his Fox contract in 1929[33]

The films made in Hollywood under his Fox contract were A Devil with Women (1930), Up the River (1930), A Holy Terror (1931), Body and Soul (1931), and Women of All Nations (1931). While still in California, he also made Bad Sister (1931) for Universal Pictures. Bogart was less than impressed with the end products, and returned to his stage career in New York.[15]

When Warner Bros. purchased the film rights for The Petrified Forest, the studio retained Leslie Howard in the lead role he had performed on Broadway, but replaced Bogart with Edward G. Robinson in the role of Mantee. Howard intervened on Bogart's behalf to reclaim the role for him.[34][35] Following the success of Bogart's performance in the 1936 film, Jack L. Warner put him under contract for $550 a week, with a morals clause, and financial options which could potentially more than triple Bogart's weekly salary.[36]

He continued to appear in feature films for the rest of his life, and claimed that "at Warner Bros. in the 30s, I became a one-man film factory."[37] He made 48 films for Warner Bros., more than any other studio he was affiliated with. His body of work there included some of his most acclaimed films: Dark Victory (1939), High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and Key Largo (1948).[38] By comparison, he only made seven films with Fox, five films each with Columbia Pictures and his own Santana Productions, three films for Paramount Pictures, two for United Artists, and one each for United States Pictures, Universal Pictures, First National Pictures, Samuel Goldwyn Productions, MGM and Walter Wanger Productions.

Bogart created his own Santana Productions in 1948. The company produced Knock on Any Door (1949), Tokyo Joe (1949), And Baby Makes Three (1949) starring Robert Young and Barbara Hale, Sirocco (1951), The Family Secret (1951) starring John Derek and Lee J. Cobb, and Beat the Devil (1951), Bogart's spoof of The Maltese Falcon. The company's production of In a Lonely Place (1950) was added to National Film Registry in 2007, "to be preserved for all time". Inclusion of films in the registry are based on "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant quality.[39]

List of feature films

Feature length films of Humphrey Bogart[40]
Title Year Role Notes Ref(s)
A Devil with Women 1930 Tom Standish Fox Film [41]
Up the River 1930 Steve Jordan Fox Film [42]
Bad Sister 1931 Valentine Corliss Universal Pictures
distributed through Warner Bros. 		[43]
A Holy Terror 1931 Steve Nash Fox Film [44]
Body and Soul 1931 Jim Watson Fox Film [45]
Women of All Nations 1931 Stone
Deleted scenes 		Fox Film
Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive 		[46]
Big City Blues 1932 Shep Adkins Warner Bros. [47]
Three on a Match 1932 Harve Warner Bros. [48]
Love Affair 1932 Jim Leonard Columbia Pictures [49]
Midnight 1934 Gar Boni aka Call It Murder
Universal Pictures 		[50]
The Petrified Forest 1936 Duke Mantee Warner Bros. [51]
Bullets or Ballots 1936 Nick "Bugs" Fenner Warner Bros. [52]
Two Against the World 1936 Sherry Scott aka One Fatal Hour
Warner Bros. 		[53]
China Clipper 1936 Hap Stuart First National Pictures [54]
Isle of Fury 1936 Valentine "Val" Stevens Warner Bros. [55]
Black Legion 1937 Frank Taylor Warner Bros. [56]
The Great O'Malley 1937 John Phillips Warner Bros. [57]
Marked Woman 1937 District Attorney David Graham Warner Bros. [58]
San Quentin 1937 Joe "Red" Kennedy Warner Bros. [59]
Kid Galahad 1937 Turkey Morgan Warner Bros. [60]
Dead End 1937 Hugh "Baby Face" Martin Samuel Goldwyn Productions [61]
Stand-In 1937 Doug Quintain Walter Wanger Productions [62]
Swing Your Lady 1938 Ed Hatch Warner Bros. [63]
Crime School 1938 Deputy Commissioner Mark Braden Warner Bros. [64]
Men Are Such Fools 1938 Harry Galleon Warner Bros. [65]
Racket Busters 1938 Pete "Czar" Martin Warner Bros. [66]
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse 1938 "Rocks" Valentine Warner Bros. [67]
Angels with Dirty Faces 1938 James Frazier Warner Bros. [68]
King of the Underworld 1939 Joe Gurney Warner Bros. [69]
The Oklahoma Kid 1939 Whip McCord Warner Bros. [70]
You Can't Get Away with Murder 1939 Frank Wilson Warner Bros. [71]
Dark Victory 1939 Michael O'Leary Warner Bros. [72]
The Roaring Twenties 1939 George Hally Warner Bros. [73]
The Return of Doctor X 1939 Dr. Maurice Xavier, aka Marshall Quesne Warner Bros. [74]
Invisible Stripes 1939 Chuck Martin Warner Bros. [75]
They Drive by Night 1940 Paul Fabrini Warner Bros. [76]
Virginia City 1940 John Murrell Warner Bros. [77]
It All Came True 1940 Grasselli aka Chips Maguire Warner Bros. [78]
Brother Orchid 1940 Jack Buck Warner Bros. [79]
High Sierra 1941 Roy Earle Warner Bros. [80]
The Wagons Roll at Night 1941 Nick Coster Warner Bros. [81]
The Maltese Falcon 1941 Sam Spade First film appearance of Sydney Greenstreet
Warner Bros. 		[82]
All Through the Night 1942 Alfred 'Gloves' Donahue Warner Bros. [83]
The Big Shot 1942 Joseph "Duke" Berne Warner Bros. [84]
Across the Pacific 1942 Rick Leland Warner Bros. [85]
Casablanca 1942 Rick Blaine Nominated for Best Actor Oscar
Warner Bros. 		[86]
Action in the North Atlantic 1943 Lt. Joe Rossi Warner Bros. [87]
Sahara 1943 Sgt. Joe Gunn Columbia Pictures [88]
Thank Your Lucky Stars 1943 Himself Warner Bros. [89]
Passage to Marseille 1944 Jean Matrac Warner Bros. [90]
To Have and Have Not 1944 Harry "Steve" Morgan Lauren Bacall's debut film
Warner Bros. 		[91]
Conflict 1945 Richard Mason Warner Bros. [92]
The Big Sleep 1946 Philip Marlowe Warner Bros.
Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive 		[93]
Dead Reckoning 1947 Capt. Warren "Rip" Murdock Columbia Pictures [94]
The Two Mrs. Carrolls 1947 Geoffrey Carroll Warner Bros. [95]
Dark Passage 1947 Vincent Parry Warner Bros. [96]
Always Together 1948 Himself Warner Bros. [97]
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 Fred C. Dobbs Warner Bros. [98]
Key Largo 1948 Frank McCloud Warner Bros. [99]
Knock on Any Door 1949 Andrew Morton Santana Productions, Bogart's company founded in 1948
Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive 		[100]
Tokyo Joe 1949 Joseph "Joe" Barrett Santana Productions [101]
Chain Lightning 1950 Lt. Col. Matthew "Matt" Brennan Warner Bros. [102]
In a Lonely Place 1950 Dixon Steele Santana Productions;added to the National Film Registry in 2007, as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant. [103][39]
The Enforcer 1951 Dist. Atty. Martin Ferguson United States Pictures
Preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive 		[104]
Sirocco 1951 Harry Smith Santana Productions [105]
The African Queen 1951 Charlie Allnut Won the Best Actor Oscar
United Artists 		[106]
Deadline – U.S.A. 1952 Ed Hutcheson Fox Film [107]
Battle Circus 1953 Maj. Jed Webbe MGM [108]
Beat the Devil 1953 Billy Dannreuther Romulus Films
Santana Pictures Corporation 		[109]
The Caine Mutiny 1954 Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg Nominated for Best Actor Oscar
Columbia Pictures 		[110]
Sabrina 1954 Linus Larrabee Paramount Pictures [111]
The Barefoot Contessa 1954 Harry Dawes Figaro
United Artists 		[112]
We're No Angels 1955 Joseph Paramount Pictures [113]
The Left Hand of God 1955 James "Jim" Carmody Fox Film [114]
The Desperate Hours 1955 Glenn Griffin Paramount Pictures [115]
The Harder They Fall 1956 Eddie Willis Columbia Pictures

Occasionally Bogart made public fund-raising/patriotic appearances on film. He also appeared in cameos, some uncredited, in a small handful of other films.

Misc and uncredited films of Humphrey Bogart[40]
Title Year Notes Ref(s)
I Am an American 1944 Produced for Constitution Day [note 1]
Report from the Front 1944 American Red Cross fund-raising short [28]
Hollywood Victory Caravan 1944 Victory Bond tour [28]
Two Guys From Milwaukee 1946 A Warner Bros. film, with Bogart and Bacall cameo uncredited sitting at a table
 [28]
Always Together 1948 Bit part spoof of Stella Dallas, Bogart cameo crying against a window pane. [28]
Road to Bali 1952 A clip from The African Queen [28]
US Savings Bond trailer 1952 Bogart urging Americans to buy savings bonds [28]
The Love Lottery 1954 Uncredited cameo
David Niven film for Ealing Studios

He made numerous radio and television appearances throughout his career. The Lux Radio Theatre was an anthology series featuring adaptations of Broadway plays and film scripts. It was broadcast on the National Broadcasting Company's Blue Network (the forerunner of the American Broadcasting Company) (1934–35);[118] CBS Radio network (1935–54), and NBC Radio (1954–55). The Screen Guild Theater (aka Gulf Screen Guild Theater aka Stars in the Air) was a radio anthology series broadcast from 1939 until 1952.[119] Academy Award Theatre was a 1946 radio anthology series featuring adaptations of film scripts.[120] Kraft Music Hall was a radio musical variety show on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949.[121] The Bold Venture half-hour radio series ran for 78 episodes during 1951–1952, and was developed by Bogart's Santana Productions, as a starring vehicle for Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall.[122]

Radio and television credits of Humphrey Bogart
Program Episode Air date Ref(s)
Lux Radio Theatre Bullets or Ballots April 17, 1939 [123]
The Gulf Screen Guild Theater The Petrified Forest January 7, 1940 [124]
The Gulf Screen Guild Theater If Only You Could Cook November 23, 1941 [124]
The Gulf Screen Guild Theater The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse November 2, 1941 [125]
The Screen Guild Theater High Sierra January 4, 1942 [126]
Jack Benny Radio Program The Frightwig Murder Case February 2, 1942 [127]
The Screen Guild Theater Casablanca April 26, 1943 [128]
The Screen Guild Theater The Maltese Falcon September 20, 1943 [129]
Screen Guild Players High Sierra April 17,1944 [130]
Lux Radio Theatre Moontide April 30, 1945 [131]
Academy Award Theatre The Maltese Falcon July 3, 1946 [129]
Lux Radio Theatre To Have and Have Not October 14, 1946 [132]
Jack Benny Radio Program January 5, 1947 [133]
Kraft Music Hall November 6, 1947 [134]
Lux Radio Theatre Treasure of the Sierra Madre April 18, 1949 [135]
Bold Venture 78-episode series March 26, 1951 [136]
Stars in the Air
(Screen Guild Theater) 		The House on 92nd Street May 3, 1952 [137]
Lux Radio Theatre The African Queen December 15, 1952 [138]
Jack Benny television program (CBS -TV) October 25, 1953 [139]
Producers' Showcase (NBC -TV) The Petrified Forest May 30, 1955

Bogart's first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor was for Casablanca (1942),[141] a film that he and co-stars Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid initially believed was of little significance.[note 2][143] Bogart won the award on his second nomination, for his 1951 performance in the United Artists production The African Queen. He was nominated a third time for The Caine Mutiny (1954).[144] He posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.[145] The United States Postal Service honored Bogart in 1997, at a ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre unveiling Bogart's stamp as part of the postal service's "Legends of Hollywood" series.[146] In 2006, the street in front of his boyhood home was renamed Humphrey Bogart Place.[147]

See also