50 Fun Facts About Humphrey Bogart

On what date was Humphrey Bogart born, a date Warner Bros. publicity later altered?

The studio moved it to January 23 to counter the idea that a man born on Christmas 'couldn't be as villainous as he appeared'; he joked about being cheated of a present every year.

Bogart's mother Maud used a drawing of the infant Humphrey in an advertising campaign for which brand?

A commercial illustrator who studied under Whistler, she earned $50,000 a year, far more than his surgeon father.

From which Massachusetts boarding school did Bogart depart in 1918 after failing four of six classes?

One story says he was expelled for throwing the headmaster into Rabbit Pond; his parents had hoped for Yale.

In which branch of the military did Bogart serve at the end of World War I?

'At 18, war was great stuff. Paris! Sexy French girls! Hot damn!' he recalled; he spent most of his sea time ferrying troops home.

According to David Niven, what did Bogart say caused his famous lip scar?

'Goddamn doctor. Instead of stitching it up, he screwed it up'; Niven said the wartime stories were studio inventions.

Before he made money acting, Bogart hustled players at which game in New York parks and at Coney Island?

He played at tournament level and, on Casablanca, played correspondence games with GIs until the FBI intercepted the notation as suspected code.

Bogart is reportedly the first actor to say which line on stage?

He called his early juvenile parts 'White Pants Willie' roles and appeared in at least 18 Broadway shows between 1922 and 1935.

Which actor and drinking companion first called him 'Bogie', in 1930?

They made only one film together, Up the River; both wanted top billing on The Desperate Hours 25 years later, so Tracy dropped out.

Which escaped-killer role in The Petrified Forest made Bogart a star?

Producer Arthur Hopkins cast him on the strength of his 'dry and tired' voice, having never rated the 'antiquated juvenile' before.

Which star cabled Jack Warner 'Insist Bogart Play Mantee No Bogart No Deal', winning him The Petrified Forest?

Bogart never forgot it and named his daughter Leslie Howard Bogart in his honour.

By Bogart's own count, in his first 34 Warner pictures how many times was he shot?

He was also 'electrocuted or hanged in 8, and was a jailbird in 9', averaging a film every two months from 1936 to 1940.

Which 'hillbilly musical' with Bogart as a wrestling promoter did he consider his worst film?

The Return of Doctor X, his only horror film, ran it close: 'they were drinking mine and I was making this stinking movie'.

What did the press call Bogart and third wife Mayo Methot, whose fights included stabbing and arson?

He named his boat Sluggy after her, and their friend Julius Epstein called the marriage 'the sequel to the Civil War'.

In High Sierra (1941), whose dog played Pard, the dog belonging to the character Roy Earle?

He thought the Warners wardrobe department so cheap that he often wore his own suits on screen too.

Which better-known actor turned down Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon because his contract excused remakes?

Raft made Manpower instead; Bogart called the film 'practically a masterpiece... I don't have many things I'm proud of but that's one'.

The Maltese Falcon (1941) was the directorial debut of which friend and drinking partner of Bogart?

They went on to make Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The African Queen and Beat the Devil together, and Huston gave his eulogy.

What is the name of Bogart's nightclub owner in Casablanca?

The AFI ranks him the fourth-greatest screen hero and his romance with Ilsa Lund the greatest love story in American cinema.

Because Ingrid Bergman was taller, what did Bogart have attached to his shoes in some Casablanca scenes?

Off set they barely spoke; Bergman later said, 'I kissed him but I never knew him.'

To whom did Bogart lose the Best Actor Oscar for Casablanca?

Lukas won for Watch on the Rhine; Casablanca still took Best Picture and made Bogart the world's highest-paid actor by 1946.

How old were Bogart and Lauren Bacall when they fell in love filming To Have and Have Not?

He nicknamed her 'Baby'; it was the first affair he ever had with a leading lady.

To Have and Have Not was loosely adapted from a novel by which author?

Howard Hawks directed, with Hoagy Carmichael as the piano-playing sidekick.

Whom did Hawks and Bogart telegraph, in vain, to ask who killed the chauffeur in The Big Sleep?

Chandler wrote the novel; Faulkner helped with the script, whose added scenes were full of sexual innuendo.

At whose Ohio farm did Bogart marry Lauren Bacall in May 1945?

The Pulitzer-winning author's Malabar Farm hosted the small ceremony; Bogart admired writers above all.

How many films did Bogart and Bacall make together?

To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and Key Largo, the last with Edward G. Robinson billed second.

What was the name of Bogart's 55-foot sailing yacht, bought from Dick Powell in 1945?

He spent about thirty weekends a year aboard, mostly around Catalina, and named his production company after it.

In The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, who did Bogart call the only Hollywood performer he'd 'gladly lose a scene' to?

The director's father won Best Supporting Actor; the film itself did mediocre business.

Bogart organised which Washington delegation to oppose HUAC's harassment of Hollywood?

He later distanced himself with a Photoplay article titled 'I'm No Communist'.

Which Bogart film do several biographers and Louise Brooks say came closest to the real Bogart?

His embittered writer Dixon Steele twice orders Bogart's own favourite meal, ham and eggs.

Which writer co-wrote Beat the Devil (1953), the last Bogart-Huston film?

Bogart sold his interest in Santana Productions to Columbia for over $1 million in 1955.

Who suggested Bogart for The African Queen as 'the only man who could have played that part'?

Nearly the whole cast got dysentery in the Belgian Congo except Bogart and Huston, who lived on canned food and Scotch.

What was the name of Bogart's cantankerous steam-launch skipper in The African Queen?

The role won him his only Oscar; he considered it the best of his career.

How did Bogart open his Oscar acceptance speech for The African Queen?

He had vowed to thank no one, but ended up crediting 'John and Katie'.

Which paranoid naval commander did Bogart play in The Caine Mutiny (1954)?

He dropped his asking price to get the part and landed a Time cover.

Whom did Billy Wilder originally want for Bogart's role in Sabrina (1954)?

Bogart took it on a handshake without a script and then feuded with Wilder, calling him 'overbearing'.

The flamenco dancer made a star in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) was modelled on whom?

Ava Gardner played her, fresh from her split with Bogart's Rat Pack buddy Frank Sinatra.

Which struggling co-star did Bogart quietly feed lines to on The Left Hand of God (1955)?

His sister's depression had made him familiar with mental illness; he also insisted on Joan Bennett for We're No Angels when a scandal made her unwelcome.

What was Bogart's final film, a boxing drama with Rod Steiger?

Steiger later realised Bogart's 'watery eyes' in retakes were from the pain of his cancer.

Bogart's son Stephen was born in January 1949 during the filming of which movie?

Bogart became a father at 49; daughter Leslie was named for Leslie Howard.

Who coined the name 'Rat Pack' after surveying the wreckage of a 1955 Las Vegas party?

'You look like a goddamn rat pack,' she said; Bogart became director of public relations and its purpose was 'to drink a lot of bourbon and stay up late'.

Which title did Bogart hold in the original Rat Pack?

Sinatra was president, Bacall den mother and Sid Luft acting cage manager.

From what illness did Bogart die in January 1957?

A heavy smoker and drinker, he weighed just 80 pounds at his death at 57.

On the night before he died, Bogart said 'Goodbye, Spence' instead of goodnight to which visiting friend?

Katharine Hepburn recalled that 'Spence's heart stood still. He understood.' Tracy was too upset to give the eulogy.

Bogart was buried with a small gold charm from a bracelet he gave Bacall. What was inscribed on it?

It came from a charm bracelet he gave Bacall, echoing her line in To Have and Have Not: 'You just put your lips together and blow.'

Which two composers' music was played at Bogart's funeral?

Ingrid Bergman, James Cagney, Errol Flynn and Gregory Peck were among the mourners.

Which Jean-Luc Godard film of 1960 was the first to pay tribute to Bogart?

A 'Bogie cult' also grew at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after his death.

In which Woody Allen comedy does Bogart's ghost advise a film critic having trouble with women?

The 1972 film's title borrows the line everyone misquotes from Casablanca.

Al Stewart's 1976 hit 'Year of the Cat', influenced by Casablanca, opens by placing the listener in what?

The song was influenced by Casablanca; Bertie Higgins's 'Key Largo' also name-checks two Bogart films.

How did the American Film Institute rank Bogart in its 1999 list of male screen legends?

Entertainment Weekly had named him the number-one movie legend of all time two years earlier.

How many of Bogart's films made the AFI's 1998 list of the greatest American movies?

Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen, with Casablanca ranked second.

Which Manhattan block, between Broadway and West End Avenue, was renamed Humphrey Bogart Place in 2006?

'Bogie would never have believed it,' Bacall told the assembled officials.