American actor Humphrey Bogart reigned supreme over Hollywood during the 1940 and 50s and is widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema icons.Born in 1899, the oldest child of Belmont DeForest Bogart, a surgeon, and Maud Humphrey, a commercial illustrator.After being expelled from Philips Academy, one of the most prestigious preparatory schools, a young Humphrey Bogart enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1981 and ferried troops back from Europe.On his return home Bogart fell into acting, making his stage debut in 1921 in Drifting, after being a stage manager. Between 1922 and 1935 the untrained Bogart appeared in seventeen Broadway productions.In the early thirties Bogart moved between the stage and minor movie roles, after signing a contract with Fox Film Corporation.The Petrified Forest, a Broadway play, changed the course of Bogart's stalling career. With a run of 197 performances Bogart gained critical praise for the role of escaped killer Duke Mantee.
Warner Bros. bought the rights and cast Bogart in the same role alongside Bette Davis and Leslie Howard.
Despite The Petrified Forest being Bogart's breakthrough role he was then typecast as a gangster in a series of crime movies including Racket Busters, San Quentin and Dead End.
Next came The Maltese Falcon in 1941, which earned three Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
Hard-drinking private eye Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) sleuths the backyard of San Francisco in search of an elusive black bird statuette while evading the setups of three disparate miscreants: the duplicitous Brigid, the perfumed Mr. Cairo, and the scheming Fat Man.
Bogart's star was on the up and in 1943 he finally shook off the gangster tag as he landed one of his most famous roles, Rick Blaine in Casablanca.
World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz's classic love story. Humphrey Bogart plays Richard "Rick" Blaine, a cynical but good-hearted American whose café is the gathering place for everyone from the French Police to the black market to the Nazis.
When his long-lost love, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), Rick is pulled into both a love triangle and a web of political intrigue.
Ilsa and Victor need to escape from Casablanca, and Rick may be the only one who can help them. The question is, will he?
Casablanca proved to be Bogart's catapult to stardom as he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar as well as becoming the highest paid actor in the world.
The film has become one of the greatest movies of all time making Bogart a cinematic icon.
In 1945 the greatest cinematic partnership was brought to the big screen when Humphrey Bogart met unknown actress Lauren Bacall on the set of To Have and Have Not.
His relationship with Bacall was Bogart's first love affair with a leading lady, he was forty five and she was just nineteen.
Their onscreen partnership was to span another three moves: The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and Key largo.
Bogart finally won an Oscar in 1951 for his role as Charlie Allnut in The African Queen, a performance many consider his best.
The boozing, smoking, cussing captain of a tramp steamer, Charlie Allnut, saves prim and proper Rose Sayer after her brother is killed by German soldiers at the beginning of World War I in Africa.
Many quarrels later, the two set sail on the Ulonga-Bora in order to sabotage a German ship.
The film was also nominated for Best Actress for Katharine Hepburn, Best Director, for John Huston and Best Adapted Screenplay.
He died in 1957 after suffering from cancer of the oesophagus after falling into a coma.
In a career that spanned thirty six years Humphrey Bogart appeared in seventy five movies and has been come to be regarded one of the greatest actor ever to grace the silver screen.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw