Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey DeForest Bogart (December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957) was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart as the greatest male star of classic American cinema. He began acting in Broadway shows, beginning his career in motion pictures with John Ford‘s Up the River (1930), which was also the feature debut of Spencer Tracy. Bogart appeared in supporting roles for the next decade, sometimes portraying gangsters. He was praised for his work as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), but remained secondary to other actors Warner Bros. cast in lead roles. Other early films include The Oklahoma Kid (1938), with James Cagney, Rosemary Lane, Donald Crisp, and Ward Bond.

His breakthrough from supporting roles to stardom came with High Sierra (1941), with Ida Lupino; and The Maltese Falcon (1941), his first collaboration with filmmaker John Huston, considered one of the first great noir films. It was also his first of many collaborations with actors Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Bogart’s private detectives, Sam Spade (in The Maltese Falcon) and Phillip Marlowe (in Howard Hawks‘s 1946 adaptation of The Big Sleep), became the models for detectives in other noir films. His most significant romantic lead role was with Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1942), directed by Michael Curtiz; and he received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Bogart and 19-year-old Lauren Bacall fell in love when they filmed To Have and Have Not (1944); soon after the main filming for The Big Sleep (1946, their second film together), he filed for divorce from his third wife and married Bacall. After their marriage, she played his love interest in Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948), with Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor. Other notable roles from this time include Peter Godfrey’s The Two Mrs. Carrols (1947), with Barbara Stanwyck.

Bogart’s performances in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), with Walter Huston; and In a Lonely Place (1950) are now considered among his best, although they were not recognized as such when the films were released. He reprised those unsettled, unstable characters as a World War II naval-vessel commander in Edward Dmytryk’s The Caine Mutiny (1954), which was a critical and commercial hit and earned him another Best Actor nomination. As a cantankerous river steam launch skipper with Katharine Hepburn‘s missionary in the World War I adventure The African Queen (1951), Bogart received the Academy Award for Best Actor. In his later years, significant roles included Joseph L. Mankiewicz‘s The Barefoot Contessa (1954) with Ava Gardner and his on-screen competition with William Holden for Audrey Hepburn in Billy Wilder‘s Sabrina (1954); The Left Hand of God (1955), with Gene Tierney; William Wyler‘s The Desperate Hours (1955), and his final role in Mark Robson’s The Harder They Fall (1956), with Rod Steiger. A heavy smoker and drinker, Bogart died from esophageal cancer in January 1957.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

The Dancing Town (1928) – directed by Edmund Lawrence – short
Broadway’s Like That (1930) – directed by Arthur Hurley – short – lost
Up the River (1930) – directed by John Ford
A Devil with Women (1930) – directed by Irving Cummings
Body and Soul (1931) – directed by Alfred Santell
Bad Sister (1931) – directed by Hobart Henley
Women of All Nations (1931) – directed by Raoul Walsh – scenes deleted
A Holy Terror (1931) – directed by Irving Cummings
Love Affair (1932) – directed by Thornton Freeland
Big City Blues (1932) – directed by Mervyn LeRoy – uncredited
Three on a Match (1932) – directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Midnight (1934) – directed by Chester Erskine
The Petrified Forest (1936) – directed by Archie Mayo
Bullets or Ballots (1936) – directed by William Keighley
Two Against the World (1936) – directed by William C. McGann
China Clipper (1936) – directed by Ray Enright
Isle of Fury (1936) – directed by Frank McDonald
Black Legion (1937) – directed by Archie Mayo
The Great O’Malley (1937) – directed by William Dieterle
Marked Woman (1937) – directed by Lloyd Bacon
San Quentin (1937) – directed by Lloyd Bacon
Kid Galahad (1937) – directed by Michael Curtiz
Dead End (1937) – directed by William Wyler
Stand-In (1937) – directed by Tay Garnett
Swing Your Lady (1938) – directed by Ray Enright
Crime School (1938) – directed by Lewis Seiler
Men Are Such Fools (1938) – directed by Busby Berkeley
Racket Busters (1938) – directed by Lloyd Bacon
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) – directed by Anatole Litvak
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) – directed by Michael Curtiz
Swingtime in the Movies (1938) – directed by Crane Wilbur – short – uncredited
King of the Underworld (1939) – directed by Lewis Seiler
The Oklahoma Kid (1939) –
You Can’t Get Away with Murder (1939) – directed by Lewis Seiler
Dark Victory (1939) – directed by Edmund Goulding
The Roaring Twenties (1939) – directed by Raoul Walsh
The Return of Dr. X (1939) – directed by Vincent Sherman
Invisible Stripes (1939) – directed by Lloyd Bacon
Virgin City (1940) – directed by Michael Curtiz
It All Came True (1940) – directed by Lewis Seiler
Brother Orchid (1940) – directed by Lloyd Bacon
They Drive by Night (1940) – directed by Roaul Walsh
High Sierra (1941) – directed by Raoul Walsh
The Wagons Roll at Night (1941) – directed by Ray Enright
The Maltese Falcon (1941)** – directed by John Huston
All Through the Night (1942) – directed by Vincent Sherman
The Big Shot (1942) – directed by Lewis Seiler
Across the Pacific (1942) – directed by John Huston
Casablanca (1942)** – directed by Michael Curtiz
Action in the North Atlantic (1943) – directed by Lloyd Bacon – uncredited direction by Byron Haskin & Raoul Walsh
Sahara (1943) – directed by Zoltan Korda
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) – directed by David Butler – uncredited appearance as himself
Passage to Marseille (1944) – directed by Michael Curtiz
To Have and Not Have (1944) – directed by Howard Hawks
Conflict (1945) – directed by Curtis Bernhardt
Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946) – directed by David Butler – uncredited cameo as himself
The Big Sleep (1946) – directed by Howard Hawks
Never Say Goodbye (1946) – directed by James V. Kern – uncredited voice cameo
Dead Reckoning (1947) – directed by John Cromwell
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947) – directed by Peter Godfrey
Dark Passage (1947) – directed by Delmer Daves
Always Together (1948) – directed by Frederick de Cordova a uncredited cameo as himself
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)** – directed by John Huston
Key Largo (1948) – directed by John Huston
Knock on Any Door (1949) – directed by Nicholas Ray
Tokyo Joe (1949) – directed by Stuart Heisler
Chain Lightning (1950) – directed by Stuart Heisler
In a Lonely Place (1950) – directed by Nicholas Ray
The Enforcer (1951) – directed by Bretaigne Windust – uncredited directing by Raoul Walsh
Sirocco (1951) – directed by Curtis Bernhardt
The African Queen (1951)** – directed by John Huston
Deadline – U.S.A. (1952) – directed by Richard Brooks
Road to Bali (1952) – directed by Hal Walker – cameo as himself
Battle Circus (1953) – directed by Richard Brooks
Beat the Devil (1953) – directed by John Huston
The Caine Mutiny (1954) – directed by Edward Dmytryk
Sabrina (1954)** – directed by Billy Wilder
The Barefoot Contessa (1954) – directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
The Love Lottery (1954) – directed by Charles Crichton – uncredited cameo as himself
We’re No Angels (1955) – directed by Michael Curtiz
The Left Hand of God (1955) – directed by Edward Dmytryk
The Desperate Hours (1955) – directed by William Wyler
The Harder They Fall (1956) – directed by Mark Robson

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