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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 8, No. 7 |
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BOGART: 50 YEARS LATER |
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HUMPHREY BOGART
he's now an icon of noir
By CHUCK McFADDEN
of TheColumnists.com
Humphrey Bogart, a man of contradictions and artistry, died exactly 50 years ago this month. Born in 1899, he had just turned 57 when cancer claimed him.
It’s hard to speculate about what his reaction would be to his iconic status today, half a century after his death. I imagine he would be pleased, but surprised. The screenwriter-created characters he brought to life in the movies did not look upon fame as lasting, or even worthwhile, usually.
But the screen characters were not really Bogart. He wasn’t the man he appeared to be in so many of his screen roles that the public bought into so faithfully. Far from being a gangster, or tough guy, Bogart was a cultured man who befriended writers and artists. Legend has it that he could recite 1,000 lines of Shakespeare. He played tournament chess, one level below master level.
Bogart’s life was a topsy-turvy testimonial to the ability of a consummate actor to overcome--if that’s the word--his heritage. It wasn’t a case of an actor who comes from poverty winding up playing Wall Street types. Bogart did it the other way ‘round. The world-weary, gritty, sometimes low-down and cynical types Bogart played on screen were acted by a man who was born into wealth. Humphrey DeForest Bogart was the son of a surgeon and a top-flight illustrator who lived in an Upper West Side New York apartment. He attended Phillips Academy for a while, but was expelled and never made it to Yale, where his parents had expected him to enroll.
When one thinks about those Bogart roles in films such as “The African Queen,” “The Maltese Falcon,” “Casablanca” and “The Caine Mutiny” the fact that he was a run-of-the-mill Broadway actor for 21 years before achieving fame in the movies seems improbable. It was Bogart, after all, who was supposed to have once bounded onstage in tennis whites, asking, for the first time in history, “Tennis anyone?” Not quite the thing you’d hear from Captain Queeg.
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Humphrey Bogart in the "Tennis, anyone?" phase of his career: The 1931 melodrama "Bad Sister." The youngster looking so demure and rather foxy is Bette Davis. |
His upper-crust parents raised Bogart to
believe that acting was beneath a gentleman. It’s lost amid
all the trappings of Bogartmania today, but it’s important
to remember that despite that early conditioning, Humphrey (How
do you get to be a movie star with a name like “Humphrey”?)
Bogart was a man who respected acting as an art form that deserved
the very best he had. Not for him was the occasional outburst
from the likes of John Wayne, Gary Cooper or Robert Mitchum that
acting was not an occupation for Real Men.
"I don't approve of the John Waynes and the Gary Coopers
saying 'Shucks, I ain't no actor-I'm just a bridge builder or
a gas station attendant.' If they aren't actors, what the hell
are they getting paid for? I have respect for my profession.
I worked hard at it."
He did indeed. One of the greatest testimonials to Bogart’s
magic onscreen was his chemistry with Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca.”
They were one of the most romantic screen pairings of all time.
It was all acting. Offscreen, they were colleagues, but were
not close.
In fact, Bergman said later, "I kissed him, but I never
knew him." Years after “Casablanca,” the two had
lunch and--remember, Bogart took his movie career very seriously--Bogart
upbraided Bergman over her then-apparent abandonment of her career.
The story goes that Bogart told her, "You used to be a great
star. What are you now?"
"A happy woman," Bergman is said to have replied.
Would Bogart have been happier playing in drawing-room comedies,
or high-society pictures as he did in “Sabrina”? Not
likely. It’s true he was unhappy playing gangsters year
after year in low-budget Warner Brothers films in the 30’s,
but when he finally broke loose, it was still in roles that at
their core were those of a man who has seen the seamier side
of life and, with a shrug, has reached his bitter accomodation
with it.
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in his final film...a dark noir called "The Harder They Fall," set in the seamy world of prizefighting. |
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Just about all of Bogart’s movie star peers are either forgotten or are fading memories now. Not Bogie. He soldiers on, even in the minds of many of today’s youngsters who weren’t even born until 10 or 20 years after he died.
At just about the time that Bogart passed from the scene, a new word was coming into vogue that suited his screen persona perfectly. Humphrey Bogart was cool.
©2007 by Charles M. McFadden. The McFadden caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The color illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. East, San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. The photo from "Bad Sister" is courtesy of Universal Pictures. The photo from "The Harder They Fall" is courtesy of Columbia Pictures. This column first posted Jan. 29, 2007.
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