|
|
Posted by Fred Goodwin, CMA on 10/06/19 11:45
April 19, 1957: Bogey cult launches
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment&month=10272956&day=10272984
http://tinyurl.com/z6s68
The Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, presents its first
showing of Casablanca (1943) on this day in 1957, introducing a new
generation of film viewers to Humphrey Bogart, who had died in January
1957. The showing marked the beginning of a Bogart revival that would
boost the star to cult-like status in the 1960s and later.
Born in 1899 in New York, Bogart planned to become a doctor like his
surgeon father, but his academic career ended when he was expelled from
prep school for bad behavior. He joined the navy during World War I and
was wounded in an attack on his ship, the Leviathan. His upper lip was
scarred and partially paralyzed, giving him the tough-guy poker face
and slight lisp that characterized his acting.
When he returned from the war, a family friend gave Bogart a job as an
office boy at a theater. Eventually, Bogart became both a tour and
stage manager for the company, and became interested in acting in the
early 1920s. Sadly, the reviews of an early play in which he appeared
described his acting as "what is usually and mercifully called
inadequate."
Bogart kept at it. In 1935, he co-starred with Leslie Howard in a
Broadway production called The Petrified Forest. When Warner Bros.
bought the film rights, they wanted to keep Howard but recast Bogart's
role; Howard said he wouldn't do the film unless Bogart was cast as
well. The film, released in 1936, was a hit, and Bogart began landing
more movie roles. He appeared in mediocre parts until 1941, when he
played a gangster in High Sierra, written by John Huston. Huston,
impressed with Bogart's abilities, cast the actor as detective Sam
Spade in the noir classic The Maltese Falcon (1941), the first of many
hard-boiled roles Bogart would play.
Bogart's most famous features followed: Casablanca in 1943, The Big
Sleep in 1946, and Key Largo in 1948. Bogart had already been married
three times when he starred in To Have and Have Not (1944) with
21-year-old actress Lauren Bacall. The two fell in love and married. In
1947, Bogart formed his own company, which produced hits like Treasure
of the Sierra Madre (1948), The African Queen (1951), and Sabrina
(1954). He won his only Oscar for The African Queen. Bogart died of
cancer in 1957.
Navigation:
[Reply to this message]
|