Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American screen and stage actor whose performances in 1940s film noir classics such as The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and The Big Sleep earned him status as a cultural icon.
Bogart began acting in 1921 after a hitch in the U.S. Navy in World War I and little success in various jobs in finance and the production side of the theater. Gradually he became a regular in Broadway shows in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart turned to film. His first great success was as Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest , and this led to a period of typecasting as a gangster with films such as Angels with Dirty Faces .
Bogart's breakthrough as a leading man came in 1941 with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon. The next year, his performance in Casablanca raised him to the peak of his profession and, at the same time, cemented his trademark film persona, that of the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side. Other successes followed, including To Have and Have Not , The Big Sleep , Dark Passage , and Key Largo , all four with his wife Lauren Bacall; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ; In a Lonely Place ; The African Queen ; Sabrina ; The Caine Mutiny ; and We're No Angels . His last film was The Harder They Fall .
During a film career of almost 30 years, Bogart appeared in more than 75 feature films. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star of Classic American cinema. Over his career, he received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning one .
“You're not a star until they can spell your name in Karachi.”
Attributed without citation in Vivian Cook, " Can they spell your name in Karachi? British and American style spelling http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Shorts/KarachiAmBrit.htm"
“I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”
Alleged last words, but Bacall denies this.
Misattributed
Source: By Myself and Then Some, Lauren Bacall http://books.google.co.id/books?id=OTCPSdKei_oC&pg=PT308&dq=lauren+bacall+scotch+to+martinis&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Sd7QU-kCiJO4BP-CgIAL&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=goodbye%20kid&f=false,
“All you owe the public is a good performance.”
To Frank Sinatra, as quoted in The New York Times (17 May 1994)
