These Facts About Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart’s Marriage Will Make You Believe in Love Again
The Bogart–Bacall love story has become the stuff of legend. Their bond was powerful and unmistakable - so much so that even their children, still very young at the time of their father’s death, sensed the deep connection between their parents.
While both stars are now gone, their son has shared vivid memories of their life as a family, offering the public a rare and personal glimpse into their world.
Bogart Won An Oscar
Humphrey Bogart is probably best known for his role in the iconic film, Casablanca. He'd previously appeared in High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon. In 1951, he received the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The African Queen, opposite Katharine Hepburn.
Bogart continued to choose good roles, and, in 1954, received another Oscar nomination for his part in The Caine Mutiny.
Bacall Was a Model Who Starred Alongside Marilyn Monroe
Before meeting Bogart, Lauren Bacall was a model. Once her acting career got going, she appeared in several romantic comedies, such as 1953's How to Marry a Millionaire with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable and 1957's Designing Woman with Gregory Peck.
Bacall also starred alongside John Wayne in his final film, The Shootist in 1976. In the '70s, she appeared in several Broadway shows and won Tony Awards for 1970's Applause and 1981's Woman of the Year. In 1996, she was nominated for an Oscar for The Mirror Has Two Faces.
They Quickly Fell in Love on Set
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall first worked together in 1944, starring in To Have and Have Not - and sparks flew. Just one year later, they tied the knot at Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio.
The pair continued to work together after they got married. They starred in The Big Sleep, as well as Dark Passage and Key Largo.
Bogart Was Drawn to Bacall's Youth, Beauty and Strength
When Bogart first met Bacall, he was mesmerized by the actress. "She was pretty good looking," their son explained. “She was 19 and he was 44. But I think it was her strength. She was a strong woman."
The couple connected in a visceral way. When Bogart got ill, Bacall didn't leave his bedside.
The 25-Year Age Difference Made Their Relationship Risqué
Bogart was born on Christmas Day 1899, while his future wife was born in 1924. Their age difference was definitely a talking point in social circles at the time.
With Bacall being so much younger, she was worried about having a family that would last the test of time. Not to mention Bogart being married to someone, so they definitely turned heads! Despite the age difference, they knew children were in their future.
Their Movies Never Directly the Children
During an interview with Stay Thirsty, Stephen was asked what it was like to be Bogart's son. He replied, "It's not really that different than being anyone else's son. Your father just happens to be in the movies. As a kid, you don't focus on that."
Despite Bogart's general absence on Stephen's life, the actor seems to have made a great impact on his son. After he died, Stephen said, "I think about him almost every day."
Their Children Grew Up With Some Famous Neighbors
Stephen was Bogart and Bacall's first child. In his early years, the family lived next door to none other than Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland. Later in life, Stephen became a documentary filmmaker, writer and news producer.
Leslie Howard Bogart was born in 1952.
Bacall and Bogart Had Different Religious Views
Bacall grew up in a Jewish family and changed her name to better match Hollywood culture. According to her autobiography, she never regretted it, since she "felt totally Jewish and always would." Bogart was a Christian and, as such, the couple Christened their Stephen and Leslie.
Bacall explained Bogart's reasoning "with discrimination still rampant in the world, it would give them one less hurdle to jump in life's Olympics." Although Bacall felt uneasy about this choice, she agreed it would help her children grow up in a post-World War II environment.
Bogart and Bacall Were Very Much in Love
When Bogart wasn't making films, his favorite thing to do was spend time at home with Bacall, the love of his life. Their son could tell how much the cared for one another.
"When he'd come home from work, he would want to have dinner with her," Stephen recalled. “It was the age in the '50s when kids were seen, not heard. Parents had dinners, at least my mother and father did, with the adults. But they were in love. And they were good together."
Bogart Was 'Sentimental and Romantic'
Bogart frequently gave his wife sentimental pieces of jewelry, a memory his daughter cherishes. In fact, the actor put a lot of thought into the gifts he gave Bacall.
Leslie told Harper's Bazaar that her dad loved engraving sweet messages on her mother's accessories. "My mother always described my father, Humphrey Bogart, as very sentimental and romantic," Leslie revealed. “He often gave her beautiful jewelry, and almost every piece was engraved with a sweet sentence or thought and his initials or name. Romantic indeed!”
Bogart Was Very Proud of His Son
Stephen was just a little boy when his father passed, and Humphrey Bogart spent much of his time working - but there are some memories that are still fresh for Stephen, particularly when it comes to Bogart's boat.
"He would take me down to the Santana," he explained to Fox News. “Eventually, finally, when I learned how to swim, we would go out on the boat. I remember going to Catalina Island and swimming back... to the Santana. I made it and he was very proud of me at that time because he knew that I knew how to swim. That kind of pride sticks with you.”
Bogart 'Wasn't a Movie Star Guy'
In an interview with Cinema Fanatic, Stephen Bogart revealed that his father liked to hang around non-actors. He loved to talk to the writers and enjoyed hanging out with non-actors and having a blast.
Stephen calls this the "self-effacing way about him" that makes Bogart so special and memorable.
Bacall Never Advertised Herself
Despite being one of the greatest Hollywood actors of all time, Lauren Bacall never advertised her likeness or marketed her name. Stephen Bogart says she appreciated her wealth and life, but never bragged about it.
Bogart's Lifestyle Shortened His Life
A couple of years after celebrating his 10-year wedding anniversary, Bogart got very ill, largely due to his smoking and drinking habits. Bacall convinced him to seek medical help in 1956, and the actor was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
Unfortunately, surgery didn't improve Bogart's health, and chemotherapy didn't work either. He battled cancer for nearly a year, but he was unable to win the fight. In his last hours, he put his hand on his wife's arm and reportedly told her, "Goodbye, kid," before dying.
Bogart Never Realized He 'Had Something Special'
Cinema Fanatic asked Stephen Bogart if his father ever realized he had special something. "No," he responded. "That's why he had the special something. If he had been aware of it, it wouldn't have worked."
Stephen asserts that Bogart excelled because he was unabashedly himself. He also noted that his father always thanked the screenwriters first for any award that he received.
Humphrey Bogart Taught His Son to Be Playful and Cynical
Although Stephen didn't spend a lot of time with his father, he still realizes that he's "like him in certain ways.
"He was a needler and a kidder. I can be like that," he explained. "I think he was pretty cynical; I'm pretty cynical." But the most important trait inherited from his father was Bogart's belief in "treating people correctly." His mother also taught him that mindset.
Hollywood Icons Visited Bogart the Day Before He Died
In January 1957, famous pals Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy all visited Bogart to say their last goodbyes to their ailing friend. The actor was just 57 years old when he passed away.
Bogart's family organized a simple funeral, and some of the biggest names in Hollywood attended, including Hepburn, Tracy, Judy Garland, future President Ronald Reagan, Bette Davis, Danny Kaye, Joan Fontaine, Marlene Dietrich, James Cagney, Errol Flynn, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, Billy Wilder and Jack Warner.
Stephen Was Shocked By the Number of People
Stephen Bogart realized his father was an important figure when he attended the funeral. The boy was just eight years old.
The actor was buried with a very special memento: a charm bracelet with a tiny gold whistle on it. Bogart had given the jewelry to Bacall before they wed, and it included a very sweet inscription related to the first film they appeared in together.
Stephen Learned About His Father Through His Projects
After building a family of his own and a life away from Hollywood, Stephen Bogart spent two years writing Bogart: In Search of My Father. In that time, he realized how little he truly know about his father.
"My mother would ask me to describe him," he said in an interview. "I would, and she'd say, 'That's him from the movies.'" His research and dedication projects helped him "paint a human portrait" of his father.
Stephen Couldn't Compare to His Parents
It's not uncommon for children of actors to get into the family business, but, for Stephen, he never had any interest in following Bogart or Bacall's footsteps. He tried acting when he was younger, but it didn't stick.
"How do you compete with that?" Stephen said. “The comparisons would have been obvious. No, never."
Life Changed a Lot After Bogart's Death
After Bogart's death, Bacall decided to leave California to grieve in England. "I had a house with a pool in California. Life was pretty good," Stephen explained. "And then all of a sudden, there was a big change for all of us."
He added that his mother eventually started putting herself first and doing things she'd always wanted, such as moving to be near her mother in New York and working in theater productions.
Lauren Bacall Watched Other Movies All The Time
While she wasn't working on her own film sets, Bacall would go out to the theater and watch new movies. Stephen said that, before awards shows, she'd watch every nominated film in a row, then cast her vote.
Surprisingly, Stephen also shared that Bacall "knew a lot of the theater people as opposed to the movie people." Having always wanted to act on Broadway, she took the time to know and befriend several Broadway actors.
Bacall Made Sure Her Son Was Honest - Just Like His Dad
Four years after Bogart died, Bacall married her second husband, actor Jason Robards. The marriage ended in 1969. Throughout it all, Bogart was always in Bacall's thoughts.
"She would talk about him all the time," Stephen shared. "It was almost like, 'What would your father think?' or “Your father believed in treating people correctly.’ And that’s what she wanted me to do too.
"She wanted me to remember that he didn’t like to lie," he added. "He wasn’t a liar. She always used to pound that into me. Don’t lie. Tell the truth. That was a big deal.”
Bacall Continued to Excel After Bogart's Death
After her husband died in 1957, Bacall continued to act and made significant strides on the big screen. In the 1970s, she won Tony Awards for her roles in Applause and Woman of the Year. In 1996, she won a Golden Globe Award and received an Academy Award nomination for The Mirror Has Two Faces.
The American Film Institute gave her an Academy Honorary Award in 2009, labeling her the 20th greatest female star in classic Hollywood films.
Bacall Had Another Child During Her Second Marriage
During Bacall's eight-year-marriage to Jason Robards produced a son, Sam. He was born the same year the couple tied the knot.
Robards is an actor most known for his role as Henry Swinton in the 2001 film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. In 2002, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in Arthur Miller classic, The Man Who Had All the Luck.
Bacall's Kids Were Friendly with Her Second Husband
While Robards, had an alcoholism problem, he remained friendly with Bacall's children. Stephen Bogart said they'd "play ball," and he grew up close to Robards' son, Jason, Jr.
"But I never though of Jason Robards as my dad," Bogart clarified. "I liked him as a person, and he was married to my mother, but that's it."
Bacall's Final Years Were Difficult
Bacall lived in the famous Dakota building in New York from 1958, until her death in 2014. She continued to act throughout the '70s, but her last years weren't all that easy. She was sick and preferred to stay home rather than go out.
"I don't know how you feel when you get to that point, but… it wasn’t great for her," Stephen remembers. "She was used to getting up and doing things, going out. She had assistants there for her all the time if she needed them. But I think it was a very tough time for her, those last few years."
Bacall Left Her Fortune to Her Children - And Her Dog
After Lauren Bacall passed away in 2014, she left the bulk of her fortune to her three kids. The family split her $26.6 million fortune, and she instructed them to keep her personal papers private.
Around $10,000 of her money went to her dog, a Papillon named Sophie. Neighbors often saw her walking Sophie around her Central Park West apartment. Bacall allotted the remaining $250,000 to her grandsons, Calvin and Sebastian, to use for their college tuition.
Stephen Misses the Talks He Had With His Mom
Bacall was 89 years old when she passed away in 2014. Stephen was very close to his mother, and their close bond made it difficult for him to let her go.
"Just the fact that she's not here anymore, you know?" Bogart revealed when asked what he missed the most about his mom. “Being able to talk to her. I left home to go to boarding school when I was 13. I didn’t really live with her after that, but she was always there to talk to and just to hear her voice. I think hearing her voice is a big thing.”
Stephen Carries on His Father's Legacy
Stephen co-manages the Humphrey Bogart Estate, which puts on a Bogart Film Festival every year. "We try to do things that not only keeps him alive but classic Hollywood alive."
The estate also partnered with ROK Drinks to distribute Bogart’s Spirits. The actor loved many types of spirits, but his favorites were gin and whiskey.
Noelle Talmon
