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Humphrey Bogart: New York
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After the war, Bogart returned to New York to accept a position on Broadway as a theatrical manager; beginning in 1920, he ... started appearing onstage, but earned little notice within the performing community. In the late '20s, Bogart followed a few actor friends who had decided to relocate to Hollywood. He made his first film appearance opposite Helen Hayes in the 1928 short The Dancing Town, followed by the 1930 feature Up the River, which cast him as a hard-bitten prisoner. Warner Bros. soon signed him to a 550-dollars-a-week contract, and over the next five years he appeared in dozens of motion pictures, emerging as the perfect heavy in films like 1936's The Petrified Forest, 1937's Dead End, and 1939's The Roaring Twenties. The 1939 tearjerker Dark Victory, on the other hand, offered Bogart the opportunity to break out of his gangster stereotype, and he delivered with a strong performance indicative of his true range and depth as a performer.
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Contrary to the famous characters he portrayed, Bogart came from an upper middle class background. He was born on December 25, 1899 in New York City. His father, Humphrey DeForest Bogart, was a well-known surgeon and his mother, Maud Humphrey, was a reputable artist and illustrator. Having ample financial means, the Bogarts wanted only the best for young Humphrey. His education was in the finest east coast institutions such as Trinity School and the Phillip's Academy in Andover, Maryland. In school he prepared to study medicine, but Humphrey's grades were not spectacular.
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In 1934 Bogart starred in the play Invitation to a Murder. The producer Arthur Hopkins saw the play and sent for Bogart when he chose to produce Robert Sherwood's new play, The Petrified Forest. Bogart arrived in Hopkins' office while Sherwood was there; Hopkins told him: "I've got a good role for you. A gangster role." Robert Sherwood was sure Hopkins was wrong; Bogart should play the football player. Bogart said later: "They argued back and forth, and I thought Sherwood was right.
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Upon his discharge from the service, Mr. Bogart called upon a family friend, theatrical producer William A. Brady for a job. He was hired to work in the office. He worked his way to stage manager in addition to working at Brady's New York film studio. Bogart made his first acting debut in 1922 starring in a small role given to him by William Brady’s daughter who was actress Alice Brady. That same year, Bogart went on to star in his first movie "Swifty." Although he was a great actor, he had difficulty launching his career and was typecast in seedy gangster roles.
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Bogart's birthday has been a subject of controversy. It was long believed that his birthday on Christmas Day, 1899, was a Warner Bros. fiction created to romanticize his background, and that he was really born on January 23, 1899, a date that appears in many references. However, this story is now considered baseless: although no birth certificate has ever been found, his birth notice did appear in a Boston newspaper in early January 1900, which supports the December 1899 date.
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In 1926, Bogart married a stage actress named Helen Menken. Her reason for marrying him was out of love, but his reasons were more career-oriented, and the marriage ended in 1927. In 1928, he married again, this time to actress Mary Philips, who he had known for a long time. Bogart went on to become a supporting actor in Broadway plays until 1929, when he headed for Hollywood. Mary refused to give up her career and join Bogart in Hollywood, so she remained in New York and continued her stage career. Bogart hoped that he would be able to find his success in films, but he ended up back in Broadway after the films he had made in Hollywood turned out to be clunkers.
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