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Humphrey Bogart was born Christmas Day in New York City in 1899. Although he would become perhaps the greatest movie star of all time, his early life in no way predicted this, and he was well into his thirties before he had much success at all! His father, a surgeon, intended for him to become a doctor, but he was kicked out of college. He joined the U.S. Naval Reserve and managed a stage company in his early 20s. He began acting on the stage, but to no real success. In 1930 he got a Hollywood contract at Fox Pictures, but he had little success there, and they released him after two years. He returned to the stage, and in 1936 finally was noticed in the small but vital role in the stage production of The Petrified Forest, where he appeared with Leslie Howard. Howard was signed for the movie version of the play, and he insisted, over studio objections, that Bogart be cast as well (he sent a telegram to Warners that read "No Bogart, no Howard"). Bogart never forgot this great kindness, and he much later named his daughter "Leslie". While Bogart was well received in The Petrified Forest, it did not make him a first rank star (likely he was 36 and he had already failed in Hollywood years earlier), so he spent the next five years at Warner Bros appearing in 28 films, almost always in secondary roles, often as a gangster. Twice he played cowboys (in Virginia City and The Oklahoma Kid)! He played the title role in The Return of Doctor X, a second rate horror movie, and a wrestling promoter in Swing Your Lady. He was in the first two "Dead End" movies, but was overshadowed by the Dead End Kids. Bogart was now 40, and it seemed likely he would finish his career playing more and more minor roles. But in 1941 George Raft turned down the role of Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, an escaped legendary bank robber, and that role, along with the role of Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (which Warners was remaking for the second time in 10 years) FINALLY made Bogart a top star (Warners thought so little of him as these movies were being released that most of the movie paper advertising for The Maltese Falcon showed Bogart with his cropped white hair from High Sierra!). Casablanca (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film) followed the next year, along with other patriotic World War II movies. In 1944, Bogart, who was 44 and had been married three times, was cast opposite 19 year old newcomer (and Howard Hawks' protege) Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not, and Bogart left his wife and married Bacall the following year. They would make three more movies together (The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, and Key Largo) and have two children. Bogart had some of his very finest roles near the end of his career. In 1948 he starred as Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, in 1951 he was Charlie Allnut in The African Queen (winner of the Best Actor Academy Award for this film), and in 1954 he was Lt. Cmdr. Queeg in The Caine Mutiny (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film; remember how he used "geometric logic" to prove there was a duplicate key?). I can't see anyone not agreeing that these are among the three finest acting performances ever! Bogart died from throat cancer in 1957 at the age of 57. He made many other memorable movies others than the ones noted above, and I urge you to seek them out! But be aware that he also appeared in a goodly number of MUCH lesser movies as well (especially in the first ten years of his career, so be sure to read reviews before starting one of his movies!) AND Edward G. Robinson was born Emmanuel Goldenberg in Romania in 1892, and his parents took him to the U.S. in 1902. He was a small man, but possessed a gigantic talent! He was a stage actor in the 1910s and 1920s, but when sound came to movies Hollywood turned to Broadway to find talent who could talk, and he made his debut (after two minor roles) in The Hole in the Wall, starring opposite future major star Claudette Colbert, in her second movie. Seven movies later, he starred as Cesare Bandello (Rico) in Little Caesar, and it not only made him a major star, it also ushered in the great gangster movies of the 1930s. It also typecast him, and he made mostly gangster movies in the 1930s and 1940s, sometimes comedies or parodies of his classic image. In 1944 he made the incredibly wise decision to accept third billing in Billy Wilder's film noir Double Indemnity, and he and the movie were wonderful. That same year he also memorably starred in Fritz Lang's uber-depressing masterpiece, The Woman in the Window, and the following year he and Lang virtually remade that movie as Scarlet Street (although the two movies come from different source novels). He settled into character roles in major movies and lead roles in minor ones, greatly enriching such movies as The Stranger, Key Largo, and many more. He was caught up in the HUAAC hearings, and though he wasn't blacklisted, he spent a year on Broadway in plays. As he grew older he continued to enrich lots of movies in character roles, including his great performance as master poker player Lancey Howard in The Cincinnati Kid (opposite Steve McQueen), and as Sol Roth in Soylent Green (opposite Charlton Heston). In real life he was a quiet, retiring man, nothing at all like his onscreen persona of a brash tough man brandishing a cigar like a weapon. He was a lifelong collector, and one of the first in Hollywood to collect fine art, and he accumulated a collection worth millions of dollars. The ultimate proof of just how flawed to Motion Picture Academy's methods were over the years is that not only did Edward G. never win an Oscar, he never even was NOMINATED for an Oscar, and yet he gave some of the finest movie performances over, over a span of over 40 years! He passed away in 1973 at the age of 79 AND John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle in Brooklyn, New York in 1913. He was a tough kid from the start, and after his mother died when he was 7, he was sent to a school for problem kids, where he found boxing and acting. But he got very sick and he recovered, but it damaged his heart, so boxing was out, and that left acting. He won a scholarship to Maria Ouspenskaya's drama school, and in 1932 joined the Civic Repertory Theatre in 1932, changing his name to Jules Garfield. He joined the Group Theater, where he met Clifford Odets, who wrote Golden Boy for him, and he was angry when he was not cast in the lead, and he left the Group Theater and went to Hollywood, where he was signed by Warner Bros, who changed his name to John Garfield. He made a major impact with his role in Four Daughters (nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film), opposite the Lane Sisters and Claude Rains, and he followed with the starring role in They Made Me a Criminal, opposite Rains, Ann Sheridan and the Dead End Kids, and both the movie and Garfield were wonderful! He tried to break out of the stereotyped "tough guy from the slums" roles, even appearing as a Spanish general in Juarez (!), but most of his next roles were of the same type. Three of his best movies were The Postman Always Rings Twice, Force of Evil, and Body and Soul (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film). He made a minor appearance in Gentleman's Agreement to help the movie's message about anti-Semitism be seen by more people. Garfield was caught up in the Blacklist, and when he was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, he refused to name names, and he was blacklisted. He returned to Broadway where he was finally able to star in a revival of Golden Boy. But that year he had a heart attack and died, under somewhat unusual circumstances. He was just 39, and he left behind a wife and two small children, both of whom later became actors (he had a third child who died while young). Garfield was one of the first "method actors" to have success in Hollywood, and he led the way for the later "rebels", Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and James Dean. He only made 32 movies and I highly recommend them all! AND Jane Wyman was an actress from the 1930s to the 1980s. Some of her movies include: The Lost Weekend, My Man Godfrey, Blue Veil (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film), Magnificent Obsession (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film), Yearling (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film), and Johnny Belinda. In the late 1930s, she appeared with Ronald Reagan in a movie, and married him in 1940, and they were divorced in 1948, having had two children. She played Angela Channing on TV's "Falcon Crest" throughout the 1980s.

Important Added Info: Note that this really cool still shows top Hollywood celebrities who were part of the "Committee to Re-Elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt" to a fourth term as president. The celebrities are Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield, Jane Wyman, Mayo Methot, and it looks like there might be a few other celebrities present, but we don't know who the other people are. The photo was surely taken in 1944, but we can't say for certain that this still is from 1944, so please do not bid on it unless you can accept this uncertainty. If anyone knows more about this, please e-mail us and we will post it here.

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