Humphrey Bogart: His Best Movies And Career Highlights

Humphrey Bogart remains one of the most respected and recognizable actors in film history. The Hollywood legend rose from origins as a stage performer to become a leading man on the big screen. He'd eventually become an Oscar-winner and earn the title of Hollywood's all-time greatest male star in the "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars" list. Read on for his best roles and many great facts about his career.

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born on December 25, 1899, in New York City to Belmont Bogart and Maud Humphrey. In this ca. 1901 photograph, he's seen as a young child. Bogart's acting career later began when he was in his early 20s as a stage performer. Per the IBDB, he appeared in at least 17 productions between 1922 and 1935. His first significant film role came in 1930.

At age 31, Bogart made his film debut as inmate "Steve Jordan" in the little-known 1930 comedy Up the River. The movie was directed by legendary Hollywood filmmaker John Ford, though Bogart would remain a player of supporting roles in films throughout the 1930s.

Humphrey Bogart got his big break in Hollywood in 1935 when a play he'd acted in, The Petrified Forest, got a film adaptation. His stage co-star Leslie Howard insisted on having Bogart also reprise his role in the film. It established him as a rough gangster type - a role which he'd perform in numerous films leading up to his A-list arrival in the 1940s.

Bogart appeared in two movies that established his stardom in 1941: The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra. John Huston directed the former and wrote the latter, beginning a run of successful collaborations with Bogart. Both movies were film noirs, with Bogart portraying a private investigator in The Maltese Falcon and a gangster (for the last time) in High Sierra.

Perhaps Bogart's best-known role came in 1942, when he played "Rick Blaine" opposite Ingrid Berman's "Isla Lund" in Casablanca. It's now commonly cited as one of the greatest films of all time and contains many iconic scenes and quotes involving Bogart. The actor also received the first of his three Academy Award nominations for his performance as the cynical nightclub owner in Casablanca, Morocco.

Humphrey Bogart met his fourth and final wife, actress Lauren Bacall, when they filmed To Have and Have Not in 1944. He divorced his third wife, Mayo Methot, and, at age 45, married the 20-year-old Bacall in 1945.

In addition to To Have and Have Not, married couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall appeared together in The Big Sleep, Key Largo, and Dark Passage. 1946's The Big Sleep is regarded as a classic of the film noir cycle. Bogart and Bacall also had two children together, Stephen and Leslie.

Another of Bogart's iconic performances came in 1948's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It was a collaboration with director John Huston, whose father, Walter Huston, won an Oscar for co-starring in the film. Regarded as a classic, the film follows three men on a gold prospecting journey in Mexico. It's one of the more antagonistic roles in Bogart's body of work.

In 1951, Hollywood's favourite leading man won his only Oscar as Best Actor for The African Queen. His other two nominations were for Casablanca in 1942 and, later, The Canine Mutiny in 1954.