Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart was born December 25, 1899, in New York City. He is considered a mythical figure of the movies, always playing the archetypal anti - hero associated with classic film noir of the 1930's and 40's. Bogart gave up his parents dreams of Yale to persue a career on Broadway, where he quickly became one of the stage's leading male ingenues - thanks to his good looks. After the success of his first hit, Cradle Snatchers, a play called The Petrified Forest landed him in the spot light and on the way to Hollywood. Bogey's early successes included supporting roles in two Bette Davis movies, Marked Woman and Dark Victory. However, it wasn't until his part in High Sierra that Bogart showed any signs of being a great hollywood actor.
He was now one of the leading gangster / tough guy actors. It wasn't until Casablanca that he was given top billing, and a three dimensional character, although in some respects, he was not considered the leading man of the movie at the time. Leading men always got their girl in the golden age. His movie, To Have and To Have Not, which paired him with a young Lauren Bacall, caused quite a Hollywood Scandal when he divorced his wife to marry the young movie star. That movie is sometimes jokingly refered to as a remake of Casablanca since, the plot was transposed to another location and reused with just a few minor adjustments. Other films include The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, The African Queen (his only oscar), The Caine Mutiny, and The Harder They Fall.