The American stage and screen actor, Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), was one of Hollywood's most durable stars and a performer of considerable skill, subtlety, and individuality.

Humphrey Deforest Bogart was born on January 23, 1899, in New York City to Deforest Bogart, a surgeon, and Maud Humphrey Bogart, an illustrator. He attended several private schools, but performed poorly and was expelled at one point. Bogart spent several years with the U.S. Navy and worked briefly as a Wall Street clerk before entering the competitive world of Broadway theater. After a considerable struggle he achieved stature with his two most important stage appearances: in Maxwell Anderson's comedy Saturday's Children and Robert E. Sherwood's gangster morality play, The Petrified Forest. His characterization of the psychotic killer, Duke Mantee, in the latter, as well as in the popular film version with Bette Davis and Leslie Howard, led to typecasting him as a mobster...