12 Facts About Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey DeForest Bogart came into the world on December 25, 1899, in New York. Christmas baby or not, his childhood was less idyllic than it sounds, with ambitious parents and high expectations he initially failed to meet.

The famous sneer on his upper lip (and that characteristic diction) came from a childhood accident that left him with a scar and a slightly altered way of speaking. That 'flaw' later became his trademark.

Before Hollywood discovered him, Bogart spent years playing small roles on Broadway. In films, he was then typecast as a gun-toting gangster. His breakthrough as a 'real' star only came once he finally got to play heroic antiheroes.

He broke through with The Petrified Forest (1936). With High Sierra (1941) he became a real star, and with Casablanca (1942) he became a superstar. Rick Blaine, cynical but romantic to the bone, became the archetype that has hung on thousands of posters ever since.

He won his only Academy Award for Best Actor for The African Queen (1951). Ironically, he never received an Oscar for the role with which the world identifies him most.

With titles like The Maltese Falcon and To Have and Have Not, Bogart established the image of the private eye: quick-tongued, tough on the outside, soft on the inside. His moral compass was never neat, and that's exactly why you believed him.

On the set of To Have and Have Not (1944), he met Lauren Bacall. Their age gap, their flirtatious dialogue, and that famous 'whistle' line: it became one of Hollywood's greatest love stories, both on and off screen.

Long before Sinatra's boys, Bogart's circle of friends in Holmby Hills was jokingly nicknamed 'The Rat Pack,' a name Bacall coined after a wild night out. Bogie was the informal leader: sharp-witted, loyal, allergic to fuss.

In 1947, he joined a group of stars publicly protesting witch hunts in Hollywood. He later walked back some statements under pressure.

When he wasn't filming, he was sailing. His sailboat was named Santana; sailing was his escape from studios, gossip, and schedules. Friends knew: if you wanted to see Bogie really smile, put him on the water.

The whisky and cigarettes were real, but so was the discipline. Bogart learned his lines word for word, was punctual, and rarely skipped a day. His cool didn't come naturally, it was craftsmanship, carefully honed.

His final film, The Harder They Fall (1956), is a dark boxing tale. Shortly after, he died of cancer at age 57. The hat, the coat, the stare: they remained. Bogart disappeared, the attitude didn't.