# Humphrey Bogart **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330 "2004-08-18T01:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/1 "2004-08-18T01:24:31Z")
I know that his break was _The Petrified Forest_, but was there a watershed role were he became the protagonist rather than the bad guy? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/2 "2004-08-18T01:29:06Z")
I’ve always heard that it was Sam Spade in _The Maltese Falcon_, (1941) but that’s a little _too_ easy. Anyone have more specific information? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/3 "2004-08-18T01:38:50Z")
They Drive by Night (1940) … Paul Fabrini-Good Guy … aka Road to Frisco, The (1940) (UK) Brother Orchid (1940) … Jack Buck ? It All Came True (1940) … Chips Maguire, aka Mr. Grasselli ? Virginia City (1940) … John Murrell-Bad guy > **[Humphrey Bogart - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000007/)** > > Humphrey Bogart, Actor: Casablanca. Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to... ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/4 "2004-08-18T01:55:21Z")
…but not \*iconic \* good guys. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/5 "2004-08-18T01:57:38Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > …but not \*iconic \* good guys. True. but not offing Ashley Wilkes, either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/6 "2004-08-18T02:04:39Z")
I was going to say Kid Galahad, but he wasn’t the nicest guy in that, either. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/7 "2004-08-18T02:54:19Z")
\*The Petrified Forest \* really didn’t do that much for Bogart’s career. As good as it was – and as good as he was – it really wasn’t until _High Sierra_, _The Maltese Falcon_, and _Casablanca_ that he started doing well, and he was only a good guy – sort of – in the latter two. And he still played his share of bad guys after that, such as \*The Two Mrs. Carrolls \* and _The Desperate Hours_, and not all that good of a guy in \*The Caine Mutiny \* and _The Treasure of the Sierra Madre_. ---
**Author:** ![DrMemory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/8 "2004-08-18T13:54:28Z")
Can anyone who’s watched it, tell me if the Roger Ebert commentary on “Casablanca” is worth the price of admission? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/9 "2004-08-18T14:55:09Z")
> [@DrMemory](#): > > Can anyone who’s watched it, tell me if the Roger Ebert commentary on “Casablanca” is worth the price of admission? I turned it off after 10 minutes. I think his _Citizen Kane_ commentary was very informative, but his discussion of _Casablanca_ (at least the part I heard) had few interesting observations, mostly restating the obvious or already well-known. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/10 "2004-08-18T15:53:04Z")
Not watershed, but some early good-guy roles for Bogart: Marked Woman (1937) [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029217/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029217/) – in which he plays a district attorney Crime School (1938) [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030026/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030026/) – a Dead End Kids movie in which Bogart reforms a reform school. I found Roger Ebert’s commentary on “Casablanca” somewhat informative, but became quickly irritated by his snarking on Paul Henreid any time Victor Laszlo was on the screen. Okay, Roger, you like Bogart better and this is not Henreid’s best performance – I get it. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/11 "2004-08-18T16:05:09Z")
I’ll have to agree on Ebert’s _Casablanca_ commentary. I was excited about it after his excellent work on _Citizen Kane_, but it just wasn’t as informative or interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/12 "2004-08-18T18:43:49Z")
But the book “Round Up the Usual Suspects” is worthwhile as a Casablanca history. Remember for much of Bogarts career (until Casablanca) he was the guy you cast when you couldn’t get George Raft. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/13 "2004-08-18T21:21:55Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#): > > this is not Henreid’s best performance Aw, poop. I _like_ Henreid’s performance. If I’d been in Ingrid Bergman’s size 14 brogans, I’d’a picked Victor over Rick easy. [sub]Wait…was Bergman the one with the huge feet, or am I mixing her up with Garbo?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/14 "2004-08-18T21:33:03Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Remember for much of Bogarts career (until Casablanca) he was the guy you cast when you couldn’t get George Raft. And he was second choice for _Casablanca_, as well. Behind _shudder_ Ronnie Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/15 "2004-08-18T22:09:37Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > [sub]Wait…was Bergman the one with the huge feet, or am I mixing her up with Garbo?[/sub] Garbo may have been self-conscious about her feet, and there were rumours about their gargantuan size, but she was actually 7AA which is not at all unusual for a woman of her height. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/16 "2004-08-18T22:11:41Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > And he was second choice for _Casablanca_, as well. Behind _shudder_ Ronnie Reagan. Snopes says [false](http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/reagan.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/17 "2004-08-18T22:27:58Z")
According to TCM last Sunday, true. With a quote from the director. So… which do you believe? ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/18 "2004-08-18T22:37:52Z")
Edit: **Walloon** , this is not to say I distrust what Snopes puts out. Just that it seems to be a case of hearsay on both sides. My mother used to tell me “believe half of what you hear, and none of what you read (in the media).” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/19 "2004-08-18T23:38:32Z")
But. as Snopes points out, the casting decision wasn’t Curtiz’s or Warner’s, it was Wallis.’ Wallis sent a note while the movie was still being scripted (which, technically, it was for most of its shooting schedule) that said “Casablanca was being written for Humphrey Bogart.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330/20 "2004-08-19T00:02:19Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Aw, poop. I _like_ Henreid’s performance. > > If I’d been in Ingrid Bergman’s size 14 brogans,[/sub] You know what they say about girls with big feet… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humphrey-bogart/260330.md?page=2)