JUST HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY KNOW ABOUT HUMPHREY BOGART ?
Hello everybody, Joe Morella and Frank Segers here again, with the photo of another short star.
Today we have a real challenge for you. It revolves around one our favorite personalities and probably one of yours as well. So, here we go.
There is absolutely no question that Humphrey Bogart remains one of the most enduring star names in the Hollywood pantheon – then and now.
Author Stefan Kanfer’s recent book, “Tough Without A Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart,” makes the case for Bogie not as just as a legendarily classic movie star but a worldwide cultural icon. Kanfer’s book examines Bogart’s life, and the actor’s amazing surge in popularity since his death more than a half century ago.
Ok, ok, as a longtime classic movie fan – why else would you be reading this blog? – we bet you earnestly believe that you know all about Bogie.
We thought we did until taking a close look at Kanfer’s new book and director John Huston’s memoir of several years ago titled “An Open Book.” After sifting through both we came up with some questions that we believe will put your knowledge of Bogie to a real test.
Some of these questions, admittedly, are a bit obscure (on purpose). We can’t make things too easy for you. But as a tried and true Bogie fan, you should be able to come up with at least partial answers to at least some of these questions.
So please don’t be bashful or the slightest bit abashed. Charge in a take a shot at our Bogie quiz.
Here we go.
— Alan Ladd was legendarily short for a Hollywood leading man, but wasn’t Humphrey Bogart even shorter? Exactly how tall was Bogie?
— When he was a preppy, young Broadway stage actor, what’s the line that Bogie became best known for after running onstage?
— Bogart had four wives, all actresses. Can name the last two? Who was the last? (We are being merciful here; you should have no trouble identifying her.)
— What famous actor was originally scheduled to take the costarring Bob Curtin role with Bogie’s Fred C. Dobbs in the “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” but pulled out at the last minute? (The role went, thank goodness, to Tim Holt.) Hint: this famous actor became even more famous in another public arena.
— Who turned down the role of Sam Spade in “The Maltese Falcon”, and then bitterly resented Bogart’s success in the role?
The answers will appear later in the week.
LAST FRIDAY’S PIC: a candid of Betty Grable from the Donald Gordon Collection.
