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List Price: $27.50 | | Publisher: William Morrow & Co
Salesrank: 408080
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| Our Price: $8.00 |
| Used Price: $4.79 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
He was a top box-office draw in his day, an Oscar-winning actor, a principled man of rare conviction, and -- long after his death -- a cult figure revered by moviegoers who weren't even born while he was making his movies. But over the years, Humphrey Bogart has remained an enigma, despite what we have learned of him from wife Lauren Bacall's own fond memories and from the various biographies that have appeared over the years since his death in 1957.
With Bogart, this wonderful enigma is brought under the light as never before. Although authors Ann M. Sperber and Eric Lax never met, Bogart is a unique collaboration, combining the strengths of two prize-winning biographers. Sperber, the author of the New York Times best-selling Pulitzer-Prize finalist Murrow: His Life and Times (1986), spent seven years before her death in 1994 amassing a vast archive of original research on the life and times of Humphrey Bogart, including more than 200 interviews she conducted with people who had known and worked with him, including Katharine Hepburn and John Huston. Eric Lax, whose Woody Allen was a national bestseller in 1991, took over the project after Sperber's death and spent two years completing it. The result is the definitive portrait of the actor who merged his screen anti-heroism with his own staunch personal integrity in a manner new to Hollywood, fashioning a persona as timely today, forty years after his death, as it was during his own life.
Description of Bogart:
It's the season of battling Bogarts: two biographies, each worthwhile for different reasons. If you want a leisurely, formidably well-documented account of Humphrey Bogart's legendary screen career and four marriages (including a happy final one to Lauren Bacall), this is it. A. M. Sperber conducted some 200 interviews with people who knew the actor before his death in 1994; Eric Lax draws on her seven years of research to create a nuanced, in-depth, elegantly written portrait of the man recently dubbed Hollywood's greatest star by Premiere magazine.
Bogart Reviews:
As Good as it is Large. 
2008-09-17 - This biography is as detailed about the legendary actor as it is large.
"Bogart" was started by Ann Sperber. After her death Eric Lax finished the book. Sperber interviewed over 200 people in her research ranging from family such as Lauren Bacall and son Stephen, to friends in Hollywood.
Humphrey Bogart's childhood was detailed. His parents were successful as a doctor and an artist. They were also addicts that didn't spend a lot of time with their children.
The authors followed Bogart's journey in acting, how it started and his long journey that ultimately led to stardom. His marriages were also detailed.
The personal politics of the movie studios, especially Warner Bothers was examined. Bogie and Bacall's battles with the studio were discussed.
Bogart's political views and his actions were detailed.
This is a large book that includes an Index and a Filmography that any Bogart fan will appreciate.
An excellent book about Humphrey Bogart- his childhood, the good and the bad experiences that his contemporaries shared.
Sad, lonely, angry man 
2008-08-25 - Well-done bio of Bogart, a sad, lonely, angry man who was an actors actor and consummate professional and made half a dozen of the greatest movies ever made.
His parents were morphine addicted socialites with little love or care for each other or their children (Humphrey's sister was under psychiatric care or her brother's care much of her adult life), and Bogart grew up to replicate their relationship in his first three marriages, before finally finding happiness with Bacall. He drank and smoked constantly, and was a mean drunk who liked to puncture the pretensions of the, well, pretentious, but was reported to be a helpful and even humble co-star and great actor.
List of must-sees and 4 star movies starring Bogart: Casablanca (of course), The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, The Petrified Forest, High Sierra, To Have and Have Not, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, In a Lonely Place, The African Queen, The Caine Mutiny.
great read
2008-07-24 - This book is lengthy, but rarely boring. It's a fantastic resource if you want to learn about this unique film actor. It covers his entire personal life and career. A very good read.
Best bio out there
2007-11-30 - Please note that since the English version of this book didn't appear on Amazon when I searched for it, I'm posting it here under the Spanish version.
It's surprising that it took forty years after his death for a definitive bio to appear on Bogart. The author did over 200 interviews, read his secret FBI file (which was now available under the Freedom of Information Act), and talked to many friends, coworkers, and relatives. The book by his son Stephen was more of a personal memoir growing up with Bogart rather than a true biography, and the earlier one by Hyams, although good, was brief.
Well written, well documented and researched, and very enjoyable to read, this is one of the best biographies I've read. It provides many insights into bogart both as the actor and as the man, and he comes off as quite different from his tough guy image. Bogart was actually a very educated, well read, and refined individual who liked Debussy and Bach, was generous with his money, and was helpful and encouraging to coworkers.
The section on the making of the The Maltese Falcon was typical of the fascinating things one learns from this book. The filming was chaotic, the main problem being the lack of a script. Key actors were delayed because of long contract negotiations, and the ones that were there (such as Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet), often sat around and had nothing to do for days. And Lorre and Greenstreet's contracts required that they get paid $3000 to $4000 a week whether they got used or not.
Here too, Bogart shows his true stripes, different from his devil may care, tough guy stereotype. Despite all the chaos during the shooting, when many people were becoming irritable and losing their tempers, Bogart never did, remaining professional and calm throughout the stressful shooting of the movie. A young actress was extremely nervous about her upcoming part, and Bogart noticed her distress and worked with her on her portion of the script until she felt confident she could do it.
Although the newspapers wanted to imply romantic affairs with his female leads, especially Ingrid Bergmann during the shooting of Casablanca; in fact Bogart was completely faithful and never engaged in such dalliances. When he finally did fall for a coworker, it was Bacall, and that marriage lasted the rest of his life.
There is also a lot of information on Bogart's interrogation by the early House Un-American activities director at the time, a man by the name of Dies, where Bogart successfully defended himself and the director left town, having gotten nothing useful from Bogart. There was nothing to get anyway, all the allegations having been false. Interestingly, the house committee was originally formed to investigate ultra-conservative elements, but its focus soon turned elsewhere.
Overall, this is an excellent biography of Bogart and one that should appeal to his many fans or anyone curious to learn more about this famous Hollywood legend who turns out to have been very different from his pandered image.
Seen the Movies? Meet the Man.
2006-12-10 -
The definitive bio of one of Filmdom's Gods.
You will learn alot about the man as actor, and human being, and about Hollywood in the Golden Age here.
Fantastic!
