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List Price: $27.50 | | Publisher: William Morrow & Co
Salesrank: 666340
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| Our Price: $19.92 |
| Used Price: $0.78 |
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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.
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!
A Definitive Biography
2006-07-18 - Bogart is the definitive biography of Humphrey Bogart. A. M. Sperber, who also wrote a marvelous book about Edward R. Murrow, has done painstaking research that included over 200 interviews. I have previously read the short biography of Bogart by Joe Hyams and Lauren Bacall's autobiography, which helped to gauge some of the information in this book. A. M. Sperber died before she could complete this book so it was completed by Eric Lax.
This is the kind of book that is difficult to put down; a well written book that moves along giving a non-judgmental view of its famous subject. What I came away with was a much broader portrait of Humphrey Bogart and the realization of how unhappy he was. An interesting revelation was that despite his success as an actor there was some regret that he not become a writer. An aspect of Bogart's life that I wish was better covered was his personal likes and dislikes. As in Lauren Bacall's autobiography, this book revealed that he was very fond of Bach and Debussy and the music of both composers was played at his funeral. This was certainly different from his tough guy image! So, although I learned a great deal about his battles with Jack Warner and Mayo and his passionate defense of the First Amendment, it is a portrait lacking a spark of life.
The book goes into detail about his childhood and his parents, who were both drug addicts and near alcoholics. As the book progresses, one can vividly see how his parents affected Humphrey Bogart's personality, making him introverted but also instilling in him the qualities of a gentleman and the Victorian ideal of doing what must be done. The book presents a balanced viewpoint of Bogart's good and bad traits, including his belligerent needling that he seems to make a change in this character during the 1950's.
One minor item that I found to be incorrect was the report in the book that the Bogart dog Harvey had to be put to sleep. Lauren Bacall said in her autobiography that Harvey died at the veterinarian's office shortly after she visited him of a heart attack. Otherwise, this is an impressive book that anyone who has an interest in Humphrey Bogart will want to read.
