Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957), nicknamed Bogie, was one of the most influential American film actors of the 20th century, best known for defining the tough, world-weary hero of classic Hollywood cinema. In 1999, the American Film Institute officially ranked him as the number one male star of classic American cinema.
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born on Christmas Day 1899 in New York City, the eldest child of Belmont DeForest Bogart and Maud Humphrey. The name “Bogart” derives from the Dutch surname “Bogaert,” meaning “orchard.” Belmont and Maud married in June 1898. He was a Presbyterian, of English and Dutch descent, and a descendant of Sarah Rapelje (the first European Christian girl born in New Netherland). Maud was an Episcopalian of English heritage and a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland. Humphrey was raised Episcopalian but was non-practicing for most of his adult life.
Bogart’s father was a cardiopulmonary surgeon. His mother was a commercial illustrator who received her art training in New York and France, including study with James Abbott McNeill Whistler. She later became art director of the fashion magazine The Delineator and a militant suffragette. Maud used a drawing of baby Humphrey in an advertising campaign for Mellins Baby Food. She earned over $50,000 a year at the peak of her career – a very large sum of money at the time, and considerably more than her husband’s $20,000. The Bogarts lived in an Upper West Side apartment, and had a cottage on a 55-acre estate on Canandaigua Lake in upstate New York. When he was young, Bogart’s group of friends at the lake would put on plays.
Bogart had two younger sisters: Frances (“Pat”) and Catherine Elizabeth (“Kay”). His parents were busy in their careers, and frequently fought. Very formal, they showed little emotion towards their children. Maud told her offspring to call her “Maud” instead of “Mother,” and showed little, if any, physical affection for them. When she was pleased, she “[c]lapped you on the shoulder, almost the way a man does,” Bogart recalled. “I was brought up very unsentimentally but very straightforwardly. A kiss, in our family, was an event. Our mother and father didn’t glug over my two sisters and me.”
Bogart was teased as a boy for his curls, tidiness, the “cute” pictures his mother had him pose for, the Little Lord Fauntleroy clothes in which she dressed him, and for his first name. He inherited from his father a tendency to needle, a fondness for fishing, a lifelong love of boating, and an attraction to strong-willed women.
Bogart attended the private Delancey School until the fifth grade and then attended the prestigious Trinity School. He was an indifferent, sullen student who showed no interest in after-school activities. Bogart later attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, a boarding school to which he was admitted based on family connections.
Although his parents hoped that he would go on to Yale University, Bogart left Phillips in 1918 after one semester. He failed four out of six classes. Several reasons have been given; according to one, he was expelled for throwing the headmaster (or a groundskeeper) into Rabbit Pond on campus. Another cited smoking, drinking, poor academic performance, and (possibly) inappropriate comments made to the staff. In a third scenario, Bogart was withdrawn by his father for failing to improve his grades. His parents were deeply disappointed in their failed plans for his future.
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