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Authors: Stephen Humphrey Bogart
Tags: Biography
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social intercourse without resort ing to a Rat Pack.”
I never met William Holden, but I can understand why he wasn’t a favorite of my father’s.
There are many stories that make my father sound like a wiseguy and a show-off. But there are also stories that portray him as a generous man. For example, he once got three friends together to pitch in $10,000 for his writer friend Eric Hatch, who was down on his luck. And there are stories that show that Bogie treated people kindly, regardless of where they stood in the Hollywood pecking order. He was never a snob.
Adolph Green remembers running into Bogie in a hotel in England one time. This was just after Bogie had finished filming The African Queen.
Green was alone and lonely at the time, and he didn’t know Bogie very well. Bogie sat and talked with him in the lobby of the hotel, and after awhile Dad seemed to catch on that Green had no one to talk to.
“Look,” Bogie said, “I’m having a few friends over later. Why don’t you come by and join us?”
Green, delighted to have some company, accepted. He was excited and flattered. Here he was, being invited over to Bogie’s suite. When he got there, he realized he’d been in vited to a very small gathering. There were only two other people there.
“Adolph, I want you to meet my friends,” Bogie said. “Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.”
Green was thrilled, and it was a moment he never forgot. For the rest of his stay in England, Bogie checked on Green from time to time to make sure that he was getting along okay, and was not lonely.
“Your father was thoughtful that way,” Green told me. “And it wasn’t just me. Your father was very kind to a lot of people, like Judy Garland. Judy was always getting herself in trouble, she was a sick girl and spoiled in a way, and he would always be nice to her, though sometimes he would lose his temper with her.”
Nat Benchley tells a story about the first time Benchley’s wife, Marjorie, came to Hollywood. It was around Christmas of 1955. She was going to meet Bogart for the first time, and she was scared to death, because of Dad’s reputation as a needler.
“What do I do if he starts picking on me?” she asked her husband.
“If he picks on you, pick right back,” Benchley told his wife. “Tell him you don’t take any crap from bald men. Tell him to put on his wig and then you’ll talk.”
When Mrs. Benchley did meet my father it was at a party, after which they decided they would all go on to Mapleton Drive. Benchley had to return home first to pick up some thing and my father insisted on driving Mrs. Benchley to our house in his black Thunderbird.
Marjorie was, of course, a wreck. Would this lunatic in sult her, would he smash up the car? She had heard terrible things. Dad, of course, was charming beyond words. He told her how happy he was that she had come, he told her that if she needed help or advice, to call him immediately. The next day he took her on his boat. He told her his philosophy of life and talked to her about bringing up kids. By the end of her stay, Marjorie Benchley was, says her husband, “more than a little in love with him.”
The next time Benchley saw Bogie, after Marjorie had gone back east, Benchley said, “I think I should report that my wife has a thing for you.”
Bogie got embarrassed. “Tell her I’m really a shit,” he mumbled. “Tell her I was nice only because she’s new out here.”
Janet Leigh is another woman who was afraid to meet Bogie, even though she was already well on her way to star dom when she did.
“We were guests at one of Rocky and Gary Cooper’s din ner parties, a star-studded evening,” she says. “I felt we were in the company of royalty. Actually, we were—Hollywood roy alty. In that context we met a king, Humphrey Bogart. Rumor had it that Bogart took delight in verbally attacking a vulner able victim with the zest of a witch doctor sticking pins in the proverbial doll. I had no
I never met William Holden, but I can understand why he wasn’t a favorite of my father’s.
There are many stories that make my father sound like a wiseguy and a show-off. But there are also stories that portray him as a generous man. For example, he once got three friends together to pitch in $10,000 for his writer friend Eric Hatch, who was down on his luck. And there are stories that show that Bogie treated people kindly, regardless of where they stood in the Hollywood pecking order. He was never a snob.
Adolph Green remembers running into Bogie in a hotel in England one time. This was just after Bogie had finished filming The African Queen.
Green was alone and lonely at the time, and he didn’t know Bogie very well. Bogie sat and talked with him in the lobby of the hotel, and after awhile Dad seemed to catch on that Green had no one to talk to.
“Look,” Bogie said, “I’m having a few friends over later. Why don’t you come by and join us?”
Green, delighted to have some company, accepted. He was excited and flattered. Here he was, being invited over to Bogie’s suite. When he got there, he realized he’d been in vited to a very small gathering. There were only two other people there.
“Adolph, I want you to meet my friends,” Bogie said. “Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.”
Green was thrilled, and it was a moment he never forgot. For the rest of his stay in England, Bogie checked on Green from time to time to make sure that he was getting along okay, and was not lonely.
“Your father was thoughtful that way,” Green told me. “And it wasn’t just me. Your father was very kind to a lot of people, like Judy Garland. Judy was always getting herself in trouble, she was a sick girl and spoiled in a way, and he would always be nice to her, though sometimes he would lose his temper with her.”
Nat Benchley tells a story about the first time Benchley’s wife, Marjorie, came to Hollywood. It was around Christmas of 1955. She was going to meet Bogart for the first time, and she was scared to death, because of Dad’s reputation as a needler.
“What do I do if he starts picking on me?” she asked her husband.
“If he picks on you, pick right back,” Benchley told his wife. “Tell him you don’t take any crap from bald men. Tell him to put on his wig and then you’ll talk.”
When Mrs. Benchley did meet my father it was at a party, after which they decided they would all go on to Mapleton Drive. Benchley had to return home first to pick up some thing and my father insisted on driving Mrs. Benchley to our house in his black Thunderbird.
Marjorie was, of course, a wreck. Would this lunatic in sult her, would he smash up the car? She had heard terrible things. Dad, of course, was charming beyond words. He told her how happy he was that she had come, he told her that if she needed help or advice, to call him immediately. The next day he took her on his boat. He told her his philosophy of life and talked to her about bringing up kids. By the end of her stay, Marjorie Benchley was, says her husband, “more than a little in love with him.”
The next time Benchley saw Bogie, after Marjorie had gone back east, Benchley said, “I think I should report that my wife has a thing for you.”
Bogie got embarrassed. “Tell her I’m really a shit,” he mumbled. “Tell her I was nice only because she’s new out here.”
Janet Leigh is another woman who was afraid to meet Bogie, even though she was already well on her way to star dom when she did.
“We were guests at one of Rocky and Gary Cooper’s din ner parties, a star-studded evening,” she says. “I felt we were in the company of royalty. Actually, we were—Hollywood roy alty. In that context we met a king, Humphrey Bogart. Rumor had it that Bogart took delight in verbally attacking a vulner able victim with the zest of a witch doctor sticking pins in the proverbial doll. I had no
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