How Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Made Their Love Work
Humphrey Bogart again Lauren BacallThe 12-year marriage was loving, yet challenging. Nevertheless, the Hollywood power couple remained married until Humphrey’s death in 1957. The couple’s only son, Stephen Humphrey Bogartopens up about what her parent’s relationship taught her about love — and how to make it work.
“I think to be honest. I think to speak. You both have to talk and you have to respect each other. You have to reconcile,” said Stephen, 75 Us Weekly in an exclusive interview tied to the recently released documentary Bogart: Life Comes Bright. “And humor, if there is no humor in the relationship, it will not work – you have to laugh.”
Bacall and Humphrey met and fell in love in 1943 while filming To Have and Not to Have. At the time, Bacall was 19 years old, while Humphrey was in his twenties and married to another woman, The Mayo Method. Despite their differences, the couple began dating while Humphrey waited for his divorce to be finalized. Later, in 1945, the couple married, before starring in many films together, including Big Sleep, Key Largo again Two boys from Milwaukee. The couple shared two children, Stephen in 1949 again Leslie Howard Bogart in 1952.
Stephen said he “didn’t really know” his father when he was alive – his father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer when he was 7 and died when he was eight.
“He was a reluctant father,” Stephen said. “When I was born, he didn’t want to have children. He wanted the mother to be alone, and the children would probably get in the way. “
Stephen continued to explain what he remembered about the dynamics of his family, “This is what his day would be like: He would go to work, come home. Back in the ’50s, children were to be seen and not heard. So the order would be that I would have dinner before he came home to eat with my mother. And we’d probably sit there for half an hour or something like that.”
Although the couple’s love was strong, they encountered their own problems. According to the book Bogie and Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood’s Greatest Love Affair, Bacall allegedly had an emotional relationship with United States politician and presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. the author, William J. Mann he also suspected that Humphrey was having an affair with the wig maker Verita Thompsonwhich reportedly started before he met Bacall. Despite their setbacks, the couple’s marriage was strong – Bacall was by his side and took care of Humphrey after the actor was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer until the end of his life.
Bogart: Life Comes Bright explores the women in Humphrey’s life and how those relationships affected his work. For Stephen, “the whole film was surprising” and “very different” because – apart from his mother – he did not know the details of his father’s previous relationship. Stephen says he did not know that Humphrey’s other three wives, Helen Menken, Mary Philips and Methot.
“[I hadn’t thought] by Helen. [Humphrey] he was a stage actor. And how many times does a star end up holding the hand of the stage?” Stephen said. “He wanted to go to Hollywood, so he went to Hollywood and met Mary. And he met and brought her out to Hollywood. I think he really loved Mary. And he wanted her to stay, but she wanted to go back to Broadway. ” He further explained, “Then Mayo came and took his job. And for some reason, his job just went up.”
As for Stephen’s love life, the lessons of honesty, respect and humor he learned from his parent’s relationship helped him build a lasting relationship of his own — to whom he is happily married. Carla Soviero since 2014.
Bogart: Life Comes Bright will be available for streaming on all major services on December 9.
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