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Humphrey Bogart was born Christmas Day in New York City in 1899. Although he would become perhaps the greatest movie star of all time, his early life in no way predicted this, and he was well into his thirties before he had much success at all! His father, a surgeon, intended for him to become a doctor, but he was kicked out of college. He joined the U.S. Naval Reserve and managed a stage company in his early 20s. He began acting on the stage, but to no real success. In 1930 he got a Hollywood contract at Fox Pictures, but he had little success there, and they released him after two years. He returned to the stage, and in 1936 finally was noticed in the small but vital role in the stage production of The Petrified Forest, where he appeared with Leslie Howard. Howard was signed for the movie version of the play, and he insisted, over studio objections, that Bogart be cast as well (he sent a telegram to Warners that read "No Bogart, no Howard"). Bogart never forgot this great kindness, and he much later named his daughter "Leslie". While Bogart was well received in The Petrified Forest, it did not make him a first rank star (likely he was 36 and he had already failed in Hollywood years earlier), so he spent the next five years at Warner Bros appearing in 28 films, almost always in secondary roles, often as a gangster. Twice he played cowboys (in Virginia City and The Oklahoma Kid)! He played the title role in The Return of Doctor X, a second rate horror movie, and a wrestling promoter in Swing Your Lady. He was in the first two "Dead End" movies, but was overshadowed by the Dead End Kids. Bogart was now 40, and it seemed likely he would finish his career playing more and more minor roles. But in 1941 George Raft turned down the role of Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, an escaped legendary bank robber, and that role, along with the role of Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (which Warners was remaking for the second time in 10 years) FINALLY made Bogart a top star (Warners thought so little of him as these movies were being released that most of the movie paper advertising for The Maltese Falcon showed Bogart with his cropped white hair from High Sierra!). Casablanca (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film) followed the next year, along with other patriotic World War II movies. In 1944, Bogart, who was 44 and had been married three times, was cast opposite 19 year old newcomer (and Howard Hawks' protege) Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not, and Bogart left his wife and married Bacall the following year. They would make three more movies together (The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, and Key Largo) and have two children. Bogart had some of his very finest roles near the end of his career. In 1948 he starred as Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, in 1951 he was Charlie Allnut in The African Queen (winner of the Best Actor Academy Award for this film), and in 1954 he was Lt. Cmdr. Queeg in The Caine Mutiny (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film; remember how he used "geometric logic" to prove there was a duplicate key?). I can't see anyone not agreeing that these are among the three finest acting performances ever! Bogart died from throat cancer in 1957 at the age of 57. He made many other memorable movies other than the ones noted above, and I urge you to seek them out! But be aware that he also appeared in a goodly number of MUCH lesser movies as well (especially in the first ten years of his career, so be sure to read reviews before starting one of his movies!)

Important Added Info: Note that this collection of materials comes directly from the family of Eloise Coates, the founder of Bogart's very first fan club. It consists of letters and photos from the late 1930s to the early 1940s, and includes two authentically signed letters from Bogart to his fan club (see our main image on the auction). While those two Bogart signed letters are of course the highlight of this collection, it also includes eight letters from his wife Mayo (some are signed "Mayo Methot" and some are signed "Mayo Bogart"), nearly 100 letters from Bogart's secretary Kathie Sloan, and 39 from his secretary Gale Beatty, some with secretarial Bogart autographs. Also included are some telegrams and greeting cards, along with a custom plastic holder that has Humphrey Bogart's signature reproduced on the outside (see our image of that). We have taken photos of a bunch of representative items from this collection, but not every single item. THIS COLLECTION HAS AN INTERESTING HISTORY! IN 2014, IT WAS AUCTIONED AT RR AUCTION, WHERE THEY GAVE A CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY DESCRIBING THE CONTENTS, AND NOTING THAT IT CAME DIRECTLY FROM ELOISE COATES, THE HEAD OF THE FAN CLUB (see our image). At that time, the auction also included 100 candid photos of Bogart and the other people described above, of various sizes. In 2018, it was auctioned again at Bonham's. The person who purchased it in 2018 REMOVED THE 100 PHOTOS, AND HAS CONSIGNED ALL THE OTHER ITEMS TO US, AND THAT IS WHAT IS BEING AUCTIONED HERE. What is so interesting about this collection is not just the two Bogart signed letters or the many other signatures, but also the great content of the many letters, describing how people felt about Bogart at the height of his career in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Because every single item is not pictured, we know there is a small amount of uncertainty in exactly what the winner will receive, so please only bid on this great archive if you can accept that small uncertainty.

Note: We have 23 images of this collection, but due to a space limitation, only TEN of the 23 images are displayed above. However, there is a "supersize" link to the right of those images that lets you see the other 13.

As is true of all the signed items we are currently auctioning, we give every buyer 30 days in which to review what they purchased and they can return any item as long as it is within 30 days of the end of the auction. On non-signed items, we give a "lifetime guarantee" on everything we auction, but on signed items, we give the above modified guarantee of 30 days after the auction closes.

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