Humphrey Bogart – 1899-1957

Son of a prominent New York physician, Bogart became a journeyman stage actor in the 1920s then found greatness as ruthless killer in the 1935 Sherwood Anderson play The Petrified Forest. This brought him film roles—typically playing gangsters—followed by two iconic starring turns, in High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon (both 1941). For many fans, his portrayal of Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942) remains his masterpiece: the sensitive “tough guy” as altruistic hero.