Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall: A Timeline of Their Hollywood Romance

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were two of the most famous actors of their time, and their love story was a story for the ages.

Despite the fact that Bogart was married when he met the 19-year-old Bacall in 1943, the two soon began a relationship that included secret meetings amid Bogart’s divorce.

Between 1943 and 1948, Bacall and Bogart starred in three films together, including their first and most memorable, To have and not to have. While Bacall nearly lost her studio contract after the film’s director found out about their affair, the two persevered. They were married on a friend’s farm in Ohio in 1945.

Bogart and Bacall’s son Stephen was born in 1949, and their daughter Leslie was born in 1952. Bogart was diagnosed with cancer in 1956, and despite Bacall’s support and care, he died in January 1957.

From meeting and making a movie together to losing each other just over ten years later, here’s a look at the timeline of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s relationship.

1943: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart meet for the first time

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Bacall was 19 when she first met Bogart. The veteran actor was more than two decades older than his young co-star when they were both cast To have and not to havebut that didn’t stop their relationship from developing.

Although Bogart was still married to actress Mayo Methot, he and Bacall began seeing each other in secret while he was awaiting a divorce. Bacall later admitted that she didn’t like Bogart at first, and later wrote that on that first meeting, “There was no thunder, no lightning.”

Bacall also admitted that she was nervous around Bogart on set due to her inexperience. As she said when describing her experience filming their first scene together, “I found that one way to keep my shaking head still was to keep it down, chin down, almost to my chest, and eyes up at Bogart. It worked. ”

1944: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart star in their first film together

Despite the fact that they were not immediately attracted to each other, filming in 1944 Have and have not brought Bacall and Bogart together. Bacall later admitted that Bogart kissed her for the first time three weeks into filming. In his autobiography from 1978. Lauren Bacall: Me personally, she wrote: “He was standing behind me – we were joking as usual – when suddenly he leaned over, put his hand under my chin and kissed me.”

The film was also Bacall’s debut on the silver screen. In one memorable scene, her character asks Bogart’s: “You can whistle, can’t you, Steve? Just put your lips together and blow.”

The couple’s son, Steve Bogart, later told PEOPLE that in that scene, “everyone could see their love on celluloid. He was the great love of her life, and she was his.”

1944: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart begin an affair

Bogart was married to Methot when he met Bacall, but that didn’t stop him from starting an affair with a much younger colleague. By this time, his marriage was falling apart, and he and Bacall quickly moved on.

Bogart and Methot were known by many as the “fighting Bogarts,” and the two were said to have kept a carpenter on call to fix things around their house after their notorious fights, according to Guard. He and Bacall were seeing each other and secretly talking on the phone, trying not to anger Methot.

Bacall told Parade in 1997 that her mother was initially upset about the relationship. She said that after she gave Bogart her phone number, “she got phone calls, sometimes at 3 a.m. My mother used to say, ‘Where do you think you’re going so early in the morning? That man, he’s a married man!’ ‘ She was furious.”

1944: Lauren Bacall almost loses her studio contract because of their relationship

Bacall’s mother wasn’t the only one upset about the relationship between the actress and Bogart. Years later, Bacall said that Howard Hawks, who directed the two To have and not to haveshe threatened to sell her contract to Poverty Row studios, according to The Hollywood Reporterwhen he found out about the affair.

Bacall later admitted, per The Hollywood Reporter, that Hawks “was very much in love with me, but of course he was messing with the wrong people because there was no way he was going to get anything, with Bogie and me. He wanted to be my Svengali.”

“He finally forgave me, but he couldn’t take it,” Bacall said of Hawks’ reaction to her relationship with Bogart.

May 21, 1945: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart marry

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Bacall and Bogart married in May 1945 at a friend’s farm in Ohio, shortly after the actor’s divorce from Methot was finalized. Bacall told Parade that marrying Bogart comes with an important clause.

She said: “When I married Bogie, I agreed to put my career second because otherwise he wouldn’t have married me. He had three failed marriages with actresses and he wasn’t about to have a fourth. He said, ‘If you want a career more than anyway, I’ll do everything I can to help you, and I’ll send you on your way, but I won’t marry you. I’ve been through it and I know it doesn’t work.’ He was right.”

1946: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart star Big dream

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Bacall and Bogart returned to the big screen as actors a year after their wedding Big dream was released in 1946. For the film, which is an adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel of the same name, the couple reunited with their director from To have and not to haveHoward Hawks.

1947: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart star Dark passage

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The married couple were seen on screen together again a year later when they starred in the Delmer Daves thriller, Dark passage.

1948: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart star Key Largo

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Bacall and Bogart last appeared in a movie as a couple when they Key Largo was released in 1948.

January 6, 1949: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart welcomed their first baby

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Bacall and Bogart became parents in January 1949 when their son Stephen Humphrey Bogart was born. Humphrey Bogart was 46 when he first became a father, while Bacall was 24 when Stephen was born.

August 23, 1952: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart welcomed their second child

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Bacall and Bogart became parents for the second time when Leslie Bogart was born in August 1952, “Whenever I think of the word ‘happy’ now, I think of that,” Bacall later wrote of the period after the birth of her two children.

1956: Humphrey Bogart was diagnosed with cancer

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At the end of 1956, Bogart was given a catastrophic diagnosis of esophageal cancer. Bacall spent the next months nursing Bogart as best she could.

January 14, 1957: Humphrey Bogart dies

Bogart died of cancer in January 1957. According to a report from The New York Times, the actor’s death occurred in his sleep while he was at his home in Holmby Hills. Bacall was devastated by his death, and later wrote that “No one ever wrote a better romance than we lived.”

She continued talking Guard in 2005 that she and Bogart never discussed his death. She said: “When a person who is very sick decides to treat it like a mild virus, you play that game. If you make a big scene, I think you are doing it for yourself, not for the person who is sick.”

January 29, 1979: Lauren Bacall admits that Humphrey Bogart was traditional

More than 20 years after his death, Bacall opened up about her marriage to Bogart in her 1978 memoir. Lauren Bacall: Alone. The following year, she admitted to PEOPLE that her husband would not be a fan of the women’s liberation movement.

She said: “Bogie was an old-fashioned man. He joked about a woman’s place in the house, but he was only half-joking. He divorced three actresses and was convinced that career and marriage didn’t go together.”

February 12, 1996: Steve Bogart talks about Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart

In 1996, Stephen spoke briefly to PEOPLE about his parents’ relationship. As he said, it was clear To have and not to have that his parents had something special. He said: “Everyone could see their love right there on celluloid. He was the great love of her life and she was his.”

April 2, 2005: Lauren Bacall says she’s happy to put her marriage first

In April 2005, Bacall said Guard that even though her marriage to Bogart meant giving up her own career, she didn’t regret the choice. She said: “If I only had my career, I would miss Bogie, the children, the very essence of life.”

February 10, 2011: Lauren Bacall says she was “happy” to be married to Bogart

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In an interview with February 2011 vanity fair, Bacall said she was lucky to be married to Bogart at all. She said: “I often thought how lucky I was. I knew all because I was married to Bogie, and those 25 years apart was the most fantastic thing I’ve ever had.”

Three years later, in August 2014, Bacall died at her home in New York. She was 89 years old.

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