How Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Made It Work, According to Their Son
and ’s 12-year marriage was passionate, yet challenging. Still, the Hollywood power couple remained married until Humphrey died in 1957. The couple’s only son, , is opening up about what his parent’s relationship taught him about love — and how to make it work.
“I think loyalty. I think talking. You gotta talk to each other and you have to respect each other. You have to have each other’s back,” Stephen, 75, told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview tied to the recently released documentary Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes. “And humor, if there’s no humor in a relationship, then it’s not gonna work — you gotta laugh.”
window.split_ab_percentage = 10;Bacall and Humphrey met and fell in love in 1943 while filming To Have and Have Not. At the time, Bacall was 19 years old, while Humphrey was two decades older and married to another woman, . Despite their differences, the pair began dating while Humphrey waited to finalize his divorce. Later, in 1945, the pair married, before going on to star in multiple films together, including The Big Sleep, Key Largo and Two Guys from Milwaukee. The couple shared two children, Stephen in 1949 and in 1952.
Stephen said he “really didn’t know” his father when he was alive — his dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer when he was 7 years old and died when he was 8.
Related: Costar Couples! Celebs Who Fell in Love on TV and Movie SetsFrom Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux to Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder, see which stars have found love on set Slim Aarons/Getty Images“He was a reluctant father,” Stephen said. “When I was born, he didn’t want to have kids. He wanted my mother to be his only, and kids were gonna kind of get in the way maybe.”
Stephen continued to explain what he remembered about his family’s dynamic,“This is what his day would be: He would go to work, come home. Back in the ‘50s, kids were to be seen and not heard. So the edict would be I would have dinner before he came home so he could have dinner with my mother. And maybe we’d sit there for half an hour or something like that.”
Even though the couple’s love was strong, they experienced their fair share of struggles. According to the book Bogie & Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood’s Greatest Love Affair, Bacall allegedly had an emotional affair with United States politician and presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. The author, also alleged that Humphrey also had an affair with wigmaker , which reportedly began before he met Bacall. Despite their purported entanglements, the couple’s marriage held firm — Bacall was by his side and took care of Humphrey after the actor was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer and until the end of his life.
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesBogart: Life Comes in Flashes explores the women in Humphrey’s life and how those relationships affected his career. For Stephen, “the whole film was surprising” and “so nuanced” because — except for his mom — he wasn’t aware of the details surrounding his dad’s previous relationships. Stephen says he was specifically unaware of Humphrey’s three other ex-wives, , and Methot.
Thank You!You have successfully subscribed.
Subscribe to newsletters Please enter a valid email. SubscribeBy signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly
Deal of the DayThe Apple AirPods Pro 2’s Are at Their Lowest Price We’ve Seen — Now 38% off for Black Friday!View DealCheck our latest news in Google News
Follow UsCheck our latest news in Apple News
Follow UsjQuery( document ).ready( function( $ ) { let randomNumber = Math.floor( Math.random() * 100 ), is_spanish = false, is_featured_post = false; if ( randomNumber < 96 && $( '#news-block .shop-with-us__container' ).length ) { $( '#news-block .shop-with-us__container' ).show(); $( '#news-block .news-widget, #news-block .newsletter-form' ).remove(); } else { if( $( '#news-block .shop-with-us__container' ).length ) { $( '#news-block .shop-with-us__container' ).remove(); } if ( is_spanish ) { // 99% should be newsletter signup if ( randomNumber < 99 ) { $( '#news-block .news-widget' ).remove(); } else { $( '#news-block .newsletter-form' ).remove(); $( '#news-block .news-widget' ).show(); } } else if ( is_featured_post ) { // no newsletter block $( '#news-block .newsletter-form' ).remove(); $( '#news-block .news-widget' ).show(); } else { // 50/50 if( 0 === parseInt( $.now() ) % 2 ) { $( '#news-block .news-widget' ).remove(); } else { $( '#news-block .newsletter-form' ).remove(); $( '#news-block .news-widget' ).show(); } } if ( navigator.userAgent.match( /(iPod|iPhone|iPad)/ ) ) { $( '#news-block .news-widget .google-news' ).remove(); } else { $( '#news-block .news-widget .apple-news' ).remove(); } } } ); Related: Celebrity Couples Who Have Been Together for 50 Years (Or Longer!)Many stars have golden relationships that have lasted at least 50 years. For instance, Dolly Parton has been married to Carl Dean since 1966 and they still remain blissfully in love. “We’re the perfect partners,” Parton exclusively told Us Weekly in January 2022. “We both have a great sense of humor. … We’re able to […]“[I hadn’t thought] about Helen. [Humphrey] was a stagehand. And how often does a superstar end up with a stagehand?” Stephen said. “He wanted to go to Hollywood and he went to Hollywood and he met Mary. And he met and he 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 kind of came on and took over his career. And for some reason with her, his career just went skyward.”
Steve Granitz/WireImageAs for Stephen’s love life, the lessons of loyalty, respect and humor he’s learned from his parent’s relationship helped him form a lasting relationship of his own — he’s been happily married to since 2014.
Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes will be available to stream on all major services on December 9.
Just For You Travis Kelce Saw a Kid Fall From the Stands and 'Kept on Moving' Kellie Pickler and Late Husband Kyle Jacobs’ Parents Headed to Court Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb Save Awkward Thanksgiving Parade Moment [Spoiler] Wins 'Dancing With the Stars' Season 33: See Finale Scores Sister Wives' Kody Admits He Considered ‘Screwing’ Janelle Over With LandHow Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Made It Work, According to Their Son
How Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Made It Work, According to Their Son
How Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Made It Work, According to Their Son
How Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Made It Work, According to Their Son
How Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Made It Work, According to Their Son
Play online games for free at games.easybranches.com
Guest Post Services www.easybranches.com/contribute