SECRET OF MUSIC: Bogey

In the words of the immortal John Huston:
"He was endowed with the greatest gift a man can have - talent. The whole world came to recognize it . . . his life, though not a long one measureed in years, was a rich full life . . . We have no reason to feel any sorrow for him - only for ourselves for having lost him. He is quite irreplaceable. There will never be another like him."

well said!!!!

Here's the rest of Bogey's rogues gallery of classic characters with interesting names!

Bogart as Sam Spade along with Peter Lorre, Mary Astor and Sidney Greenstreet in a scene from John Huston's masterpiece "The Maltese Falcon". One of the best examples of every single aspect of a film coming together and meshing perfectly! There was no looking back for Bogey after this one!

A publicity still of Bogey as "Gloves Donahue" in Warner bros classic "All Through the Night"

Bogey as Sgt Joe Gunn in the superb war film "Sahara", one of my all-time favorite Bogart films and just a damn great movie on every level! I had the good fortune of seeing this for the first time in the theater many years ago as a child and I was totally captivated by the performances, the tank, the desert and the constant feeling of THIRST!!! The only other films I can think of that equal that "thirsty" feeling are the different versions of the "Three Godfathers" and of course Sergio Leone's "The Good the Bad and the Ugly"

Bogey has things well in hand as Rip Murdock in "Dead Reckoning" with Lizabeth Scott. I always thought she was a bit odd as an actress. Nice looking but had such a weird voice!!! Too bad they never put her in a film with Eugene Pallette, Charles McGraw, June Allyson and Krusty the Klown . . . maybe the title coulda been "God, I Need a Cigarette!"

A rather intense picture of Bogey as Fred C. Dobbs in another John Huston masterpiece "Treaure of the Sierra Madre". Arguably the greatest performance of his career and no doubt one of the greatest films ever made! Bogey certainly had incredible co-stars in Walter Huston and Tim Holt, and in fact every single aspect of this film - direction, script, cinematography, music, etc, etc is simply fantastic!

Bogey as screenwriter Dixon Steele in the tense Nicholas Ray drama "In a Lonely Place". This is one of my favorite of Ray's films, offbeat and fascinating like most of his work, and gave Gloria Grahame (Whom i believe was Ray's wife at the time) one of the best roles of her career, which she played to the tee! And Bogey is just a living intensity in this!!!

Here we see Bogart as Charlie Allnut in John Huston's "The African Queen" doing something that Bogart himself loved to do!

Bogey as paranoid Captain 'Yellow Stain' Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny", one of his best later films. A great cast, tense direction by Edward Dmytryk and an unforgettable performance by Bogey make this film an absolute must-see!
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A lot of actors have played characters with interesting, unique or just plain silly names but I dont think any can compare to the motley bunch that Humphrey Bogart played during his amazing career!

Bogey's colorful cast of character's started with his unforgettable performance as killer "Duke Mantee" in Archie Mayo's 1936 production of "The Petrified Forest". Bogey had played the part on stage with star Leslie Howard and legend has it that Howard insisted Bogey also play the part in the film version or he wasnt going to be involved!

In 1937 Bogey played a crooked boxing manager named "Turkey Morgan" in Michael Curtiz' "Kid Galahad" starring Edward G Robinson and Bette Davis. Sadly that was the only time Bette and Eddie G. appeared in a film together.

Here's Bogey as "Baby Face Martin" with one of Warner Bros. character actor workhorses of the 1930's, Allen Jenkins in a scene from William Wylers excellent 1937 production "Dead End". This had the first film appearance of the Dead End Kids who a year later would star with James Cagney in one of my all-time favorite films, "Angels with Dirty Faces".

Bogey with Edward G Robinson and Claire Trevor in a publicity shot for Anatole Litvak's "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" in which Bogey plays a safe-cracking jewel thief named "Rocks Valentine".

Bogey as western bad guy "Whip McCord" squares off against James Cagney in Lloyd Bacon's riotous "The Oklahoma Kid".

Here's Bogey as gangster "Chips Maguire" with the ever-luscious Ann Sheridan in the totally wacky "It All Came True" directed by Lewis Seiler.

Bogey's first multi-dimensional gangster character was probably "Mad Dog Roy Earle" in Raoul Walsh's first-rate drama "High Sierra". The film actually had Ida Lupino getting top billing and she played the "Tarnished Angel" to perfection (as she always played everything!) but clearly this film was Bogey's from the moment he appeared on screen. Even standing next to a little guy like Bogey, beautiful Ida looked so tiny and delicate . . . *sigh*! More of Bogey's rogues gallery of colorfully named characters coming soon!