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

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacallwere two of the most famous actors of their time, and their love story was one for the ages.

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

Between 1943 and 1948, Bacall and Bogart costarred in three movies together, including their first and most memorable,To Have and To Have Not. While Bacall almost lost her studio contract after the movie’s director found out about their affair, the two persevered. They married on a friend’s farm in Ohio in 1945.

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

From meeting and shooting a movie together to losing one another a little over ten years later, here is a look at Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s relationship timeline.

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

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Bacall was 19 years old whenshe met Bogart for the first time. The veteran actor was more than two decades older than his young costar when they were both cast inTo Have and To Have Not, but that didn’t stop their relationship from developing.

Though Bogart was still married to actress Mayo Methot, he and Bacall began to meet in secret as he awaited his divorce. Bacall later admitted she didn’t like Bogart at first,later writing that at that first meeting, “There was no clap of thunder, no lightning bolt.”

Bacall also admitted to being nervous around Bogart on set due to her inexperience.As she put itwhen describing her experience of filming their first scene together: “I realized that one way to hold my trembling head still was to keep it down, chin low, almost to my chest, and eyes up at Bogart. It worked.”

1944: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart costar in their first movie together

Despite the fact that they weren’t immediately drawn to one another, filming 1944’sTo Have and to Have Notbrought Bacall and Bogart together.Bacall later admittedthat Bogart kissed her for the first time three weeks into shooting the movie. In her 1978 autobiography,Lauren Bacall: By Myself,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 movie was also Bacall’s silver screen debut. In one memorable scene, her character asks Bogart’s, “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”

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

1944: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart begin an affair

Bogart wasmarried to Methotwhen he met Bacall, but that didn’t stop him from beginning an affair with his much younger costar. At the time, his marriage was already breaking down, and he and Bacall moved quickly.

Bacall told Paradein 1997 that her mother had been angry about the relationship at first. She said that after giving Bogart her phone number, “I would get phone calls, occasionally 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 who was upset about the relationship between the actress and Bogart. Years later, Bacall said that Howard Hawks, who directed the two inTo Have and To Have Not, threated to sell her contract to a Poverty Row studio, according toThe Hollywood Reporter, when he found out about the affair.

Bacall later admitted, perThe Hollywood Reporter, that Hawks “had quite a crush on me, but of course he was tangling with the wrong people because there was no way he was going to get anywhere, with Bogie and me involved. He wanted to be my Svengali.”

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

May 21, 1945: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart get married

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

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

1946: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart costar inThe Big Sleep

Bacall and Bogart returned to the big screen as costars a year after their marriage whenThe Big Sleepwas released in 1946. For the movie, which is an adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name, the pair also reunited with their director fromTo Have and To Have Not, Howard Hawks.

1947: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart costar inDark Passage

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The married couple were seen on screen together once again a year later when they costarred in the Delmer Daves directed thriller,Dark Passage.

1948: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart costar inKey Largo

Bacall and Bogart made their final movie appearance as a couple whenKey Largowas released in 1948.

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

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

1956: Humphrey Bogart is diagnosed with cancer

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In late 1956, Bogart receiveda devastating diagnosisof esophageal cancer. Bacall spent the following months nursing Bogartto the best of her ability.

January 14, 1957: Humphrey Bogart dies

She went on to tellThe Guardianin 2005 that she and Bogart never spoke about him dying. She said, “When a person who is very ill decides to treat it like a slight virus, you play that game. If you make a big scene, I think it is yourself you are doing it for, not the person who’s ill.”

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

Over 20 years after his death, Bacall opened up about her marriage to Bogart in her 1978 memoir,Lauren Bacall: By Myself.She also admitted to PEOPLEthe following year that her husband wouldn’t have been a fan of the women’s liberation movement.

She said, “Bogie was an old-fashioned man. He kidded that a woman’s place was in the home, but he was only half kidding. He had divorced three actresses and was convinced that a career and marriage don’t mix.”

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

In 1996, Stephenbriefly spoke to PEOPLE about his parent’s relationship. As he put it, it was clear inTo Have and To Have Notthat 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 his.”

April 2, 2005: Lauren Bacall says she was happy she put her marriage first

In April 2005, Bacall toldThe Guardianthat even though her marriage to Bogart meant giving up her own career, she didn’t regret the choice. She said, “If I’d had just my career, I would have missed out on Bogie, on children, on the very substance of life.”

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

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In aFebruary 2011 interview withVanity Fair, Bacall said she was lucky to be married to Bogart in the first place. She said, “I fairly often have thought how lucky I was. I kneweverybodybecause I was married to Bogie, and that 25-year difference was the most fantastic thing for me to have in my life.”

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

source: people.com