Bogart Collection debuts

Actor's style gives son inspiration for furniture

Getting over the early death of a parent isn't easy. But what if that parent was loved and adored by millions?

For Stephen Bogart, son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, it wasn't until about 10 years ago that he started talking publicly about his father. The Oscar Award-winning actor died of cancer at age 58 in January 1957 when Bogart was only 8 years old.

"Finally, at some point you come to grips with your parents dying young," said Bogart, now 54.

In fact, Bogart is a defacto custodian of his father's remaining image and memory. His younger sister does not care to share in the limelight. Therefore, Bogart works with public relations firm CMG, which manages the licenses of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, to keep up with how his father's image is used.

"People think because they see the movies all the time that I am getting all kinds of royalties, but that's not true. I do this to put my kids through college," Bogart said during a stop at a Henderson Thomasville furniture store on May 21.

The stop was midway through a tour of about 10 of the furniture chain's stores to help launch the Bogart Collection. In fact, it was Bogart's idea to do the furniture line after seeing the success of the Hemingway Collection five years ago. He wrote to Thomasville and met with company designers to oversee the classic, movie-inspired pieces.

"It worked so well for Hemingway. I thought it was a perfect vehicle for my father," Bogart said.

Henderson Thomasville store owners Joe and Louisa Hules pulled out all the stops to welcome Bogart for the local launch. They decked their 3-year-old location, 1541 W. Sunset Road, with red carpet and many employees dressed for the occasion in tuxedos and gowns.

"If you think about it, Vegas is very fitting," Joe Hules said of being chosen from 125 nationwide stores for a media tour stop. "This was the place where the Rat Pack originated."

As a boy Bogart said he was isolated from his father's image and the level of fame each of his acting parents had. Bacall (whose given first name is Betty) chose to stay at home and out of the limelight to raise the couple's first child, and later their daughter. Meanwhile, Bogie -- as actor Spencer Tracy nicknamed him -- continued to work in film during an era when most men weren't hands-on parents.

As the eldest son of what many called a legendary couple, Bogart said he didn't realize what the world thought of his father until his death.

"Then it came crashing in," he said.

His father's death had numerous implications for Bogart. As he nears the age of his father's death, Bogart said he takes care to be there for his three children and wants to see his two youngest (ages 14 and 17) into adulthood.

"I wanted to live long enough to see my kids grow up," Bogart said.

Humphrey Bogart remains a film icon because of movies like "Casablanca" (1942), "The African Queen" (1951) and "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). In fact, what Bogart's son is asked most about is whether or not the actor was anything like his tough-guy film roles. But the films only portray acting ability, not the real man, his son said.

It was after co-writing a couple of mystery novels -- "The Remake: As Time Goes By" and "Play It Again" -- that Bogart, a television producer, started publicly talking about his father's life. In his 1995 book "Bogart: In Search of My Father," the famous actor's son wrote about Bogie through interviews with Bacall, Katherine Hepburn and Frank Sinatra.

Following the book, Bogart narrated a 1996 TNT documentary about his father called "Bogart: The Untold Story." Most recently, he participated in "Biography: Humphrey Bogart," which was initially aired on A&E on May 19.

When asked why he publicly talks about his father, Bogart said, "I don't mind. It's not a big deal," with a mix of his mother's inflection and his father's straightforward answers in his voice.

Bogart is not shy about praising his father's accomplishments as an actor and as a man. At one point, he described Bogie as "a tower of a man" and frequently referred to his parent as a legend.

"There's not a whole lot of people out there who are like my father," the actor's son said. "A lot of parts he played are very human parts. Yet, on the other hand, he has a reputation as an enigma now."

Even the way his parents met is the stuff of Hollywood legends. According to the official Humphrey Bogart Web site, the two met in 1944 while on the set of the screenplay adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not." The couple were married in 1945 and starred in other movies together thereafter.

"It's part of the myth -- the legend," Bogart said with a smile.


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