Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's 2 Children: All About Stephen and Leslie
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall welcomed son Stephen in 1949 and daughter Leslie in 1952
Hollywood icons Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were infamous for sharing one of the greatest romances in film history, and the lasting legacy of that love is their children, Stephen Humphrey Bogart and Leslie Howard Bogart.
After marrying in 1945, the To Have and Have Not costars welcomed their first child, son Stephen, in 1949. Three years later, their daughter Leslie was born in 1952. Lauren took a step back from her career — at Bogart’s request — to focus on being a wife and mother.
"Bogie was an old-fashioned man," Bacall told PEOPLE in 1979. "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."
Still, Bacall was happy to do it. "Whenever I think of the word 'happy' now, I think of then," Bacall wrote of the period following the birth of her two children. "If I'd had just my career, I would have missed out on Bogie, on children, on the very substance of life,” she told The Guardian in 2005.
When Humphrey died in 1957 from cancer, Bacall would have crumbled if not for her two kids. "Bogie's death was devastating, but I had to focus on my two young children,” she told PEOPLE in 1981. “So I had something kind of constructive to think of.”
Bacall went on to have a short engagement to Frank Sinatra and an 8-year marriage to Jason Robards (from which she has one more child — son Sam Robards) before she died in August 2014, but none compared to her relationship with Humphrey.
"Everyone could see their love right there on celluloid,” Stephen told PEOPLE. “He was the great love of her life, and she his."
Here's everything to know about Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart’s two children: Stephen Bogart and Leslie Bogart.
Stephen Humphrey Bogart, 75
Bacall and Humphrey welcomed their first child, son Stephen Humphrey Bogart, on Jan. 6, 1949.
Stephen was named after his father’s infamous character in To Have and Have Not — Harry "Steve" Morgan. Despite being the child of two massive stars, Steve said his childhood felt pretty normal at first.
"You're playing with Steve Cahn and Diane Linkletter," Steve told The New York Times in 1995, referring to hanging out with other famous kids — the son of the lyricist Sammy Cahn and the daughter of Art Linkletter.
He added, "We're all kids in the neighborhood. You know, you get together, run with the gang, visit each other's houses. Here comes Dad. Hi, Dad.”
Everything changed when his father died in 1957 when Steve was just 8 at the time. "It was [Humphrey’s] death, rather than his life, that was the problem for me," Steve continued, sharing how the constant swarm of paparazzi overwhelmed him. "I hated it. I didn't want my picture taken anymore.”
Then, his mom pulled him and his sister out of school and moved them to England while filming a project. He went on to graduate from the University of Hartford in 1979.
Steve spent years trying to hide that he was Bacall and Humphrey’s son: “I'd say: 'Well, no, I'm not related. If I was related, I'd be living in his mansion, right?” He later became a shepherd of his father’s legacy after trying to learn more about him.
“I did write a book, [In Search of My Father,] and it was kind of trying to find out who he was as a person, because I was 8 when he died and you don’t really know your parents that well at that age,” Steve told FilmNoir in 2015. “I can’t picture his voice, other than on film. I don’t think he was around that much, as much as he could have been.”
Steve now oversees the management of the estate of his dad, including controlling his name, image, likeness, social media presence, an annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival, a film company and a liquor brand called Bogart Spirits. He also hosted a festival celebrating the 70th and 75th anniversary of his father’s film Casablanca.
Steve was married three times and has three children — son Jamie with his first wife, Dale Bogart, and daughter Brooke and son Richard from his second marriage to Barbara Bogart. He is currently married to Carla Soviero.
Steve shared a close relationship with his mother, who died in 2014.
“When you lose your mother, of course it’s upsetting, but you can’t be sad for her [because] she got to do what she got to do,” he told NoirCity. “I talked to her that morning and she was fine. She had a stroke and died in 7 hours and she wasn’t in any pain. How much better could it be, really? I really wasn’t sad because of the life that she got to live.”
Leslie Howard Bogart, 72
The Dark Passage stars welcomed their second child, Leslie Howard Bogart, on Aug. 23, 1952.
Leslie was named in honor of actor Leslie Howard, a close friend of her father’s. Humphrey wanted to honor his pal after Howard refused to appear in The Petrified Forest unless the studio hired Humphrey to play Duke Mantee.
Leslie got a taste of the limelight at a young age when her parents welcomed journalist Edward R. Murrow into their home for an interview in 1954.
She continued to join her mom on set and accompany her to many red carpet events throughout the years.
Leslie appeared at the Academy Of Motion Pictures And Sciences' 2009 Governors Awards Gala, the Humphrey Bogart Postage Stamp Premieres at Mann Chinese Theatre in 2010 and the 1997 Oscars. She also supported her mom at the 1997 Kennedy Center Honors, where Bacall received an award.
Leslie lives a relatively normal life out of the spotlight, having worked as a yoga instructor and nurse in Boston. She married yoga master Erich Schiffmann in 1990.
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