Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall met for the first time on the set of "To Have and Have Not". Bacall felt no special spark during their first meeting - he was kind to her, and she was very nervous. Through the course of the movie's shooting, however, the two gradually became romantically involved. Bogart was involved in a destructive and alcoholic marriage with Mayo Methot, and Bacall had been involved with director Howard Hawks- both managed to free themselves from their entanglements and became seriously commited to one another.
After Bogart's divorce became legal, the two wed on Malabar Farm in Ohio, May 21st, 1945 - Bacall humorously recalls the ceremony, her case of nerves and her first words as a married woman ("Oh, Goodie!") in her autobiography, "By Myself".
Bacall eventually gave birth to two children - Stephen, named after Bogart's character in "To Have and Have Not", and Leslie, named after Bacall's childhood crush and Bogart's mentor Leslie Howard.
During their marriage, the two were politically active - campaigning against the HUAC commission. While they were eventually forced to back off from their support of blacklisted workers due to threats on their own careers, Bacall became a major backer of Adlai Stevenson during his presidential campain.
Humorously, Bogart and Bacall were immortalized in several Bugs Bunny cartoons "Slick Hare" and "Bacall to Arms" - in the former, the Bogart characture infameously threatens Bugs Bunny with the tag line "whatever baby wants, baby gets." "Baby" was Bogart's nickname for Bacall, which he called her constantly. The two made three more films together: "The Big Sleep", "Dark Passage" and "Key Largo".
They lasted until Bogart's death from cancer in 1957, leaving behind a legacy of rich cinematic treasures, and a true-life love story that continues to touch millions through Bacall's biographies.
