Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall’s Son Complains Young People Have Forgotten His Famous Parents

THE BIG SLEEP, from left: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, 1946
Everett Collection

Stephen Bogart has two of the most famous parents in Hollywood history, but he says that most young people today don’t even know who they are. Of course, as time goes on, actors and musicians from the past may end up being forgotten, and Bogart feels this is a real shame.

The 75-year-old is the son of actors Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. He recently shared that he went to a doctor’s appointment and the doctor asked their assistant if they knew who Humphrey Bogart was. The assistant had no idea who that was.

Writer Stephen Bogart attends The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Metrograph special screening of "The African Queen" with Stephen Bogart at Metrograph on January 12, 2019 in New York City

Lars Niki/Getty Images The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

Bogart is now trying to change this and bring his parents to a new generation with the documentary Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes. While it “boggles his mind regularly” that people don’t know who his parents were, he admitted that he is not surprised.

He explained, ” … Kids don’t really know because it’s tough when you’re looking at your phone, and you want to see the latest Marvel. Not that I have anything against Marvel. I used to collect comic books, but they’re not aware of the past at all.”

THE BIG SLEEP, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, 1946

Everett Collection

Bogart hopes that the documentary “will allow people to look back on their lives and trace the arc of the people in their lives that continued to bring them forward to where they are today.” While his parents were very talented actors, he did not follow in their footsteps because he felt there would be too much comparison. Instead, he became a producer and writer.

“How do you compete with that?” he added. “The comparisons would have been obvious. No, never. Plus, I was lousy at it. I was in a couple of plays in high school. I wasn’t very good. I couldn’t do it. I just wasn’t very good at all. It’s not an easy thing to do, to be someone else.”

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Hollywoods Golden Couples

February 2022

Gaze back at the classic romances of old Hollywood, both onscreen and off.

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