Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart

Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart
By: Stefan Kanfer

Ranked by the American Film Institute as the greatest male star in American cinema history, Humphrey Bogart was one of a kind.

In a new biography, Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart, Stefan Kanfer explores the fascinating journey that led Bogart - a cultured, courtly man off-screen- to become the most imitated tough guy in motion pictures.

The book presents Bogart as a man who decided early in life that there were two kinds of people: professionals and bums. He wanted to be a professional - and he spent many years working toward that goal in New York theaters and in Hollywood studios, eventually becoming the highest-paid actor of his time. High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca…any actor would be proud to have one of these films on his resume; Bogie had all three - and an Oscar, too, for his performance in The African Queen.

Tough Without a Gun is both entertaining and engaging, a sleek biography guaranteed to send the reader in search of the films so richly described within it.

I would recommend this book to any Bogart fan or movie buff.

Melanie
Central Library