Humphrey Bogart Warner Bros. wanted to cast the then much better known Edward G. Robinson for the film adaptation; however Leslie Howard, who played the protagonist in both the play and the film, insisted on Bogart being given the part. His breakthrough came in 1941 when his performances in "High Sierra" and "The Maltese Falcon" made him a star. His first true romantic lead role came in 1942's "Casablanca", breaking his typecasting as a gangster. He and Lauren Bacall starred together in "To Have and Have Not" (1944). After they married, she also played his love interest in "The Big Sleep" (1946),
Humphrey Bogart bought a motor launch, which he named "Sluggy," his nickname for hot-tempered Methot. Bogart acknowledged that "I like a jealous wife...We get on so well together (because) we don't have illusions about each other...I wouldn't give you two cents for a dame without a temper." Louise Brooks stated, "...except for Leslie Howard, no one contributed as much to Humphrey's success as his third wife, Mayo Methot." However, Methot's influence was increasingly destructive, and Bogart's own drinking did not help matters. Bogart had a lifelong disgust for the pretentious, fake or phony. Sensitive yet caustic, he was once again disgusted by