Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor as the treacherous female foil. Bogart's sharp timing and facial expressions were praised by the cast and director as vital to the quick action and rapid-fire dialogue. The film was a huge hit in theaters and a major triumph for Huston. Bogart was unusually happy with it, remarking, "it is practically a masterpiece. I don't have many things I'm proud of ... but that's one". Bogart gained his first real romantic lead in 1942's "Casablanca", playing Rick Blaine, a hard-pressed expatriate nightclub owner hiding from a shady past while negotiating a fine line among Nazis, the French
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