Top Legends: Bogie, Hepburn
He didn't have the stunning good looks of Clark Gable. He didn't always perform better than his contemporaries, or die an icon-making death like James Dean.
Still, Humphrey Bogart had a beautiful relationship with America.
More than four decades after his death, Bogie's fans put him atop the American Film Institute's list of the greatest American male screen legends of the century.
"For a guy who didn't think of acting as a competitive sport, he would have been honored and awestruck by this," said Stephen Bogart, the actor's son.
The younger Bogart had much to be proud of Tuesday. His mother, Lauren Bacall, was No. 20 on the greatest actress list, behind top vote-getters Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis.
"I'm shocked and I'm flattered beyond words," Bacall said by telephone from Italy. "My God! I would never have expected it. But I'm not surprised that Bogie's No. 1."
Those who helped compile the list include such Hollywood stars as Jim Carrey, Cher, Kevin Costner, Claire Danes, Matt Dillon, Richard Dreyfuss, Bridget Fonda, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Keaton, Shirley MacLaine, Mike Myers, Lynn Redgrave, Kevin Spacey and Sylvester Stallone.
They used different standards for their choices.
"Fred Astaire danced toward the heavens," said selector Goldie Hawn told CBS This Morning. "In other words, he was lifted. As our teachers would say, feel that you're lifted off the ground."
Another selector, Jessica Lange, admits falling head over heels for screen idol Clark Gable.
"Of course, I fell wildly in love with Clark Gable," she said. "And even now, I understand why. I mean, he was a real man. There was something kind of great about his maleness."
Jim Carrey: "Oh, I love Katharine Hepburn. She was wonderful. She was an unsinkable ship. You know. A powerful, powerful woman. I wouldn't have wanted to be in a relationship with her. She'd kick your butt, man."
Billy Bob Thornton: "Kirk Douglas. He was everything that, when you're growing up as a kid, you think a movie star should be, because he was intense."
James Woods: "Jimmy Cagney gave the greatest line about acting I think that's ever been spoken. They said, 'How do you do what you do?' He said, 'I just stand on my own two feet, I look the other guy in the eye, and I tell the truth.'"
Some critics complained that the list overlooks many stars of the seminal silent era as well as musicals, but most agree that those who made the cut deserved the honor.
"I'd find it hard to argue against anyone who's on the list," film critic and historian Leonard Maltin said. "But lists are fundamentally silly. It's never going to be to everybody's satisfaction."
Bogie, most agreed, had to be on it somewhere, at least.
"You look at the 75 films he's done, from The African Queen to Casablanca, Treasure of the Sierr Madre, and The Maltese Falcon. These were all such disparate roles, yet he carried them all off," Stephen Bogart said.
Cary Grant was No. 2 on the lists, followed by James Stewart, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Henry Fonda, Clark Gable, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, and Charlie Chaplin.
Following Davis among female legends were Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, and Joan Crawford.
Ballots were sent to about 1,800 voters, including critics, historians, directors, producers and screenwriters. To be eligible, actors had to have made their debut in or before 1951; also eligible were those who made their debuts after 1950 but have since died.
Thus, current box office stars like Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, John Travolta, Harrison Ford, and Paul Newman weren't included on the list of 500 nominees announced in January.
Jurors were asked to consider five criteria: star quality (charisma and presence), craft (ability to embody different characters), legacy (body of work), popularity and historical context. The roster was revealed Tuesday night during a three-hour CBS-TV special.
Those eligible who didn't make the top 50 lineup included Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Alec Guinness, Mickey Rooney, Doris Day, Bob Hope, Will Rogers, Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Clara Bow, and Gloria Swanson.
"The silent film people always get the shaft. This is more a comment on a lack of cinema literacy," Maltin said.
The AFI compilation also shows little regard for musicals. Astaire, Rogers and Garland appeared from that film genre, but where were Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra?
Last year, the film institute celebrated the centennial of movies by announcing the 100 greatest American motion pictures of all time, with Citizen Kane topping the list.
Critics and movie buffs quickly jumped on the AFI for overlooking so many silent movies. Only four were chosen, and way down in 44th place was D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation.
"We expect that sort of thing again. Someone will find fault," AFI Chairman Tom Pollock said. "Lists by their nature create controversy because of who is on them and who is left off them."
Bacall, however, was tickled pink to make the recent list.
"Gee, this makes me feel a helluva lot more important than I am," said the star of To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, both with Bogart. "I'm going to call my agent right now."
The American Film Institute's 50 greatest screen legends:
Men:
1. Humphrey Bogart
2. Cary Grant
3. James Stewart
4. Marlon Brando
5. Fred Astaire
6. Henry Fonda
7. Clark Gable
8. James Cagney
9. Spencer Tracy
10. Charlie Chaplin
11. Gary Cooper
12. Gregory Peck
13. John Wayne
14. Laurence Olivier
15. Gene Kelly
16. Orson Welles
17. Kirk Douglas
18. James Dean
19. Burt Lancaster
20. The Marx Brothers
21. Buster Keaton
22. Sidney Poitier
23. Robert Mitchum
24. Edward G. Robinson
25. William Holden
Women:
1. Katharine Hepburn
2. Bette Davis
3. Audrey Hepburn
4. Ingrid Bergman
5. Greta Garbo
6. Marilyn Monroe
7. Elizabeth Taylor
8. Judy Garland
9. Marlene Dietrich
10. Joan Crawford
11. Barbara Stanwyck
12. Claudette Colbert
13. Grace Kelly
14. Ginger Rogers
15. Mae West
16. Vivien Leigh
17. Lillian Gish
18. Shirley Temple
19. Rita Hayworth
20. Lauren Bacall
21. Sophia Loren
22. Jean Harlow
23. Carole Lombard
24. Mary Pickford
25. Ava Gardner