The Big Sleep

LAUREN BACALL & HUMPHREY BOGART: Humphrey Bogart found more than just another juicy hard-boiled role when he signed on as the protagonist of 1944's "To Have and Have Not," director Howard Hawks' liberal reworking of an Ernest Hemingway novel. The 45-year-old actor was cast against... more a 19-year-old New York model making her screen debut and, despite three unhappy marriages (he was still legally bound to actress Mayo Methot), he fell hard for the former Betty Persky. With her sultry looks and deep voice, Bacall presented Bogie with an equal, a no-nonsense love interest who took the initiative for their first screen kiss and made whistling into a double-entendre in the film's most quoted lines. The couple was paired to equally memorable effect in "The Big Sleep" and "Key Largo," and their real-life affection endured until Bogart's death from cancer in January, 1957.

(Camera Press Digital/Retna Ltd.)