Mary Astor

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Mary Astor, born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke on May 3, 1906, was a renowned American actress whose career spanned several decades in Hollywood's Golden Age. She rose to fame during the silent film era and successfully transitioned to talkies, becoming one of the industry's most versatile and respected actresses.

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Astor is best remembered for her iconic role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in the classic film noir The Maltese Falcon (1941), where she starred alongside Humphrey Bogart. 

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Astor mainly pursued dramatic roles, including The Great Lie (1941), which landed her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but she also dabbled in comedy with films like The Palm Beach Story (1942).

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Although the offers came, she avoided top-billing and the responsibilities that came with that, preferring the security of being a supporting player. Her career was almost derailed by a very public divorce and custody battle in the mid-30s but her talent was such that it caused minimal harm to her popularity.

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Mary Astor retired in 1964 leaving a legacy of 109 movies across 45 years. She passed away on September 25, 1987, at the age of 81.

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Humphrey Bogart

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Humphrey DeForest Bogart, born on Christmas Day 1899 in New York City, was a legendary actor from Hollywood's Golden Age. He began his career on the Broadway stage in the 1920s, before moving into films at the end of that decade, where he was often typecast in supporting gangster roles.

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Things changed dramatically in the 1940s for Bogart. His breakthrough came with his role as Sam Spade in John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941). However, it was his portrayal of Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942) that catapulted him to international fame and has gone on to become one of the most beloved films in cinematic history.

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Bogart's career continued to flourish during the 40s with notable roles including To Have and Have Not (1944), where he began his affair with his future wife, Lauren Bacall, their onscreen chemistry carrying on through The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948).

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Despite his tough-guy image on screen, Bogart was a versatile actor who could effortlessly transition from crime dramas to romantic classics. His talent earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The African Queen (1951), opposite Katharine Hepburn.

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Sadly, Humphrey Bogart's life was cut short when he succumbed to cancer on January 14, 1957, but his legacy and influence on the world of cinema endures.

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John Huston

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John Huston (1906-1987) was an iconic American film director, screenwriter, and actor, whose influential career spanned several decades. Born in Nevada, Missouri, Huston came from a family deeply rooted in the entertainment industry, with his father, Walter Huston, being a renowned actor. 

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During the 1930s he focused on scriptwriting and his success there led him to his first directorial job with the classic film noir The Maltese Falcon (1941), the first of a number of collaborations with actor Humphrey Bogart.

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Two of his later films with Bogie, The Treasure Of The Sierrra Madre (1948) and The African Queen (1951), earned him Academy Awards in both the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay categories.

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As well as being one of the most celebrated directors in cinema history, Huston also took on several acting roles, most notably opposite Jack Nicholson in the neo noir masterpiece, Chinatown (1974).

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He passed away in 1987 shortly after completion of his final film, The Dead (1987), leaving behind a hugely impressive filmography that truly left its mark on the medium.