Mayo Methot

Mayo June Methot (March 3, 1904 – June 9, 1951), also known as Mayo Methot Bogart, was an American film and theater actress. She appeared in over 30 films, as well as on Broadway. She suffered from alcoholism, to the effects of which she ultimately succumbed in 1951.

Methot was born in Portland, Oregon. A petite brunette, she became a popular actress on Broadway during the 1920s where she was admired for both her acting and singing ability. She moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s and began an association with Warner Brothers Studios. She found herself most usually cast as unsympathetic second leads, and tough talking "dames" of Warner's contemporary crime melodramas such as Jimmy the Gent and Marked Woman, where she met Humphrey Bogart. They married in 1938. It was her third marriage, first having wed at age 19 to Cosmopolitan Productions cameraman Jack La Mond, whom she divorced in 1927. After the death of her father, Captain Jack Methot, on December 20, 1929, she came to Hollywood in 1930 and soon married Percy T. Morgan (the co-owner, with his brother, of the well-known Cock n' Bull restaurant on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard). They divorced shortly after she re-acquainted with Bogart in 1936. the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Jack D. Methot. Methot's father was the captain of a ship and traveled frequently. She started performing on stage at the age of five. As a child, she was nicknamed, "The Portland Rosebud." At the age of 8, she was chosen to travel with selected Portland delegates to Washington, D.C. where she presented President Woodrow Wilson with a bouquet of flowers. Methot was educated at Miss Catlin's School and graduated in 1919. She performed with the Baker Stock Company in Portland until 1922 when she left for New York City. After her arrival, she met George M. Cohan and worked in 'All the King's Men, The Song and Dance Man, and The Medicine Man, as well as others, totaling some ten shows between 1923 and 1930.

Methot and Bogart became a couple of high-profile Hollywood celebrities, but it was not a smooth marriage. Both drank heavily, and Methot gained a reputation for her violent excesses when under the influence. They became known as "The Battling Bogarts," with Methot's nickname widely known, for her combativeness, as "Sluggy." Bogart later named his motor yacht Sluggy, in her honor. During World War II, the Bogarts traveled Europe, entertaining the troops. But the troops weren't the only ones who were entertained. Most of the time during their travels, they stayed in officers quarters. They had no trouble borrowing guns, and many times, were caught "shooting up the place" in the middle of the night. Afterwards, the army banned married couples from entertaining the troops for the remainder of the war.

At one point, in their travels during the war, they linked up with director John Huston in Italy. During a night of heavy drinking, Methot insisted that everyone listen to her perform a song. Though they told her no, she sang anyway. The performance was so bad and embarrassing, Huston and Bogart remembered it years later and based a scene in Key Largo on the incident. It was the scene in which the alcoholic girlfriend (Claire Trevor) of the mobster (played by Edward G. Robinson) sang a number off key and while intoxicated. The performance won Trevor an Oscar.

Numerous battles took place at the Hollywood residence of the famous couple including one in which Methot actually stabbed Bogart in the shoulder. The incident was kept out of the press by the publicity department of Warner Bros. Actress Gloria Stuart recalled in her later years, a dinner party at which Methot produced a pistol and threatened to shoot Bogart. At one point, when Methot was depressed, she slashed her wrists (again, played down by the press thanks to their studio). Methot's career went into a rapid decline as a result of her drinking, and her marriage to Bogart ended in 1945, when he left her to marry Lauren Bacall.

Methot was unable to renew her career and settled into a pattern of alcoholism and depression. Following her divorce from Bogart in May 1945 (Bogart married actress Lauren Bacall 2 weeks later), she moved back to Oregon where her mother helped take care of her. By the early 1950s, struggling to support herself and ill from years of alcoholism, she died in a motel room in Multnomah, Oregon, an outlying suburb of Portland on June 9, 1951. Her body lay undiscovered for several days. When Bogart heard the news (while shooting The African Queen) his comment was "such a waste". Mayo Methot's mother, Evelyn W. Methot survived her daughter by five and a half years, and died November 27, 1956. The Methot family are all interred together, at the Portland Memorial Mausoleum in Portland, Oregon.

She became a popular actress on Broadway during the 1920s where she was admired for both her acting and singing ability. While on Broadway, she originated a role in the Vincent Youmans/Billy Rose musical Great Day (1929), introducing the standard "More Than You Know" and several others. She moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s and began an association with Warner Bros. Studios. She was usually cast as unsympathetic second leads and tough-talking "dames" of Warner's contemporary crime melodramas such as Jimmy the Gent and Marked Woman.

Methot was married three times and had no children. At the age of 19, she married Cosmopolitan Productions cameraman Jack Lamond. They divorced in 1927. In 1931, Methot married Percy T. Morgan, the co-owner of the Cock n' Bull restaurant on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard.[3] Methot divorced Morgan in February 1937, claiming that Morgan would not allow her to accept an acting role in New York City.

Methot's third marriage was to actor Humphrey Bogart, whom she had met in the late 1920s and reconnected with in early 1936. They were married on August 28, 1938 in Beverly Hills. Bogart had been married to actresses Helen Menken and Mary Philips before marrying Methot, and blamed his previous divorces on his wives' careers and their long separations. Two years after Methot and Bogart were married, Methot gave up acting. The two became a high-profile Hollywood couple, but it was not a smooth marriage. Both drank heavily, and Methot gained a reputation for her violent excesses when under the influence. They became known in the press as "The Battling Bogarts," with Methot widely known, due to her combativeness, as "Sluggy." Bogart later named his motor yacht Sluggy in her honor. During World War II, the Bogarts traveled Europe entertaining the troops. At one point in their travels during the war, the Bogarts met up with director John Huston in Italy. During a night of heavy drinking, Methot insisted that everyone listen to her perform a song. Though they told her no, she sang anyway. The performance was so bad and embarrassing that Huston and Bogart remembered it years later and based a scene in Key Largo on the incident. It is the scene in which the alcoholic girlfriend (played by Claire Trevor) of the mobster (played by Edward G. Robinson) sings a number off key and while intoxicated. The performance won Trevor an Academy Award.

Numerous battles took place at the Hollywood residence of the famous couple - nicknamed Sluggy Hollow [8] - including one in which Methot stabbed Bogart in the shoulder. The incident was kept out of the press by the publicity department of Warner Bros.. Actress Gloria Stuart recalled in her later years a dinner party at which Methot produced a pistol and threatened to shoot Bogart. The couple separated and reconciled several times over the course of their marriage.[9] While filming To Have and Have Not in 1943, Bogart fell in love with his 19-year old co-star Lauren Bacall and the two began an affair. Methot caught wind of the affair and visited the set often. Bogart attempted to save the marriage but Methot's alcoholism intensified as did their fighting.[10] Bogart announced that he had moved out of the couple's home on October 19, 1944.[7] On October 30, Bogart announced that he had reconciled with Methot and that he was "going home. [...] In other words, we'll return to our normal battles."[11] The reconciliation proved to be short lived; Methot announced that Bogart had moved out of their home yet again on December 3, 1944.[12] Methot filed for divorce on May 10, 1945 in Las Vegas. The divorce was granted one hour after she filed the decree.[6][13] Bogart married Lauren Bacall on May 21, 1945.[10]

After her divorce from Bogart, Methot was unable to renew the career she had given up and became locked into a pattern of alcoholism and depression. In the late 1940s, she moved back to Oregon where her mother helped take care of her.

On June 9, 1951, Methot died at Holladay Park Hospital in Portland.[14][15] Her death was attributed to acute alcoholism.[14] Methot's remains are interred at the Portland Memorial Mausoleum in Portland, Oregon.[16]

According to the University of Oregon website "Mayo Methot died June 9, 1951 in a motel room in Multnomah, Oregon; her body was not discovered for several days."[17]

She introduced the song "More Than You Know" (by Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu and Vincent Youmans) in the 1929 Broadway musical "Great Day". The recording survives.

Had a turbulent marriage to Humphrey Bogart. On one occasion she had a gun and argued violently with him.

Dinner guests Gloria Stuart and her husband feared for their lives, but no one was shot, fortunately.

Humphrey Bogart left her for Lauren Bacall.

A strong Broadway presence in the 1920s before joining Warner Brothers in the 1930s.

Humphrey Bogart was a tough guy in films but suffered from the "battered husband" syndrome during his stormy seven-year marriage to Mayo. She was known around the Hollywood circuit for her excessive drinking and violent temper.

She met Humphrey Bogart while filming Marked Woman (1937). They married a year later.

She died alone, of long-term effects of alcoholism, in a third-rate hotel in Oregon. Her body was not discovered until several days after her death.

Is portrayed by Ann Wedgeworth in Bogie (1980)

Married her first husband, Cosmopolitan Productions cameraman John M. La Mond, at the age of 19.

Her father, Captain Jack Methot, died December 20, 1929. Her mother, Evelyn W. Methot died November 27, 1956, surviving her daughter by 5 and a half years. They are placed together at the Portland Memorial Mausoleum in Portland, Oregon.

Mayo's mother said to the press at the time of her death that her daughter never took her film roles seriously, and that "it was just for fun".

At her death, she had $1,400 in cash and a Los Angeles rental property producing $3,000 a month, both of which she left to her mother Evelyn Methot.

She performed with the Baker Stock Company in Portland, Oregon until 1922 when she left for to New York, to appear in "Great Day", "All the King's Men", "The Song and Dance Man", and "The Medicine Man", among other productions.