The Hollywood marriages of old times seem to hold unparalleled nostalgia and romance, a far cry from the trivial pursuits of attention modern reality TV relationships portray.

The year is 1944. He, an iconic actor and Broadway star. She, a 19-year old model and aspiring actress. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall met on the set of To Have and Have Not. Like all notable Hollywood romances, their relationship was a scandalous affair.

Bogart was married to his third wife, actress Mayo Methot, at the time (not to mention being 25 years Bacall’s senior). But there was no stopping the attraction between them. In her book Be Myself, Bacall wrote about the first time he came to her trailer one night after filming. “Suddenly he leaned over, put his hand under my chin, and kissed me. It was impulsive—he was a bit shy—no lunging wolf tactics. He took a worn package of matches out of his pocket and asked me to put my phone number on the back. I did,” she writes.

Soon after, Bogart divorced his wife. The star-crossed lovers tied the knot on May 21, 1945 at a ceremony on Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield’s farm in Ohio.

They had two children together, staying married until Bogart’s death in 1957. “No one has ever written a romance better than we lived,” Bacall wrote in her memoir.

Source: Country Living

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