A recently published video references the relationship of film icon Humphrey Bogart with his wife of nearly seven years, Mayo Methot. Also mentioned is the biography on Mayo’s life, titled ‘Sluggy, Bogie’s Other Baby.’ Click here or on the above image, then forward to the 5:30 mark for details.
Old Movie Stars
Mayo Meets the Presidents
Mayo Methot – Courtesy Oregon Historical Society
Meeting a US President is the kind of rare occasion few people ever experience. Theatre and film star Mayo Methot met at least two presidents, one while he was in office and the other before he was elected. Like Mayo Methot herself, the backstory for each meeting is unique.
President Woodrow Wilson
Meeting Woodrow Wilson
As a pre-teen, Mayo’s fame grew upon joining a Portland advertising group’s 1913 east coast junket. Back then, west coast ad agencies were less known than their east coast competitors. So a publicity effort was devised to get advertisers and agencies to work more with west coast ad firms. Young Mayo was selected as a mascot of sorts to travel with the group. The plan was to introduce her to audiences across the nation as ‘The Portland Rosebud,’ with a final stop being the White House. It worked marvelously. A newspaper trail of the group’s travels confirms positive press wherever the Oregon-based group visited.
Newspaper Clipping
The trip culminated with nine-year-old Mayo Methot presenting President Woodrow Wilson with roses and a letter from Oregon Governor Oswald West inviting President Wilson to visit his state.
Ronald Reagan
Meeting Ronald Reagan
Mayo’s documented foray into meeting future leader Ronald Reagan occurred during her marriage to Humphrey Bogart. Mayo’s meeting with the future president was aided by their mutual work as actors. A photo of their meeting here has her seated with husband Bogie, along with actress Jane Wyman and husband Ronald Reagan.
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Little Known Facts About Humphrey Bogart’s Wife, Mayo Methot
Fans of Humphrey Bogart are well aware of his multiple marriages. Of them all, Bogie’s most tempestuous were his seven years as husband to actress Mayo Methot. Nicknamed ‘Sluggy,’ Mayo’s public disagreements with her movie ‘tough guy’ spouse made the ‘Battling Bogarts’ a constant source of celebrity news. Here are three tidbits you probably didn’t know about Bogie’s famously feisty partner.
1. When Mayo was just a teenager, her sea captain father broke the jaw of a young boy who blew kisses to her. This taught Mayo to take matters into her own hands…later with her Hollywood husband.
2. Early in their relationship, Mayo was an accomplished Broadway star and ‘Bogie’ was a struggling movie novice. Their roles changed over time and as Bogart acquired bigger parts, Mayo relinquished both her stage and screen career.
Mayo Methot – 1930, The Ben Solowey Collection
3. After her death in 1951, Humphrey Bogart had flowers regularly sent to Mayo’s Oregon crypt. They stopped arriving in 1957, the year of Bogart’s own passing.
Mayo’s Portland, Oregon Crypt, Photo © Roy Widing
David Niven Talks Humphrey Bogart & Mayo Methot
Actor David Niven became a close friend of Humphrey Bogart. Click here or on the image below for his candid account of the feisty dynamic between Bogie & Mayo.
Actor David Niven
Humphrey Bogart & Mayo Methot: Smooth Sailing
The below 1943 news column by journalist Jimmy Fidler provides an often overlooked perspective about the relationship between Humphrey Bogart and his wife, Mayo Methot. Fidler suggests their much-reported tempestuous relationship was calmer at sea in the absence of others, especially away from the white hot media spotlight.
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The couple’s mutual nautical interests were aided by the fact that Bogart was a Navy veteran and Mayo’s father a sea captain.
Mayo & Bogie, Happy at Sea
While aboard their boat the ‘Sluggy,’ the case can be made that these two professional actors didn’t have an audience egging them on, so it was easier to simply enjoy each other’s company. Get the real story behind film icon Humphrey Bogart’s seven year marriage to stage and screen actress Mayo Methot here in the new book ‘Sluggy: Bogie’s Other Baby.’
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The Wartime Hairstyle of Mayo Methot
This 1944 news column helps to explain Mayo Methot’s headgear while touring with husband Humphrey Bogart during WWII:
The simple act of hair washing wasn’t practical during that wartime visit, so ladies, including Mayo, got creative.
Mayo Methot & Humphrey Bogart in 1944
Get the real scoop of this dynamic and controversial Hollywood couple. Order your copy of ‘Sluggy: Bogie’s Other Baby’ by clicking here or on the image below.
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Mayo Methot’s Final Resting Place
The book ‘Only In Oregon’ features a section on Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial, the mausoleum where Mayo Methot is interred.
Humphrey Bogart: “Mayo’s A Fine Girl”
In the news 75 years ago, as Humphrey Bogart announces divorce plans from Mayo Methot: “Mayo’s a fine girl…”
Book Trailer for ‘Sluggy: Bogie’s Other Baby’ Released
‘Sluggy’ is the biography of Mayo Methot, third wife of film star Humphrey Bogart during the peak of his career. Anyone curious about their seven year roller-coaster Hollywood marriage will find ‘Sluggy’ a revealing view into the mercurial relationship that even movie ‘tough guy’ Humphrey Bogart couldn’t control. His later wife was called ‘Bogie’s Baby.’ Yet years before her, was ‘Bogie’s Other Baby,’ Mayo Methot. Buy ‘Sluggy: Bogie’s Other Baby.’ Available at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ls7dhb
Mayo Methot’s Portland Connection
Humphrey Bogart’s third wife, Hollywood and Broadway performer Mayo Methot, is interred at Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial in Portland, Oregon. Known as ‘The Portland Rosebud’, Mayo’s hometown experiences were key in shaping her later success.
Mayo Methot’s Lofty Perch
Bogie’s Other Baby
Mayo Methot was Humphrey Bogart’s third wife. Born in 1904, she was twenty years older than Lauren Bacall, Bogart’s fourth wife. Before Bacall’s 1924 birth, Mayo Methot was already performing on the Broadway stage, as noted in this newspaper article.
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Given their age difference, fourth wife Lauren Bacall was sometimes called ‘Bogie’s Baby.’ But long before Bacall was Mayo Methot, ‘Bogie’s Other Baby.’ The first ever biography about Mayo Methot is scheduled for release on October 17th, 2019, with e-book pre-orders now available.
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‘Sluggy’
Mayo Methot’s first biography is scheduled for release on October 17, 2019, with ebook pre-orders available here. Keep updated using the ‘Follow Blog via Email’ link located at the top right side menu on this page.
Mayo Methot – Did You Know?
An early object of Mayo Methot’s affection was actor William Reid, whom she met as a youth.
Wallace Reid – Public Domain Photo
After an injury in 1919 while filming ‘Valley of the Giants’ on location in Oregon, the ‘movie star handsome’ Reid was given painkillers in order to continue filming. He became addicted and as a result, his health deteriorated. In 1923, Wallace Reid died in the arms of his wife, Dorothy Davenport. Wallace Reid is now considered one of Hollywood’s earliest victims of drug addiction.
Mayo Methot 
