Verita Thompson; wig-mistress who enjoyed a long, wise-cracking extramarital affair with Humphrey Bogart
Hyfler/Rosner
March 4, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3477215.ece
Verita Thompson
Hollywood wig-mistress and restaurateur who enjoyed a long,
wise-cracking extramarital affair with Humphrey Bogart
"Don't let her size fool you. She's half-Mexican and
half-Irish, and when she gets mad, everybody with sense
dives for cover." So said Humphrey Bogart in the early
Fifties when a burly Texan remarked of Verita Thompson: "You
better keep your eye on this one, Mr Bogart, or I'm liable
to put my brand on her and keep her here in Texas".
By then married to Lauren Bacall, with three children,
Bogart had maintained a liaison with Verita Thompson whom he
had met a decade earlier at a Casablanca party. It was for
her long-standing affair with Bogart that Thompson is best
known, although she was also a successful wig-mistress.
Verita Bouvaire Thompson was born in 1918 in Nogales,
Arizona. Her parents died soon after her birth and she lived
with wealthy grandparents; he was a surgeon, in demand for
lectures, at which Verita accompanied him after his wife's
death. Meanwhile, after leaving high school, she was
runner-up in the 1935 Miss Arizona contest and, with her
grandfather out of the country, she accepted the contract
with Republic film studios.
On the first day of a western whose budget eschewed stunt
riders, she fell from a horse and broke an arm. While
recuperating in Mexico City she met an eminent, elderly
French wigmaker who was unable to trade in Hollywood. He
suggested she become his agent; she, however, pooled some of
her grandfather's recent, considerable bequest and they set
up a partnership - which almost foundered because she lacked
the necessary licence. Never fazed, she promptly trained to
acquire one, and Hollywood doors opened upon the heads of,
among others, Charles Boyer, Gary Cooper and Ray Milland.
In 1942, by when she was married to a workaholic,
poker-playing film technician, Ray Peterson, she was invited
by Ann Sheridan to the Casablanca party, where Bogart found
they shared a medical background.
"You're very, very tempting, my dear," he said, adding more
specifically, "you've got a great ass, ol' girl." She
parried this: "That's really romantic, you sweet-talker."
They found that they also shared a penchant for liquor, and
an affair ensued. After one encounter, at her house, she
thought a cold shower would sober him. Peterson came home
unexpectedly to find his wife naked beneath the spray with
Bogart.
Any divorce was deferred while Peterson left for war, and
Bogart remained with his third wife, the increasingly
unstable Methot. By now Thompson also worked at Warner
Brothers. "If he didn't like what I had done with his hair,
the fact that we were lovers wouldn't mean a thing," she
said, and her journals would partly sustain Bogie and Me
(1982). After a hiatus, when he divorced Methot in 1945, she
expected a call - but read, with fury, that he had married
Lauren Bacall 12 days later.
Thompson was startled a few months later when he rang. A
system evolved by which she became his "executive secretary"
on location and promotional tours, as much a boon companion
as lover upon his yawl the Santana. She could match any
quip, and during Sabrina asked Billy Wilder why he did not
simply print the latest take, telling him: "I couldn't have
done it better with C. B. DeMille's help". Startled, Wilder
declared, "Okay, print the last one. Lunch." Alas, she was
not there for all of the now-classic Beat the Devil (1953),
but her book's dialogue engagingly catches such later life
as the Paris night club where he gallantly fended off
prostitutes: Thompson "would have his scalp if he fell for
their obvious and almost irresistible charm. Then he'd lift
the back of his toupee to show them that he wasn't
exaggerating."
Two years before Bogart's death from cancer in 1957, she had
married the cinematographer Walter Thompson. She and Bogart
remained friendly. She went on to own several Hollywood
restaurants (perhaps with Howard Hughes's help) and, after
Thompson's death in 1975, moved to Natchez, Mississippi, to
run a New Orleans piano bar and took up with a writer 30
years her junior. Always relishing life, she carried herself
in style, with a raised glass - and was not driven out by
Hurricane Katrina.
Verita Thompson, wig-mistress and companion of Humphrey
Bogart, was born in 1918. She died on February 1, 2008, aged
89
Matthew Kruk
news:MfOdnTCbytVVSlHa...@rcn.net...
> ...
> Verita Thompson, wig-mistress and companion of Humphrey Bogart ...
I wouldn't put that on my tombstone.
Bob Feigel
<Matthe...@telus.net> magnanimously proffered:
How about: "Hair today, gone tomorrow"?
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Schenley
>
> I wouldn't put that on my tombstone.
I would hope not ...
"Matt Kruk: Wig-Mistress and Companion of Humphrey Bogart."
And besides, do you really want people to know you were a wig-mistress ...
Matthew Kruk
news:47cd099c$0$6146$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
LOL!
sal...@gmail.com
sal...@gmail.com
sal...@gmail.com
cathyc...@aol.com
Rob Cibik
> Alleged my ass. There's no question about it, never has been.
>
this case 2008. I also find it interesting it takes three replies to get
two points across.
sal...@gmail.com
sal...@gmail.com
Sarah Ehrett
sal...@gmail.com
> Alleged my ass. There's no question about it, never has been.
The words "alleged," "unverified," have been used by some writers
because they have found no proof. That is why I used "alleged" here.
As far as affair during HB's marriage to Bacall, I believe it probably happened.
The following occurred which caused me to question the "hype" about the marriage:
Two articles saying that Bacall found HB w/ Verita on "Barefoot Contessa" set.
I'm sure she saw something suspicious.
My last entry is one of several pages on internet from "Bogie and Me", Thompson:
Describes affair simply, one of "Human Bondage" "Sexual Bondage." The latter
made me curious. I did a search and came up w/a site of x-rated videos. Headline read VERITA THOMPSON HUMPHREY BOGART'S MISTRESS. Images were below.
I left the site thinking this could be true, or, in retrospect, could be someone
else wanting notoriety. This was 2yrs. ago. Site gone. Sperber & Lax, "Bogart," interviewed Thompson, and
were neutral. I was surprised to see and hear "Swifty" Lazar, old video, say, "Bogart was as faithful to Bacall as he could be." For me, it's a matter of
sorting out what makes sense and what doesn't.
sal...@gmail.com
sal...@gmail.com
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MJ Emigh
> Bacall and Bogart had two children, Stephen and Leslie, NOT three!
sal...@gmail.com
cathyc...@aol.com
sal...@gmail.com
> Dumb ass response.
Smart ass response!