Mayo Methot | |
|---|---|
 Methot in 1937 | |
| Born | Mayo Jane Methot (1904-03-03)March 3, 1904 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | June 9, 1951(1951-06-09) (aged 47) Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Resting place | Portland Memorial Mausoleum |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1909–1940 |
| Known for | |
| Spouses | |
| Signature | |
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Mayo Jane Methot (March 3, 1904 – June 9, 1951) was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in over 30 films, as well as in variousBroadway productions, and attracted significant media attention for her tempestuous marriage to actorHumphrey Bogart.
Methot appeared in numerous Broadway musicals and plays, including theVincent Youmans musicalGreat Day (1929). She then appeared in various supporting roles for Warner Brothers, often portraying hard-edged women. Her film credits include the mystery filmThe Night Club Lady (1932), the comedyJimmy the Gent (1934), and the crime dramaMarked Woman (1937).
Methot met Bogart on the set ofMarked Woman and the two became romantically involved, marrying in 1938. Methot struggled with severe alcoholism, and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia following a suicide attempt in 1943. She divorced Bogart in 1945 after numerous reconciliations. Unable to gain traction in her film career, she returned to her childhood home of Portland, and her alcoholism and depression worsened. She died of complications stemming from alcoholism in 1951, aged 47.
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Mayo Jane Methot[1] was born March 3, 1904, inChicago, Illinois,[a] the only child of Beryl Evelyn (née Wood) and John Dillon "Jack" Methot, a ship captain.[7][8] She was a direct descendant ofZachary Taylor, the 12thPresident of the United States.[9] Shortly after her birth, the family relocated toPortland, Oregon, where Methot was raised.[5] She showed a proclivity for literature and acting as a young child, memorizing passages fromRomeo and Juliet.[10] She began performing on stage professionally at the age of five, appearing as Josef in a Portland production ofSapho, oppositeFlorence Roberts.[10]
In 1912, Methot starred as David, a young boy, in a production ofThe Awakening of Helena Richie, at the Grand Opera House inSalem, Oregon.[10] In an article detailing the play, it was noted: "Her grasp of what is required of her during rehearsals of plays is held to be most unusual, while those who have seen her as David inThe Awakening of Helena Richie, are warm in their praise of her dramatic ability."[10] In press promoting the production, the then-eight-year-old Methot stated that she was inspired by French actressSarah Bernhardt.[10] Around this time, she told reporterFay King ofThe Spectator: "I'm going to be a fine actress, if I can."[11]
Methot was subsequently chosen to travel with selected Portland delegates toWashington, D.C. where she presented PresidentWoodrow Wilson with a bouquet of flowers.[12] Methot began performing with the Portland-basedBaker Stock Company at age nine,[7] and her frequent appearances in local theater productions earned Methot the nickname "The Portland Rosebud."[13] In 1914, she made her film debut alongside several Baker Stock Company players in a serial short titledForgotten Songs, produced by the Portland-based American Lifeograph Studios.[14] In January 1916, she starred as the lead in a Baker Stock Company production ofThe Littlest Rebel.[15]
After Methot graduated fromMiss Catlin's School[16] in 1919, she pursued a full-time career with the Baker Stock Company, appearing in an August 1919 production ofCome Out of the Kitchen oppositeVerna Felton.[16] This was followed by lead roles in the company'sDawn o' the Mountains (staged in May 1920), in which she portrayed a teenage boy;[17] as a bride's sister seeking a lover inParlor, Bedroom and Bath (October 1920);[18] and in the comedyThat Girl Patsy, in May 1921.[19]
While appearing in locally producedserial short films for filmmaker Robert C. Bruce (among them the 1922-releasedAnd Women Must Weep),[20] Methot met cameraman Jack Lamond, a war veteran, and the two began a whirlwind romance in the summer of 1921.[21] On September 21 of that year, they married atSaint Luke's Episcopal Church inVancouver, Washington.[22] Methot continued to perform in local productions with the Baker Stock Company, includingLinger Longer Letty in November 1921,[23] and in a revival ofParlor, Bedroom and Bath in March 1922.[24] In November 1922,[25] Methot and Lamond relocated toNew York City, where Lamond was employed atCosmopolitan Productions.[7]
Shortly after her arrival in New York, Methot began appearing onBroadway, her first production being director William Brady'sThe Mad Honeymoon in the summer of 1923.[7] Though the play received unfavorable reviews from critics, Mayo was the lone member of the cast to not receive criticism for her performance.[7]
Based on her performance inThe Mad Honeymoon, Methot was cast as the female lead of Leola Lane inGeorge M. Cohan's production ofThe Song and Dance Man,[7][26] which opened on New Year's Eve 1923.[27] In 1924, she appeared as The Bride in aPhiladelphia production ofOwen Davis'sThe Haunted House.[28] The following year, she returned to Broadway as Phyllis Halladay inAlias the Deacon, oppositeBerton Churchill.[29] This was followed by a 1927 production ofThe Medicine Man, staged bySam H. Harris at the New Cort Theatre inQueens, New York City.[30] On December 30, 1927, Methot and Lamond divorced, after she asserted that he had deserted her in 1925.[22]
Methot's performance as Florence Wendell in a winter 1929 Broadway production ofAll the King's Men garnered her praise from Donald Mulhern of theBrooklyn Standard Union, who wrote that she "handles her emotional scenes with both art and warmth and makes the woman very real."[31] She subsequently originated a role in theVincent Youmans/Billy Rose musicalGreat Day (1929), introducing the standard "More Than You Know" and several others.[32] Her subsequent performance inHalf Gods (also 1929) at thePlymouth Theatre earned critical praise, with Alvin Kayton ofTheBrooklyn Citizen writing: "As Hope Ferrier, Mayo Methot, recently in Youmans'Great Day, was extraordinarily capable, expressing her part with an emotion and understanding which made Hope seem almost lifelike. We doubt if the role could have been bettered."[33]
Methot moved toHollywood in 1930, hoping to transition from stage to a career in film. She had her first major speaking role inUnited Artists's gangster filmCorsair (1931).[34] On November 28, 1931,[35] Methot married Percy T. Morgan,[36][37][38][39][15] an oil tycoon and the co-owner with John "Jack" Morgan, of the Cock n' Bull[40] restaurant on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, birthplace of theMoscow Mule.[41][42][43][44][45]
In 1932, after signing a contract withWarner Bros., Methot starred as the female lead inThe Night Club Lady, a murder mystery co-starringAdolphe Menjou.[46] What followed was a long line of roles as unsympathetic second leads and tough-talking "dames" in many of Warner's contemporary crime melodramas, such asThe Mind Reader andWilliam Wyler'sCounsellor at Law (both 1933), as well asJimmy the Gent (1934) oppositeJimmy Cagney andBette Davis.[34] In 1934, she had roles in threeFirst National Pictures features: first as a nurse in the dramaRegistered Nurse, followed by supporting parts inSide Streets andMills of the Gods.[34]
Methot followed this with minor parts in thePerry Mason mystery filmThe Case of the Curious Bride, and as agangster's moll in the crime filmDr. Socrates (both released in 1935).[34] She was subsequently cast in the crime dramaMarked Woman (1937), again starring opposite Davis andHumphrey Bogart.[47] Methot divorced her husband, Percy Morgan, in February 1937, claiming that he would not allow her to accept an acting role in New York City.[48]
Methot became romantically involved with Humphrey Bogart after co-starring with him inMarked Woman.[49] The couple were married on August 28, 1938, inBeverly Hills.[50] Bogart had been married to actressesHelen Menken andMary 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.[51] 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.[52] They became known in the press as "The Battling Bogarts",[53] with Methot known, due to her combativeness, as "Sluggy".[52] Bogart later named his motor yachtSluggy in her honor.[51] After Methot attempted suicide in 1943, Bogart urged her to visit a psychiatrist, and upon doing so, she was diagnosed withparanoid schizophrenia.[54][55]
DuringWorld War II, the Bogarts traveled Europe entertaining the troops. At one point in their travels during the war, the Bogarts met with directorJohn Huston in Italy. During a night of heavy drinking, Methot insisted that everyone listen to her perform a song. Though they tried to persuade her to desist, she sang anyway. The performance was so bad and embarrassing that Huston and Bogart remembered it several years later and based a scene inKey Largo (1948) on the incident, having the alcoholic girlfriend (played byClaire Trevor) of the mobster (played byEdward G. Robinson) struggle through "Moanin' Low" off key in hopes of winning a drink in exchange for her singing. Trevor won an Oscar for her performance in the film.
Numerous battles took place at the Hollywood residence of the famous couple, nicknamed Sluggy Hollow,[56] including one in which Methot stabbed Bogart in the shoulder, and another in which the two hit one another in the head with whiskey bottles.[52] ActressGloria Stuart—a friend of Bogart and Methot—recalled, in her later years, attending a dinner party at which Methot drunkenly brandished a pistol and threatened to shoot Bogart.[57] Stuart also recalled seeing Methot with bruises on her face on several occasions, and witnessing physical fights between the couple, including one in which Bogart tore Methot's dress off of her.[58] The couple separated and reconciled several times over the course of their marriage.[59]
While filmingTo Have and Have Not in 1943, Bogart fell in love with his 19-year-old co-starLauren Bacall and the couple began an affair.[47] Methot caught wind of it and visited the set often.[60] Bogart attempted to save the marriage, but Methot's alcoholism intensified, as did their fighting.[61] Bogart announced that he had moved out of the couple's home on October 19, 1944.[51] 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."[62] The reconciliation proved short-lived; Methot announced that Bogart had moved out of their home yet again on December 3, 1944.[63]
Methot filed for divorce on May 10, 1945, in aLas Vegas court,[47] which was granted one hour after she filed for the decree.[50][64] Bogart married Lauren Bacall on May 21, 1945.[61] After the divorce, Methot retreated from the public eye for several months, and spent a period at theMalabar Farm State Park[65] (the location of Bogart and Bacall's wedding).[66]
In August 1945, Methot attempted to resume a stage career in New York.[65] However, she was unsuccessful, and became locked into a pattern of alcoholism anddepression. In the late 1940s, she moved back to Oregon, where her mother helped take care of her.
Methot died on June 9, 1951, atHolladay Park Hospital in Portland.[67][68] Although it was reported in the press at the time that Methot died of complications from an unspecified surgery,[67] her actual cause of death was attributed toacute alcoholism.[69] Methot left her estate, totaling $50,000 ($605,705 in2024) to her mother Evelyn.[70] Additionally, she bestowed her personal library of classic books to theCatlin Gabel School, her alma mater, as well as a scholarship fund for the institution.[71]
Methot's remains are interred at thePortland Memorial Mausoleum in theSellwood neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, alongside her parents.[72] Bogart continued to send flowers to Methot's crypt until his death in 1957.[73]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | Forgotten Songs | Serial short | [14] | |
| 1922 | And Women Must Weep | Serial short | [20] | |
| 1923 | Unseeing Eyes | Extra | Uncredited | [74] |
| 1930 | Taxi Talks | Short film | [75] | |
| 1931 | Corsair | Sophie | [34] | |
| 1932 | The Night Club Lady | Lola Carewe | [34] | |
| 1932 | Vanity Street | Fern | [34] | |
| 1932 | Virtue | Lil Blair | [34] | |
| 1932 | Afraid to Talk | Marge Winters | Alternative title:Merry-Go-Round | [34] |
| 1933 | The Mind Reader | Jenny | [34] | |
| 1933 | Lilly Turner | Mrs. Durkee | Uncredited | [34] |
| 1933 | Goodbye Love | Sandra Hamilton | [34] | |
| 1933 | Counsellor at Law | Zedorah Chapman | [34] | |
| 1934 | Jimmy the Gent | Gladys Farrell | [34] | |
| 1934 | Harold Teen | Sally LaSalle | Alternative title:Dancing Fool | [34] |
| 1934 | Registered Nurse | Nurse Gloria Hammond | [34] | |
| 1934 | Side Streets | Maizie Roach | Alternative title:A Woman in Her Thirties | [34] |
| 1934 | Mills of the Gods | Sarah | [34] | |
| 1935 | The Case of the Curious Bride | Mrs. Florabelle Lawson | [34] | |
| 1935 | We're in the Money | Minor Role | (scenes deleted) | [34] |
| 1935 | Dr. Socrates | Muggsy, Red's Moll | [34] | |
| 1936 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Mrs. Semple | Uncredited | [34] |
| 1936 | The Case Against Mrs. Ames | Cora Lamont | [34] | |
| 1937 | Marked Woman | Estelle Porter | [34] | |
| 1938 | Women in Prison | Daisy Saunders | [34] | |
| 1938 | Numbered Woman | Vicki | Alternative title:Private Nurse | [34] |
| 1938 | The Sisters | Blonde | [34] | |
| 1939 | Should a Girl Marry? | Betty Gilbert | [34] | |
| 1939 | Unexpected Father | Ethel Stone | Alternative title:Sandy Takes a Bow | [34] |
| 1939 | A Woman Is the Judge | Gertie | [34] | |
| 1940 | Brother Rat and a Baby | Girl in Bus | Alternative title:Baby Be Good, (final film role) | [34] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1909 | Sapho | Josef | [10] | |
| 1912 | The Awakening of Helena Richie | David | Grand Opera House,Salem, Oregon | [10] |
| 1913 | Salvation Nell | Baker Stock Company,Portland, Oregon | [14] | |
| 1913 | The Builders | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [14] | |
| 1913 | Mary Jane's Pa | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [14] | |
| 1914 | As a Man Thinks | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [76] | |
| 1914 | A Fool There Was | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [76] | |
| 1914 | The Littlest Rebel | Virgie Cary | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [76] |
| 1916 | On Trial | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [76] | |
| 1916 | The Littlest Rebel | Virgie Cary | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [76] |
| 1919 | The Littlest Rebel | Virgie Cary | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [77] |
| 1919 | Come Out of the Kitchen | Claudia Daingerfield | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [16] |
| 1920 | Dawn o' the Mountains | Bub McNair | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [78] |
| 1920 | Parlor, Bedroom and Bath | Angelica Irving | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [18] |
| 1921 | That Girl Patsy | Patricia Davis | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [19] |
| 1921 | Linger Longer Letty | Nancy | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [79] |
| 1922 | Parlor, Bedroom and Bath | Angelica Irving | Baker Stock Company, Portland, Oregon | [24] |
| 1923 | The Mad Honeymoon | Marie Wilson | Playhouse Theatre | [27] |
| 1923 | The Song and Dance Man | Leola Lane | Hudson Theatre | [27] |
| 1924 | The Haunted House | The Bride | Broad Street Theatre,Philadelphia | [28] |
| 1925 | Alias the Deacon | Phyllis Halliday | Sam H. Harris Theatre | [27] |
| 1927 | The Medicine Man | New Cort Theatre,Jamaica, Queens | [30] | |
| 1927 | What Ann Brought Home | Ann | Wallack's Theatre | [27] |
| 1928 | The Song Writer | Patricia Thayer | 48th Street Theatre | [27] |
| 1929 | All the King's Men | Florence Wendell | Fulton Theatre | [27] |
| 1929 | Now-A-Days | Paula Newhall | Forrest Theatre,Philadelphia | [27] |
| 1929 | Great Day | Emma Lou Randolph | Cosmopolitan Theatre | [27] |
| 1929 | Half Gods | Hope Ferrier | Plymouth Theatre | [27] |
| 1930 | Torch Song | Ivy Stevens | Plymouth Theatre | [27] |
| 1931 | Torch Song | El Capitan Theatre,Hollywood | [26] | |
| 1935 | Strip Girl | Dixie Potter | Longacre Theatre | [80] |
He died instantly and though his widow remained there until the late 1920s, she eventually sold up and relocated to Southern California where her sons opened Hollywood's Cock 'n Bull "British style pub" and created the now famous Moscow Mule cocktail.
... lives near Percy Morgan's Cock ' N ' Bull Restaurant but hasn't seen Percy since the day of the Yale game last fall ...
The Ginger Beer Choice for the Moscow Mule!Cock'n Bull Premium Sodas
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