Which actress did Humphrey Bogart marry before Lauren Bacall?

Humphrey Bogart married actress Mayo Methot before marrying Lauren Bacall.

Bogart and Mayo Methot married in 1938, several years before Bogart met Bacall during the production of To Have and Have Not. Methot was an established film and stage actress, and her marriage to Bogart was his third.

Bogart and Methot divorced in 1945. That same year, Bogart married Bacall, his co-star from To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. The Bogart-Bacall partnership became one of classic Hollywood’s most famous romances, which can obscure his earlier marriages.

Methot appeared in films including The Enchanted Cottage and The Lady in Question. She is also associated with the sensational press nickname “the Battling Bogarts,” although that label reflects the era’s publicity culture rather than a complete account of their private relationship. The exact answer is Mayo Methot, not Bacall.