--- title: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall: What They Thought Of Their Age Gap description: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married on May 21, 1945 canonical: https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-21T15:00:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T09:33:01.000Z article:section: History og:title: What Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Thought of Their May-December Marriage og:description: The actors were married on May 21, 1945 og:url: https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43711c5a055df9e8/6987ef8f524fc0ceacdf0aea/bogart-bacall.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Bogart And Bacall og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Thought of Their May-December Marriage twitter:description: The actors were married on May 21, 1945 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43711c5a055df9e8/6987ef8f524fc0ceacdf0aea/bogart-bacall.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Thought of Their May-December Marriage ## Video: 20-Year-Old Lauren Bacall Married to Humphrey Bogart [Watch (HLS stream): 20-Year-Old Lauren Bacall Married to Humphrey Bogart](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pl1MdA9H.m3u8) (0:53)  _Published 2014-08-13. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's Hollywood wedding at the Ohio farmhouse of Louis Bromfield._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:33 AM UTCPublished: May 21, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart cut the cake at their wedding on May 21, 1945 Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart cut the cake at their wedding on May 21, 1945Hulton Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:33 AM UTCPublished: May 21, 2015 3:00 PM UTC _Married_, read the heading before [the brief write-up in TIME](http://time.com/vault/issue/1945-05-28/page/98/): “Humphrey Bogart, 45, cinema’s surly, frog-voiced bad man; and Cinemactress Lauren Bacall, 20; he for the fourth time, she for the first; in Mansfield, Ohio.” The wedding, which took place 70 years ago, on May 21, 1945, made official one of the 20th century’s best-loved on- and off-screen romances—despite a two-and-a-half-decade age gap. But, while news outlets didn’t obsess about the age difference in the way they probably would today—TIME didn’t editorialize at all about their ages, unless you count a 1969 [essay](http://time.com/vault/issue/1969-02-21/page/36/) titled “In Praise of May-December Marriages”—it didn’t pass unnoticed. According to A. M. Sperber and Eric Lax’s biography [_Bogart_](http://www.vanityfair.com/news/1997/02/bogart-bacall-excerpt-199702), Bogart’s wife at the time he began his affair with Bacall, the actress Mayo Methot, referred to Bacall as “your daughter” when talking with her estranged husband. ### See Photos From Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s Wedding Day  Newlywed actors Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall attending wedding reception at the home of novelist Louis Bromfield. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Bogart and Bacall cut the wedding cake. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Lauren Bacall feeds wedding cake to her tough-guy groom, Humphrey Bogart, after their marriage ceremony in Ohio. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Bacall tosses her bouquet to an eager crowd. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Bogart gives his bride a kiss on the cheek. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Newlywed actors Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall share a sneaky moment on their wedding day. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Newlyweds smile for the camera. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Novelist Louis Bromfield (L) with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and their guests at their wedding. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Bogart was also consumed by the age difference. As Bacall [recounted](http://www.amazon.com/Lauren-Bacall-Myself/dp/0394413083/ref=sr%5F1%5F2?ie=UTF8&qid=1431531508&sr=8-2&keywords=by+myself#reader%5F0394413083) in her autobiography _By Myself_, it was “never out of \[Bogart’s\] thoughts” while they courted. Bacall, however, paid it no worry, telling [_Vanity Fair_ ](http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/03/lauren-bacall-201103)“that 25-year difference was the most fantastic thing for me to have in my life.” Indeed, the couple was together until Bogart’s death in 1957. **Correction, Sept. 14, 2022:** _The original version of this story misstated the age gap between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It was two and a half decades, not four and a half._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/"},"headline":"What Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Thought of Their May-December Marriage","datePublished":"2015-05-21T15:00:21.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T09:33:01.000Z","description":"The pair was married on May 21, 1945","url":"https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/","keywords":["Living","relationships","celebrity","wedding","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43711c5a055df9e8/6987ef8f524fc0ceacdf0aea/bogart-bacall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43711c5a055df9e8/6987ef8f524fc0ceacdf0aea/bogart-bacall.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bogart And Bacall","caption":"Bogart And Bacall","creditText":"Hulton Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/","name":"What Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Thought of Their May-December Marriage"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"20-Year-Old Lauren Bacall Married to Humphrey Bogart","description":"Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall's Hollywood wedding at the Ohio farmhouse of Louis Bromfield.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/pl1MdA9H/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-13T00:44:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pl1MdA9H.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/","duration":"PT53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3857196/bogart-bacall-wedding-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```