Few can boast the iconic status and enduring popularity of Humphrey Bogart who died on 14 January, 1957, aged 57.

He enjoyed a career spanning more than four decades and roles in more than 70 feature films Mr Bogart.

Lifelong friends with the likes of Spencer Tracy and David Niven he was famously married to To Have and Have Not co-star, Lauren Bacall at the time of his death.

But it is for the all-time classic Casablanca that he will be best remembered, and for lines like “of all the gin-joints in all the towns in all the world, she has to walk into mine.”

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York on Christmas Day, 1899, to a Manhattan surgeon father and a mother who was an artist and magazine illustrator.

He started out managing the stage company of a friend in New York in the 1920s before winning his first film role in Broadway's Like That for Fox in 1930.

After five years of minor parts in B movies he had his big break in Warner Brothers classic The Petrified Forest alongside British actor Leslie Howard - a casting that was to result in a firm friendship.

A long-term contract followed where upon he notched up a host of legendary performances most notably in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon .

Having been married and divorced three times he married for a fourth and final time in 1946 to screen star Lauren Bacall. The chemistry between them is a focus of the film noir classic The Big Sleep in which they starred.

At 49 he became a father for the first time when son Stephen was born. Three years later his daughter Leslie was born, named in honour of Leslie Howard who had died in World War 2.

In 1952 Mr Bogart won an Oscar for his role in the African Queen where he starred opposite Katharine Hepburn - a performance thought by many to be the best of his career.

Having been a heavy smoker and drinker throughout his life he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in 1957. Frequently referenced in every media form from Bugs Bunny cartoons to Hollywood blockbusters, his persona of a heavy-drinking, straight-talking fair player has become a classic character constantly replicated.

His line in Casablanca, " ‘Play it again Sam" – although what he actually says is “Play it, Sam, play As Time Goes By ” - was to become a popular catchphrase and inspired the 1972 Woody Allen movie of the same title.

However despite his harsh persona Mr Bogart was well known for his generosity and his close friend and fellow actor David Niven , said: “Bogart was quite alarming to meet, for the first time, with his sardonic humour and his snarl that passed for a smile. It took me a little while to realize that he had perfected an elaborate camouflage to cover up one of the kindest and most generous of hearts.”

Mr Bogart’s film legacy was sealed well and truly in 1999 when the American Film Institute named him the greatest male star of all time.